New Year - New Intentions

My good friend, Emma, a holistic life coach, has told me that she has big plans for 2009. Her New Year “Intention” (she prefers that term to “Resolution”) is simplification. I, too, would like to adopt this in my life. In fact, she and I have pledged to help each other through this process of whittling back the things that clutter our lives – both physically and emotionally.

I would also like to add one more Intention to my New Year’s plan and that is to follow the list of 20 things that “Oprah Knows For Sure”. Please understand that I am NOT an “Opraholic” but I do find a couple of gems now and then in her magazine. This list of 20 things she knows for sure was on page 284 of the November, 2008, publication of “O” Magazine. Her insights are brilliant and I will be posting these to my bathroom mirror for me to read every morning. They are as follows:

1. What you put out comes back all the time, no matter what.
2. You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script.
3. Whatever someone did to you in the past has no power over the present. Only YOU give it power.
4. When people show you who they are, believe them the first time. (This was a lesson Oprah learned from the great Maya Angelou)
5. Worrying is wasted time. Use the same energy for doing something about whatever worries you.
6. What you believe has more power than what you dream or wish or hope for. You become what you believe.
7. If the only prayer you say is “thank you”, that will be enough. (This is from the German theologian and humanist Meister Eckhart)
8. The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you give.
9. Failure is a signpost to turn you in another direction.
10. If you make a choice that goes against what everyone else thinks, the world will not fall apart.
11. Trust your instincts. Intuition doesn’t lie.
12. Love yourself and then learn to extend that love to others in every encounter.
13. Let passion drive your profession.
14. Find a way to get paid for doing what you love. Then every paycheck will be a bonus.
15. Love doesn’t hurt. It feels really good.
16. Every day brings a chance to start over.
17. Being a mother is the hardest job on earth. Women everywhere must declare it so.
18. Doubt means don’t. Don’t move. Don’t answer. Don’t rush forward.
19. When you don’t know what to do, get still. The answer will come.
20. “Trouble don’t last always.” (A line from a Negro spiritual).

I want to thank Oprah Winfrey for her beautiful insights and for giving me a roadmap to how I hope to live my life in 2009. I hope this is helpful for you, too.

Welcome to 2009. May it be sweeter than ever!