Start Somewhere

By Brenda Black

A new year begins. It must start somewhere. According to history, January 1, fits the bill. When Roman dictator Julius Caesar decided that the traditional Roman calendar needed reform, he enlisted the aid of Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer. He advised Caesar to follow the solar year, like the Egyptians. The year was calculated to be 365 and 1/4 days, and Caesar added 67 days to 45 B.C., making 46 B.C. begin on January 1. There you have it – a start, a beginning that begins each year.

Like the flipping of the calendar page from 2015 to 2016, every journey, each ending and all plans have a genesis. The fact is that nothing happens unless it is initially put into motion. On January 1, the timing is right, the opportunity present annually at this traditional moment to set a course of action. It's time again to S-T-A-R-T.

S – Set a goal. The go-to resolutions typically involve weight or bad habits humans long to banish from their lives. The idea is simple: eliminate the accumulation of a lifetime of poor choices in 12 months or less. By week six, we're not sure why we even tried. This year, I challenge you to think deeper. Plan longer. Look higher and cast a vision different from all those ventured in the past. Dream big! Don't just toss up flippantly the hope that something will change. Set a goal to see something through. Go for it!

T – Take a chance. Do something unexpected, unrehearsed or unfamiliar in 2016 that will stretch you out of your comfort zone. Shake it up a bit and try something new that isn't all about you. Reach out and help someone in need. Forgive someone unworthy of your grace. Extend an offer that can never be repaid. Take a chance on someone who needs a second chance and you might just find you are the one being set free.

A – Answer a call. Now go bigger still. See your small gestures grow into a mission that changes not just one or two lives, but a community. With every act of mercy or aid, see the greater possibilities of how to expand your territory and answer many needs.

R – Raise the bar. Keep it up and set an example. Model being a good neighbor, provide an example of generosity and challenge yourself to always be kind. You are what the world needs most, more now than ever. Set the pace so that others will follow.

T – Take stock. When you look back over this year, count the cost as gain, not loss. See your efforts as investments into lives. With every goal you set, each risk you encounter, the call you answer and the role you play, you are sure to look at the world differently by 2017. And the one most altered will be the man or woman in the mirror that you see come next New Year's Day.

 Start somewhere. Start now. Make this year the beginning of something worthwhile.

Timeless New Year Advice

Timeless New Year Advice

By Brenda Black

You've heard them for decades, the New Year's greetings, conjectures and predictable resolutions. They slide easily off the tongue but are evasive in practice. What compels us, then, time and again to venture such hopeless proclamations? Why do we set ourselves up for failure with public announcements doomed from the outset? The answer is good intentions.

Good intentions are dead in the water if we don't intentionally carry out a plan of action. The first step is to select something worth doing rather than the same old New Year song and dance. Here are a few suggestions from old and new, tried and true wise men and women for 2011 goals that have great potential of actually being achieved simply because they are worth it.

“Resolve to make at least one person happy every day,” says Sydney Smith. The advice of this English writer and Anglican cleric of the 1800's is even more relevant for the 21^st Century. He calculates the simple act to have great and lasting impact. “...in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.” I can do that! How about you?

Benjamin Franklin offered up this sage counsel: “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man.” Ladies, that doesn't mean out with the old and in with the new when it comes to husbands! Bespectacled Ben offered quite serious and profound instruction. Yet when the new year rolls 'round we tend to take inventory of our weaknesses, then end up coddling rather than annihilating them. We ignore our neighbors instead of getting to know them. Often the better man or woman that's been waiting to rise to the occasion is still buried beneath old habits and stubbornness. I can do better! How about you?

And now from a contemporary, Ellen Goodman, an American journalist and Pulitzer prize winner for Distinguished Commentary. She suggests a new approach to this age-old annual dilemma. “We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws, but for potential.”

It is there, you know. Something good, something noble, something worthwhile that contributes to society. In every human heart lies the great possibilities to head in a positive direction rather than wallow in the negative. Walk through the rooms. Look for your strengths, open your eyes and see the value of your life and the purpose for which you've been designed, destined and delivered. Then bring it! Make someone happy. Live at peace with your neighbors.

And be the best you – nobody can do it better.

In 2011, our resolutions need not die by January second. If determination is not fuel enough to help you reach your goals, how about this warning from Albert Einstein, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” One of the most influential scientists ever in history also offered this brilliant advice: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

I can do that! How about you?

One last piece of timeless wisdom for all ages comes from a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

Hindsight in the Future

Hindsight in the Future
By Brenda Black

Mamas have eyes in the back of their heads. What kid has not learned that the hard way. A mom's intuitive abilities are real, even if a bit exaggerated, so why not name a month after them instead of a mythical deity. Early Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and guardian of doors and entrances. Janus sported two faces affording the ability to simultaneously look back while seeing forward. Some ancient Roman most certainly based the divine character on his mother.

Regardless of the real or imagined insight and foresight of moms and gods, the uncanny knack for looking back while looking forward is a trait we might all aspire to acquire. Consider what mistakes we could eliminate if we looked back for a better view ahead.

The top ten New Year's Resolutions from a survey of 300,000 responses are posted on Gary Ryan Blair's site GoalsGuy.com . Blair believes “that a single resolution can positively and profoundly create lasting change in a person's life and make the world a better place.” Let's see if some of the top ten wield such power.

Number 1 – Lose Weight and Get in Better Physical Shape. Researchers in Britain have carried out a study and found that obesity is more dangerous than smoking as it can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years. If you could look ahead and know your length of days on earth, what would you do to add 13 more healthy years?

"We may only put on a bit of weight a day but there are 365 days in the year," according to lead researcher Professor David King. Prof King, the British government's Chief Scientific Adviser, and his team of 250 scientists published their study in a report, titled “Foresight”.

Will your weight loss make the world a better place? That depends on what you bring to the world in those additional 13 years! Leave the bad habits behind and live lighter in 2009.

We'll combine Numbers 2 and 3 – Stick to a Budget and Debt Reduction. Crash of 2008 ring any New Year bells! If we have half a brain, we are all looking back at waste and strategizing for wiser money management in the upcoming year. As the headlines have reported for weeks on end, how you manage your dollars and cents can affect the entire modern world! Wake up to worldliness and waste and live smarter than you did in 2008.

I love Numbers 8 and 9 – Learn Something New and Volunteer and Help Others. “People throughout the world are realizing that a strong resolve to lifelong learning is more than just education and training beyond formal schooling. A lifelong learning framework encompasses learning throughout the life cycle, from cradle to grave and in different learning environments, formal, non-formal and informal,” says Blair.

The world is our classroom and access to understanding just about anything under the sun is within easy reach thanks to technology. When you look back on what you know, will you venture to add wisdom and new information to keep your mind strong in 2009. I hope so.

An honest look at our own personal history will reveal the truth about our destiny. Are we self or servant driven. Are we gluttonous and greedy or disciplined. Are we eager to stretch our minds and narrow our waists, tighten our budget and pay off our debts. Any attempt to be a better person makes the world a better place. But choosing to help others guarantees a resolution success because it is the best help you can give yourself. Mama probably already told you that.

2009 is the time to meet goals for the greater good. My utmost goal is to look back a year from now and see how far I've come and know I made a difference with the first of my extra 13 years. May the Lord bless your New Year's Resolutions as well!