My New Years Eve resolution for the past 8 years has pretty much never strayed from:

• stop biting my nails
• stop dating losers

On occasion I will throw in the "lose 5lbs", but even I know that a shallow endeavor such as this for an intention never sticks around for long. So, what to do - what to do? I figured that this year my aspirations should be a little bit higher, so I decided to utilize an exercise that Seane Corn ("Off the Mat, Into the World") had published in Yoga Journal a few years back {thanks Michelle for resending it to me!!}:

Making Positive Changes In The World:

1. Write down two or three words that someone who loves you would use to describe you. Choose the qualities that you think others appreciate about you.

2. Write down three of your favorite hobbies or talents (ex: gardening, surfing, etc.)

3. Write down your ideal vision of the world (ex: a world free from violence, where everyone has organic food to eat, etc.)

4. Now put it all together in a sentence.

This was mine:

1. Passionate, Authentic, Charismatic
2. Cooking, Traveling, Teaching Yoga
3. A more compassionate world.

Example 1:

I will use my passion for and through traveling to create a more compassionate world.

Example 2:

I will use my authenticity through teaching yoga to create a more compassionate world.

Last night when people would ask me my New Years Resolution....I'd respond with, "Well, I plan to use my authentic nature through teaching yoga in hopes of creating a more compassionate world". The response was first surprise, and then a huge, heartfelt smile.

What was YOUR resolution? Or better yet, what could your sentence be?

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."