Let Your Heart Be Light

And so, it begins.

Two thousand and fourteen.

Another year. Just like that.

How I wish I could turn the clock around and complete my goals for twenty-thirteen: love more, learn more, be more than I was. But, alas, that year has passed, mistakes and all, and the world is rolling forward into three-hundred-and-sixty-five days of…I'm not quite sure yet.

But there is something I am sure of, and it is that this year will be concrete. Permanent. I will look back and say "that was the year when I completed this" or "when I met" or "how I found" or "why I did". It will be a year of fulfillment of my resolutions, a check mark on a page signifying that yes, I accomplished something. And so we continue.

My motto for the year emerged during this past holiday season. I tend to have one every year. In 2012 it was the song "The Beautiful Letdown" by Switchfoot I think. Last year was…hmmm…I don't even remember. The word "intention" maybe? Living with intentions? Regardless, this year the phrase will be

"let your heart be light"

I chose this because it is a perfect illustration of what I desire to have, what I desire to become. Let your heart be light. It is simple and freeing. Not "make your heart be light" or "maybe your heart will be light", but "let". As if the potential of a heart of light is already there, but is being resisted. As if it has been hidden underneath schedules, school, stress, and shoulds. Pushed away or smothered by the more-importants or do-this-right-nows. Let your heart be light. Simply. Purely. Let it be.

As for my New Year's Resolutions, they have been divided into two categories: abstract and achievable.
As a quick side note, I do my best thinking when it is organized in lists. Clean. Neat. Easy to follow. As information should be. So just prepare yourself to see a lot of numbered items this year.
So yes, two categories. The abstract resolutions are things that I wish to gain or practice or work on. Ideas or characteristics. These items are non-check-off-able. They are simply pursued throughout the year.
The achievable items can be checked off. A completion of something that can be finitely finished.
And now we're ready to begin.

Clarabeth's New Year's Resolutions - 2014

1. Know your limits and act within them.

2. Work hard.

3. Take the shoulds out. If it feels like an obligation, something is wrong.