My desires, aims, aspirations and resolutions for 2014

Every year it is customary to make resolutions. It is almost a joke as they are broken quicker than they are made: the no smoking, exercising, etc etc. Some years I have too have made my list of resolutions and broken them with impunity and alacrity. Then as I grew older I stopped doing so, or of I did they remained in my head. So what got me to want to make a set of resolutions this year and not keep them inside me but write them for all to see. The answer is simple: Ranjan's  Cancer! The reasons are quite complex so let me elucidate them a little before I actually share that list. Ranjan's brush with the pearly gates as one has to admit that we were almost there, brought to the fore what is truly important and what simply depends on what is truly important. Confused? Read on. When we were all healthy and happy much of what I sought, or may be we all seek, was quite wild and even ludicrous. I will not even go there but let it just be said that everything that went of the list presupposed that we were healthy and happy. Then Ranjan started fading away and for one long year I groped helplessly for answers. In those days there was only one thing that could and would have gone on any wish list: Ranjan's health. All the rest was irrelevant. One could have offered me the moon, the money I needed for pwhy, a magic wand to rebuild my crumbling home and more, I would not have wanted it. I knew that the foundations of my existence and essence were held together by one man. I gave up all else for one mission: to get Ranjan back on his feet. We are not quite there, but the light at the end of the tunnel is now visible, albeit far away.

As I nursed Ranjan back to health I became aware of what was really important in life and what was frivolous and shallow. I also realised that nothing is eternal and much of what we want is mere hubris. We are not God and should never fall into that trap. We have a limited time on earth and with our loved ones but we have the choice to live life fully or waste it away skittishly.

Today on the first day of this New Year I have made a few resolutions. Here they are:

To be grateful for every moment we have
To live life at its fullest one day at a time
To be grateful for all the goodwill that has come my way
To keep in touch with friends as they are precious
To try and not fall into emotional and hurtful traps
To only think positive thoughts
To laugh and fill  life with happy thoughts
To look after loved ones but also myself
To say all that has been left unsaid even if it is difficult
To face every challenge head on and with dignity
To accept with humility the presence of a higher force and be eternally grateful for His presence.
To strive to complete all unfulfilled tasks, even those one has been shunning
To look at my face in the mirror every day and like what I see
To make gratitude my highest priority

I will end this post with a quote I love:

“Write on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”  — Ralph Waldo Emerson