Happy New Year

      Happy New Year!  I look forward to the new year every year.  It is a clean slate - the ultimate do-over. We all get to start fresh on whatever it was that was "resolved to " the previous year or maybe you've thought of something new for this year.  2012 is going to be a big year for my little family.  Firstly, 2012 in the lunar calendar is the year of the dragon.  This is my daughter's big year.  Hard to believe that she will be 12 this year.  She was born under the full moon in 2000, the last year of the dragon.  I'm pretty certain that was a big deal.  Children born in the year of the dragon are thought to be very special.  I'm a little partial, but I think she's pretty special anyway.  She has gifts that I marvel at on a daily basis, and they continue to be opened like the best birthday or holiday presents.  Secondly, and not quite so monumentally,  I turn 50 this year.  I'm not exactly where I thought I'd be at 50, but it's better than, as my dad would say, pushing up daisies, so I'll take it.  I'm going to make it an exciting and productive year because over the last few months I've been working on some things personally, and now it's time to put them into action.
     What are you working on or looking forward to in this new year?  Is this going to be a good year for you and your family?  I sure hope so.  I heard something very wise on the radio yesterday.  Most people go  all out for New Years, and make resolutions that they stick with for a month or so and then they get broken and tossed aside like a cheap Christmas toy.  The wisdom was this, start slow and take it one step at a time.  Chances are your circumstances didn't crop up over night, it took time, and so it will take time to change that circumstance, whatever it is.  I decided that for every successful workout I did I would throw a dollar bill in a canister.  I'm not certain what I'm going to do with the money, but I'm thinking that I'd like that money to go to an organization that feeds people.  What better way to celebrate a healthy habit than to make it benefit someone else who might be trying to do the same.  The point is, baby steps. One day at a time. One workout at a time.  One dollar at a time.  That's how stuff gets done.  Happy New Year!