Play Book Tag discussion

First Conversation Topic of the New Year!!!

What are you new year resolutions! Both with and outside of reading.

That's easy. And Complex. I have been thinking about my words and intention for the year for quite along while. The first is Clarity - which I think and know is connected to faith. The second is path to resolution. Which you guessed it - is also connected to faith on a deeper level. I could (and should) say more about this. I just wrote to my larger list of my IRL Impromptu Book Club and spoke about this intention. And we are hosting a small healing circle tonight.

But here's what I believe and what I am putting forth. All of the chaos and crazy making we have all experienced, politically and personally, it begins its resolve now! So many of us have been in chaos where nothing seems clear, and we cannot even trust what we know to be true. I don't care if the planets are lining up differently or what - but i will tell you this. Its time for Clarity and Alignment. Seeing the path towards resolution on all fronts, and believing it is possible, Its time for the light in the tunnel to start revealing itself. We just have to believe in it, and in us, and stay true to our values and to our inner core. I am in full belief that we are already starting our re-alignments. I pray for the clarity to see it and see through the veils, and the faith to sustain it.

And with that - late for soccer.... But you have my intention and are welcome to join me and stay with the positive forward thinking agenda and help me actualize it into reality. Please join my re-alignment, clarity, and faith movement. We are going far on our wings. Keep Showing Up With Love - and come join me, lets fly!

I am joining you Amy. That second paragraph of yours really hit home for me.

Yes, I want to share the intention of realignment. I don't have a resolution so much as a project.

I am writing a play for our Unitarian Sunday school kids to perform. It starts with a depiction of Pandora's box and all the ills that come out of it. Then it moves to today with someone complaining about the ills of today. But in the bottom of the box was Hope. The kids will act out several folk tales from around the world where people or animals help each other or do something to make the world better. At the end we will give out a flyer listing ways to be involved in our community.

Last year I developed a children's play based on the Good Samaritan, which asks "Who is our neighbor?" I emphasized the topical message of people coming from different countries, having different customs or faiths, but they could still be our friends and the ones to help us in need. The program was really well attended (families like to see their kids perform!) and the cast did a great job. I was fortunately helped by adults with talents for costume and basic scenery. So we hope it can be an annual tradition.

I start a new job tomorrow. My first ‘new’ job in 19 years and hopefully the last job I’ll have until I retire. Not sure if it’s a resolution but my focus is to land well and start strong. This will require a lot of my time and mindshare. My hope is not only that I have a good start, land happily and settle in but that doing so doesn’t completely overtake me personally and that I’m able to find the right balance amongst work, home and reading.

Amy, yours aligns nicely with mine and resonates with me.
I've chosen joy & compassion with intentional & mindful.

It is all to easy to focus on what is wrong, but we loose our joy when we do that. Since retirement, some of the things which made me joyful are missing - singing songs everyday, reading illustrated children's books aloud, and of course children.

I want to find new and interesting ways to be joyful and I want to be compassionate, something that expunged in the current political climate.

With aging, it is all too easy to go through the motions and become sucked into old tired tracks, but I want to be sure to move and act with intention and be mindful of what I am doing.

I'm also thinking of the article Robin posted about developing your own curriculum and working intentionally towards those goals.

Charlie wrote: "I start a new job tomorrow. My first ‘new’ job in 19 years and hopefully the last job I’ll have until I retire. Not sure if it’s a resolution but my focus is to land well and start strong. This wil..."

Oh best of luck with the new job, Charlie! I think that is both exciting, but also stressful, and I like your attitude.

I don't know if I would call them resolutions, but I always have goals:

- Read 50 books

- Maintain the 20 lb weight loss I managed to do this year (mostly to keep my blood pressure under control!)

- Treat others the way I want to be treated - with kindness and empathy and the hardest one, patience

- Qualify for the Boston Marathon - This is a stretch goal that I feel I can do, but am not sure. I was off to a great start, but now I hurt my back. Hopefully that blip in the road is short lived. I have all year to qualify, so there's plenty of time to train.

