New new new new new

It is 9:30 AM on New Years Day 2010. Normally if I had a lazy morning I would turn on the TODAY show, sip on a cup of coffee, and catch up on blogs and other internet nonsense. Today I felt a strong sense to set the tone for the year right and keep the TV off. I do have my laptop and coffee though. It’s time to do some reflecting. And I reflect best here.

I think I’ve figured out that New Years is indeed my favorite holiday. Not necessarily because of the sparkly dresses and champagne toasts and parties (although I do love all things glamorous. Please!) but it must be my favorite because I’ve noticed that I try to perpetuate New Years all year long. I made goals/resolutions 3 different times over the past year. That is 3 pretend new years’s.

I love New Years because the obvious—it’s a new year. A new day. A prime opportunity for change and to make the best choices in one’s life. Like the lyrics from the musical “Rent” 525,600 minutes—how do you measure your life in a year? There are different ways to measure…how much money you’ve accumulated (or how much debt), how successful work endeavors went, if you succeeded in maintaining your relationship, if you finally got rid of the one you needed to, if you found love, if you locked love down, if you stayed close to the ones who you meant to, if you inspired others to be better, if you sacrificed time and money on the needy’s behalf. How did your year go?

I don’t know if you caught Oprah’s “Christmas at the White House” special on TV a few weeks ago. I didn’t see it with my own two eyes but I did hear that she asked the President one great question: “How would you grade yourself for what you’ve done the past year?” I think it apropos to ask myself the same thing.

If I were getting a 2009 progress report on the Report Card of Life what would I give myself? I think part of me wants to give myself a high score. “A” for effort if you will. But there are some things I fell short in—service to others, sacrificial giving, investing in social causes.

Primarily this year I invested in myself…with investing in friends and family coming in a lame 2nd.

I’m continually haunted by the heading of this blog: “This is Your Life.” If you know the Switchfoot song you know the rest of that phrase is: “Are you who you want to be?”


So I ask you: are you who you want to be?


This year I’ve spent a lot of time in a church-less world staring at the NYC sky (the patches between skyscrapers of course) and wondering what’s the point.

It is apparent that we as a human race all long to matter…long to leave some sort of legacy (like Jane Austen’s or Madeleine L'Engle’s would be fine with me!) I have seen that soul cry in all my friends—Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Agnostic, Atheist. My answer to that longing no matter your background is to delve into the meaning of love. For me of course a great depiction is in 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible. I choose today to make a cognizant effort to be less self-serving. As Avenue Q points out so ironically the most selfish thing you can do is be unselfish cause it makes you feel so good. :-)

Love more. Serve more. Be more patient. Think about myself less. Maybe I’ll give myself a higher score next year…