Take It All Off

Happy New Year!

Do you have a New Year's Resolution?

Yesterday I went to the UAB Rec Center after work to exercise. Even though classes don't start until Monday, it was packed. Almost every machine was filled up. My guess...lots of people back from the holidays starting on their New Year's Resolution to exercise, get in shape and lose weight.

Most years I try to think of some kind of resolution. In high school, I think every year I vowed to lose weight so that the "it" guy of the year would like me. "If only I were 20 pounds thinner," I would think, "then he would surely want to ask me out." Sad, I know (deep sigh).

Fortunately, my resolutions have changed over the years. They almost always involve doing something new. Organizing my closets, writing letters to people I love, exercising every day of the week, catching up with scrapbooking, reading more books, getting involved in community service, committing to daily devotions, etc... Maybe this ritual of taking something on each year for the betterment of yourself sounds familiar to you.

This year, I don't have room in my brain to take on something new. So, I'm taking it off.

I'm going to do nothing as my New Year's resolution. I'm going to create space in my life and try to resist filling every moment with busyness and tasks and goings here and there. I am going to say "no." I'm going to not plan. I'm going to breathe. Deeply and slowly. We'll see how it goes.

I like to be involved. I like to be in the middle of things. Truth is, I don't want to miss out on anything. I like to be a part of the action. I not only want to be in the middle of things - I want to start things. I want to be in charge of things, I want to make things happen. I do this at work, at church, at home. It's as if I cannot help myself.

But when I'm DOING, I'm not BEING. and if I'm not BEING, then I'm missing out on the present moment and what it can give me. I want to try this because my hypothesis is that if I am doing nothing, I am creating space for something wonderful to happen...moments I would otherwise miss. So, I want to listen. And the only way I can listen is if I stop the noise.

So this year, I'm doing nothing.

And that, my friend, is something.