- Less time on Facebook!

Robin P wrote: "Yes, I want to share the intention of realignment. I don't have a resolution so much as a project.

I am writing a play for our Unitarian Sunday school kids to perform. It starts with a depiction o..."

How very cool, Robin! Make sure you let us know how the play goes.

Charlie wrote: "I start a new job tomorrow. My first ‘new’ job in 19 years and hopefully the last job I’ll have until I retire. Not sure if it’s a resolution but my focus is to land well and start strong. This wil..."

Good luck with the new job, Charlie. Hoping you land well and that everything comes into balance for you.

Booknblues wrote: "Amy, yours aligns nicely with mine and resonates with me.
I've chosen joy & compassion with intentional & mindful.

It is all to easy to focus on what is wrong, but we loose our joy when we do that..."

Ahl Losing joy. My therapist and I were just talking about this. She said to look for joy in all the small things, a stranger opens a door for you, simple things like that. Then think about it during the day to bring about that joy.

I make resolutions only one at a time and not necessarily on Jan 1, but the one I've started recently is to stay more focused in situations where my mind tends to wander. This isn't an age-related problem since I had to work hard to stay focused when studying in university because it was the same information over & over, etc. I'm working on certain mental techniques that I hope will help me.

Karin wrote: "I make resolutions only one at a time and not necessarily on Jan 1, but the one I've started recently is to stay more focused in situations where my mind tends to wander. This isn't an age-related ..."

Interesting, I have a similar issue but I don't usually fight it anymore (since I no longer have to worry about a job or school). I can rarely do one thing at a time and get bored easily if info is repeated. Audiobooks help me focus when driving because without them I will be even less present to my surroundings. In general, eading is one thing I can do for a sustained period (unless the book is very dry).

Booknblues wrote: "Amy, yours aligns nicely with mine and resonates with me.
I've chosen joy & compassion with intentional & mindful.

It is all to easy to focus on what is wrong, but we loose our joy when we do that..."

I have no idea where you live or what your closest library is like but our local library does mum and bub groups where they are always looking for volunteers to sing and read to the bubs so the mums can have a moment to just be, not entertain. Perhaps your closest library would be keen to do something similar, and you could have that joy back?

Not quite the same as Amy, but similar motivation of wanting to find the light at the end of a very long tunnel.

A few changes made last year do seem to be helping for me. First up the first new job in 18.5 years. I'm grateful every day that they gave me the chance and have found my love of teaching again because I can go to work without expecting some boss or other to be yelling at me daily. I get to focus on just teaching and trying to make learning fun for the kids, it is so good. Hope Charlie feels the same about his new job.

The other thing I started last year was doing at least 20 minutes of deliberate exercise (not just the walking about all day, housework, walking to get somewhere etc) at least 5 times a week. I hadn't done deliberate exercise for the sake of exercise in almost 20 years. It really does help my anxiety, and it is meant to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence so that's a win win. I didn't expect to build muscle at this age, or to get fit, but it appears I started just in time. Bonus.

The other thing I started doing is deliberately taking note of when I feel happy, relaxed etc and appreciating those moments. If I set myself a job to complete and do it, I take a minute to be pleased with myself for doing it (instead of not doing it because nobody else will notice). I also say thank you meaningfully more often, rather than just on autopilot. As in I tell the kids or whoever what I am thanking them for and why I appreciate it (if they don't get why I'm thanking them).

This year my main goal is to stay healthy long enough to get my double mastectomy in time to stop the spread. Exercise, eating healthily, trying to keep stress and anxiety regulated, sleep. My second goal is to keep enjoying and being grateful for my new job (and not mess it up). The third goal is to have a massive spring clean on the house and yard, which I am working on now. I built 2 new sets of bookshelves yesterday which was an adventure including climbing on ladders while balancing shelves, nails and hammers etc....only hammered my thumb a few times. Today I will try to organise all my books and get the study finished.

