Harry & me, New Year’s Day 1996

Cheers to you and an exciting New Year! On New Year’s mornings in hometown Milwaukee in the mid-nineties, my offspring Harry, their* dad and I would dress in swimwear and baseball caps. Then, wrapped in beach towels, we’d head out the back door into frigid air and walk five paces to the sunken hot tub on the deck. Sometimes a Barbie would make us a foursome.

With steam rising, we’d eat dark cherries from a white bowl and decide that, like the song says, life is just a bowl of cherries. It was bright and fun and made us laugh. I loved thinking ahead to feeling satisfied and happy.

So now I wish you a Happy New Year, one that I’m hopeful you’ll find ways to introduce some fun and gaiety as often as you can. Because no matter who you are, what you do or where you live, more than anything my wish is for you to feel good.

If you’ve got a list of resolutions for the New Year, here are four evergreen suggestions** to add that include feelings and attitudes.

Evergreen New Year’s Resolutions

1.  I will approve of myself, my characteristics, my abilities, my likes and dislikes, my inclinations and disinclinations, realizing that these form my unique individuality. I have them for a reason.

2.  I will approve of and rejoice in my accomplishments, and I will be as vigorous in listing these – as rigorous in remembering them – as I have ever been in remembering and enumerating my failures or lacks of accomplishment.

3.  I will remember the tremendous energy, joyful spontaneity, possibilities and potential that lie within me to create that which I can imagine for myself.

4.  I will realize that the future is a probability. In terms of everyday experiences, nothing exists there yet. It is virgin territory, planted by my feelings and thoughts in the present. Therefore I will plant accomplishments and successes, and I will do this by focusing on how I want and expect the future to be for me.

Whether it’s an exciting new year or a new day, you get to choose what you think about and how you feel. So, go ahead. Have some fun thinking, creating and becoming more. And maybe add some cherries for extra cheer.

*My kid Harry’s pronouns are they/she/he. When I ask about gender pronouns, Harry will say, “Mom, I just don’t care!” But some people do. So please respect others’ pronouns.

**This list is adapted from one given to Jane Roberts and Robert Butts by Seth on New Year’s Day, 1979.

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