Happy New Month!

This month, my goal is reinforcing. I often focus on trying to solve problems, fix flaws, that sort of thing. But many things in my life are going very well! Even if it’s for positive reasons, I don’t want to focus only on the negative. So this month, my goal is to strengthen and reinforce the many good things – finding ways to make them more secure, less fragile. That even means enjoying them more.

The sun is shining today, and I’m going to go for a walk. May you enjoy your many blessings!

Happy New Month!

Today is a wonderful day to remember that people won’t stop trying to fool you tomorrow. They just won’t be as obvious about it. So my resolution this month is to keep my wits about me; there are a lot of tricky decisions I have to navigate coming up and I want to make sure I’m sharp. I hope you all do the same.

Happy New Month!

My kids all made absolutely spectacular New Year’s resolutions, and my new month’s resolution is to help them on their way with theirs. Here’s what they resolved:

Buddy (Age 5): “I want to have a barbecue.” Attainable, rewarding, and focuses on togetherness. I love it!

The Squish (Age 6): “I want to learn how to Yo-Yo.” I adore this one, because she asked for a Yo-Yo for Christmas with absolutely no idea how they work, and now that she has one she’s engaged with it fully. I’m 100% on board.

The Beansprout (Age 11): “I want to experiment with new drawing styles.” She’s a wonderful artist already, so her resolution to broaden her creative horizons is marvelous.

Once your kids have their own goals and ambitions, being a parent is wonderfully easy. Just water the plants and they’ll grow.

May every day be the start of a new adventure for you – and happy new year!

Happy New Month!

My resolution in December is a simple but important one: I vow to spend as much time with my family as I can. Nothing is more important, but as the year closes I’m always reminded of just how valuable they are.

May your month be merry and bright!

Happy New Month!

I have a simple resolution this month as the holidays approach and life gets hectic. A few new albums from artists I like have dropped recently, and my oldest daughter is well into the age of actually discovering new music on her own – and thankfully, sharing it with her old man. These things reminded me just how joyous it is for me to hear new music, so that’s my goal.

I want to listen to no fewer than five new albums this month. Heck, maybe I’ll even revisit the “Notes” series I used to do on here. But even if I don’t, I just want the discovery process. Music is life, and you need to take new breaths. I’ll let you know what I find, my friend.

Happy New Month!

October is my favorite month. The weather gets to be just right, the events of the month are my favorite of the year, and it always signals the beginning of camping season for me.

Which brings me to my resolution for the month – get to the woods! Before the month is out, I will take at least one overnight trip into the forest and get the wilds under me again.

May your month be as wild as you want it to be!

Happy New Month!

As shocked as I am that August is over already, I’m very pleased to say I did everything I wanted to with it – my children and I had a marvelous summer and really did a lot of fun stuff in that last month. So now it’s off to fall!

My resolution for September is to “hit the ground running” in all the new endeavors. I have a major new project, the kids are all starting school, and I’ve even been making a few changes in my personal life that all deserve to get off on the right foot. So I commit to being present and really involved in all these new beginnings, building healthy habits the right way.

May all your own endeavors get off to a good start!

Happy New Month!

If you borrowed someone else’s body for a year – someone you cared about deeply – how would you return it? If they were kind enough to lend it to you, would you be careless with it? Fill it with garbage, let it go to waste, lock it inside? Or would you be a good steward for your loved one, and return their body to them in great condition?

This month, that’s my resolution – to treat my future self as a loved one whose body I am temporarily borrowing. I will base my sleeping, eating, and movement habits on that philosophy. I hope to give the Johnny of July a better body than I borrowed from the Johnny of May.

Good luck in your own resolutions!

Happy New Month!

I’m fairly relentless when it comes to forward motion. I don’t dwell on failures often, and in general I consider that a good thing. But it can sometimes lead me to run a little too quickly from the past, to the point where I sometimes move on to my next endeavor before I’ve really analyzed what didn’t work in the first place.

So this month, I’m revisiting some old projects. My goal is to resurrect at least one thing that I previously considered in the Graveyard of Ideas. You never know what gold you may find exactly where you left it.

Good luck in your own endeavors!

Happy new month!

And, you know, happy new year, too!

Today, I asked my children what their resolutions were, and my resolution for this month is to help them with theirs. All of their resolutions were reasonable and awesome, and I’ll take great pride in helping them on their journey. My oldest wants to be able to do both a cartwheel and a handstand, my middle kid wants to memorize the names of every dinosaur (there are over 700, but if anyone can do it, she can), and my youngest said he wants to “be the boss,” which I’m translating into having more responsibility and being in charge of more things – a noble goal for the youngest of the brood.

What else is life but helping others? Find people whose dreams complement your own, and help each other. Let such be the theme of January – and all of 2023!