Great job on the bookshelves, Jen! I laughed about hammering your finger, something I always do too!

I don't make New Years' Resolutions, never have and likely never will. I just don't see the point. I basically don't believe that the calendar turning over to a new year is the time for some kind of reflection and resolution. Those happen at different times, more fluidly, in my life, especially when, as now, so much of my time is dedicated to complex cases in my legal practice, settling my friend's estate, and handling various other family and personal matters. Even when those moments come, it's more a to do list than resolutions.

I also don't set resolutions, but I have an ongoing goal related to the mass quantity of books I have in my house.

I volunteer at my local library by helping to sort the donated books that come in for our Lobby Bookstore, Annual Book Sale, Vintage Book Sale and Holiday Book Sales. We are a very active Friends group. And we raised over $80,000 for the Library this past year.

My ongoing goal is to bring a bag of books to donate every Monday when I go in to work my shift and bring no more than 2 'great finds' home with me at the end of the day. Today was my first Monday of the year. I brought my bagful and brought only 2 'great finds' home. AND, the great finds were for my husband (right in his wheelhouse) not me! So far so good this year. I don't make my goal every week.

Theresa wrote: "I don't make New Years' Resolutions, never have and likely never will. I just don't see the point. I basically don't believe that the calendar turning over to a new year is the time for some kind o..."

Agreed and I've also never done resolutions.

Linda C wrote: "I also don't set resolutions, but I have an ongoing goal related to the mass quantity of books I have in my house.

I volunteer at my local library by helping to sort the donated books that come i..."

Love your volunteering and what AMAZING fund-raising results!

Anita wrote: "I don't know if I would call them resolutions, but I always have goals:

- Read 50 books

- Maintain the 20 lb weight loss I managed to do this year (mostly to keep my blood pressure under control!..."

These are great goals for 2026! I too am going to try to maintain my weight loss from 2025... and hopefully keep the momentum going. And qualifying for the Boston marathon - what a goal!!!! I hope you are able to accomplish all you set out to do this year.

Linda C wrote: "I also don't set resolutions, but I have an ongoing goal related to the mass quantity of books I have in my house.

I volunteer at my local library by helping to sort the donated books that come i..."

I understand Linda, I have the same job as a volunteer at my library

Joanne wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "Amy, yours aligns nicely with mine and resonates with me.
I've chosen joy & compassion with intentional & mindful.

It is all to easy to focus on what is wrong, but we loose our ..."

My wife's name is Joy, so I always freak when I lose Joy. hehe Dad humor. I know.

Karin wrote: "I make resolutions only one at a time and not necessarily on Jan 1, but the one I've started recently is to stay more focused in situations where my mind tends to wander. This isn't an age-related ..."

Robin P wrote: "Karin wrote: "I make resolutions only one at a time and not necessarily on Jan 1, but the one I've started recently is to stay more focused in situations where my mind tends to wander. This isn't a..."

I don't know about y'all, but mine comes for ADHD. Staying focused is very hard. I read while watching sports on TV. I have been knowns, to listen to an audiobook, play a video game, and watch a sporting event all at the same time. I have to make myself calm everything down. Don't overextend.

Jen wrote: "The other thing I started doing is deliberately taking note of when I feel happy, relaxed etc and appreciating those moments. If I set myself a job to complete and do it, I take a minute to be pleased with myself for doing it (instead of not doing it because nobody else will notice). I also say thank you meaningfully more often, rather than just on autopilot. As in I tell the kids or whoever what I am thanking them for and why I appreciate it (if they don't get why I'm thanking them).."

I love this thought, and it is something I am also terrible at.

