For a New Year: Wisdom. Profundity. Vocabulary.

Some Old Words for a New Year… my mantras...

1. Faith
Gonna have it. Unshakingly. In myself, in others, in the Divine.

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. Focus

Keeping my eyes and concentration on what I want – nay need – to accomplish this year. The possibilities are endless. Just need to maintain my head in the game.

The first rule of focus is ''Wherever you are be there.''
~ Unknown

3. Selfishness

Yeah, that’s what I said. Make time for me and my well-being. Benevolent selfishness. The trickle-down benefits on this will make me a better everything.

“I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy, and driven.”
~ A very wise Unknown

4. Creativity

Gonna let it out. Use it, bend it, break it, stretch it, test it.

Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm.
~ Earl Nightingale

5. Laughter

Enough said. My personal tonic for what ails me. The most beautiful music in the world -- especially when it’s emanating from Will’s mouth.

The person who can bring the spirit of laughter into a room is indeed blessed.
~ Bennett Cerf

6. Openness
I need to let people into, well, me. In the figurative sense, natch. Let down my guard. Share. Ask for help before Code Blue sets in. Scary, but necessary.

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
~ Flora Whittemore

7. Healthy
Eating. Doing. Thinking. Acting. Playing.

Do all of the above healthily. (yikes...)

When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy.
~ Chinese Proverbs

8. Thoughtful
Be it. In word, action and deed.

I am bringing graciousness back.

And frankly, being gracious IS sexy.

Stop the habit of wishful thinking and start the habit of thoughtful wishes.
~ Mary Martin

9. Confidence.
I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.
~ Stuart Smalley

Lather, rinse, repeat.

10. Discipline
Remember, it’s OK to color inside the lines. And to scrub the bathtub with regularity.

With self-discipline most anything is possible.
~ Theodore Roosevelt

11. Joy
Celebrate. Exuberate. Propagate.

There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.

~ Frederick William Faber

12. Fun
This, above all, is the catalyst for success, at least for me. Fun = fruition. Just the way I’m programmed. And I forget this sometimes… can't fight it. Gotta just roll with it.

Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude. I like fun.
~ Colleen C. Barrett

13. Love
Had some health issues plague friends and family this year – enough to be sobering and thought-provoking.

Gotta share the love. Gotta tell the love. Gotta show the love.

Life is too damn short and precious and precarious.

Just do it. Now. Go tell or show someone that you love them. Go ahead. It’s OK. And when you do, the world will be that much more wonderful as a result.

Love is, above all, the gift of oneself.

~Jean Anouilh

PostScript:

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.
~ Dr. Seuss