As good a day as any

It's 1-11-11. Almost two weeks after the New Year. I meant to do a year in review, come up with some resolutions, set some goals for 2011. You’d think by now I’d have my act together and have figured out what resolutions to make. What plans. What to put on a “Best of 2010” list.

And I still think I am going to do these things. But I feel repetitive.

For instance, some ideas for resolutions: Get organized, declutter. Eat healthy. Be more attentive to the present moment. Give more loving attention to my kids and husband. Devote more time or at least more attention to prayer.  Be more charitable.

All things I should be doing anyway and nothing very concrete. Perhaps the attraction of making resolutions is the contrast all these good intentions make to the indulgences of the holidays. It’s easy to feel like committing to a diet when you’ve spent the last month glutting in self-indulgence, not just in sweets and drinks, but in self-pity and criticism.

So time for a detox of body and spirit.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid I’ve lost some of the motivation after jumping right back into busyness at home. At least part of the bustle has been devoted to the cleaning out of drawers and office. I had to clean out my sock and underwear drawers to restock with the Christmas replacements. And I had to recycle stacks of papers and catalogs to get to my office shelves to put away the stacks of books I had used last semester. Then I had to go through the photos on the full camera memory card and upload some before the 10 cent print sale goes away. And I had to make returns and go to Target 3 days in a row to make it possible for the Three Kings to visit last week. (Cheers all around from the kids for bean bag chairs, overstuffed lumps I’ve long resisted, but finally accepted because I’m tired of listening to “I was there first!” Who knew bean bags could be the source of such joy?)


I should feel a little like I’ve made headway on “Fresh Start 2011.” But I still feel like I need an internal shake-up. Some concrete stepping stone to get moving on this spiritual journey, to reinvigorate a torpid spirit. I read an article somewhere about how smiling at one person can spread a smile to 268 people. That’s perhaps a start, something to pull my attention away from myself.


I think what I'm missing is really an attitude of conversion. A turning away and a turning toward.