Until a couple years ago, I never set new year's resolution, but I was at a point where I was just starting feel a little grounded after a turbulent and emotionally wild time. It just so happened to be January, so I made a little list. It was a few accomplishments, but it more focused on who I wanted to be. That list, keeping it visual, helped. I agree that the turning of a calendar is nearly arbitrary (it is a rotation around the sun) and yes you can pick any measure of time to reevaluate. I stop throughout the year and reevaluate who I am, but having that list, that person I told myself I wanted to be was helpful. So, I made one last year and now I've made one this year too. It's not a definitive list. It's not a have to accomplish list. It's a guide.

1) Keep weight off
2) Start running regularly again (I let it die off)
3) Run Braves Country 5K (5k in Truist Park)
4) Read mindfully, picking out, saving, and sharing meaningful passages.
5) Channel Theo. This is a reference to Theo of Golden. Being mindful of conscious, meaningful, and kind acts and words.

Let me just add - letting go. A lot of recent situations are showing me over and over again, that there is so much we cannot control. But we can control our reactions and what we attach to. If we all our acting with our highest intentions and see that in others, then we can just let go of what happens if things don't work out, or don't land right. If we don't behave as people expect or want us to, or others do not for us, we still just "Show up with Love" and hope for the best.

Jason wrote: "Karin wrote: "I make resolutions only one at a time and not necessarily on Jan 1, but the one I've started recently is to stay more focused in situations where my mind tends to wander. This isn't a..."

I've never been diagnosed with anything and had no trouble staying focused in school, but then I took notes as I got older and was excited to be there from K-3. I can read novels and watch TV with no problems and can focus on tasks that involve moving such as writing and many other things.

However, what many people don't realize is that in the myriad of learning styles that involve your brain, eye, ear, hand and foot dominance (far more than four!) kinesthetic learning is one that pairs with various things. The best book I, as a lay person, ever read on it was The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand, & Foot Can Improve Your Learning which is the ONLY book that allowed me to find the right fit for my kids, two of whom did not fit into the 4 styles I'd been reading about.

This is for learning new things or learning under stress and explained the two who didn't fit the boxes perfectly.

I was too old to learn mine plus I don't have a dominant eye which muddles things, but we were able to figure out my mother on the second try (once she stopped overthinking things and she knew it when we found it.)

I was never diagnosed with anything but as an adult realized I had qualities of ADD, not physically active, but my brain is always going and usually my mouth - often getting me in trouble. Also I get bored easily. I have found a couple of helpful books, I'll have to look them up, that give suggestions on how to work with my style instead of always fighting against it.

Robin P wrote: "I was never diagnosed with anything but as an adult realized I had qualities of ADD, not physically active, but my brain is always going and usually my mouth - often getting me in trouble. Also I g..."

I don't have six or more symptoms of ADD/ADHD, nor did I have that many as a child, which is what it takes to be diagnosed. I do have a couple of them, though. I've never been prone to boredom, other than the normal stuff almost all kids get who aren't overly booked and not always on devices. It's actually healthy for young kids to spend some time being bored so I made sure all my kids had time like that. It usually led to me reading or doing something creative.

2025 was NOT a good year for me. I had a major problem with my knee that required 2 surgeries and has kept me "sidelined" since mid June. But I am doing amazingly well and starting to hike with my "Badass Lady Hiker Friends." In fact my first hike included an FU 2025 ceremony. So my resolution is to keep doing what I have been doing so I can get back to being physically active, esp hiking and biking. I also intend to pay it forward. My family and friends helped me get through the past 6 months and I want to celebrate them and help them when they need it. And now that we are all entering our 70s, there are always opportunities to show up!

That’s a very nice sentiment and resolution Shelly

My loose resolutions are to do with trying to keep routine in the house - which is against my character, but it’s bus times and everyone here appreciates a bit of predictability

The rest is
- do lots with my family
- To hike again - tried to replace it last year with a gym and that was a total failure
- to read lots, knit lots
- say yes to things. A friend suggests to go to the beach? Yes! Partner suggests to try a new place - yes