10 on Tuesday

This week’s 10 on Tuesday topic is 10 New Year’s resolutions.

I don’t, as a general rule, think it’s a good idea to make New Year’s resolutions, for the same reason I don’t think it’s a good idea to set a time goal for your first marathon: Imposing a false deadline on personal advancement just gives you an easy excuse to quit when you find you’re off-pace.

That said, I’m in kind of a spiritual goal-setting mode at the moment, and I think some New Year’s resolutions might serve as useful tools to help me accomplish those goals … so with that in mind, I’ll go ahead and list some resolutions. I reserve the right to alter, upgrade, discard, or swap out any of these resolutions if I find they are not as effective as I’d like them to be in advancing the underlying goals.

1. Take five minutes every day to “Be still, and know that I am God.”
2. Find one thing to appreciate about every annoying or difficult person who comes into my experience.
3. Do one small thing to make Ron’s life better or easier every day.
4. Tape a laminated copy of the Daily Prayer to the bathroom mirror to help start mornings off right.
5. Keep a daily record of the number of times I say something that I wouldn’t want my Primary class teacher to hear.
6. Spend more time with the dogs.
7. Finish reading Prose Works.
8. Don’t buy anything or drive anywhere without asking two questions: Is this necessary? Do I have a good reason for buying this/making this drive?
9. Set a time limit for Internet use.
10. Use an unusual camera, film type, or photography technique once a week.