The beginning of the New Year is often a time of resolutions.  No more chocolate cake, or, I will exercise at least three times a week, or, I will eat vegetables with every meal.  However framed, it always comes off as some unpleasant thing that I must whip my wild nature to do, accept, practice, or merely withstand.  And I succeed.  For a month or two.  And then my resolve erodes and I slip, I binge, and I fall.

In 2012, I’d like to try something different, at least for me.  Instead of resolutions, or vows, or promises, I want to make wishes.

I want to make New Year’s wishes for myself, for the world, and for the passing stranger who might read these words.  These wishes may float away on the breeze, or they may land on fertile soil and bloom, impossibly effortless, into great heartfelt joy.

I wish that work is fulfilling and less stressful.

I wish love tickles us into the waking dream that is our life.

I wish that words and thoughts flow.

I wish that we meet and are glad in the meeting.

I wish that there is enough food and resources for the world.

I wish that we will each catch one perfect moment, and know, in that moment, what it means to be truly alive.

And, of course, the flowing tide of happiness reaches a high water mark in all of our lives.

I wish all of these things for you, for me, and for everyone else, and I wish that wishes I could not have even imagined come true for all of us.

All the best,

Arthur J. Lorenz