CPR

It's 5 minutes to midnight on New Years Eve and in fact, 2011 will have arrived by the time I hit the post button. I believe it's an impossibility to approach January 1st without at least giving some passing thought to the ritual of resolutions, and having those resolutions painted on the canvas of the 5 year plan yields some interesting results.
Since most resolutions are restorative in nature (diets, exercise, smoking cessation...) it got me onto a health care train of thought.  My New Years Resolution?  CPR.

CPR - Challenge - Purge - Reallocate.

Challenge:  I'm resolving to challenge my assumptions on what material possessions I require.  In the process of cleaning my house for the arrival of my children and grandchildren, it occurred to me that I was cleaning a whole lot of items that I hadn't used since the last time I cleaned them and that life would be a lot simpler if I removed the items so that I didn't have to waste time cleaning them.  All purchases in 2011 will be filtered through the "Can I use this on the boat when we leave?" criterion.

Purge: I'm resolving to remove any stuff from my house that I haven't used in the last 12 months.  One closet at a time, e-bay and Craigslist and ReUseIt and Goodwill will be my new friends.

Reallocate: I'm resolving to reallocate resources and priorities to what matters.  It's troublesome to me that we spend enough money in a year on the security system in our house to cruise in the Bahamas for a month.  It's also deeply troubling to me that I allow media and political influences to weigh me down and distract me from the important things.  Even though we gave up television nearly 8 years ago, we are bombarded with negative influence and fearmongering on all sides from headlines at the checkout line, 6 TVs on the gym walls, coworkers at the water cooler, the internet, the newspaper and even NPR, all vying for my attention and some deliberately aiming to control.  As much as I try not to use this blog to press religious opinion, there does happen to be a certain scripture that I find immensely inspiring when thinking about the promise of the New Year and my attempt to best use its time:


"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."  Phil 4:8


Happy New Years to you all and best of luck to you on your own resolutions.