Beginning

January.  New Beginnings.  I read these stanzas from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Ring Out, Wild Bells"

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

I agree.  The old year is gone.  Ring in the new, the true.

As I wrote earlier this week, my word for 2015 is LIVE.  I want to live simply, healthfully, mindfully, devoutly and thankfully.  As part of my LIVING thankfully, I will be continuing to post my Friday Fave Fives every week.

1.  It has been cold here in Southern California.  At least, it has been cold for us.  Really cold.  Don't snort, all you northerners, but it was 30F this morning.  Below Freezing.  We are not used to this and we're not equipped for it, either.  I'm so thankful for a warm home which has a functioning furnace, for hot coffee, for a cashmere sweater and a hat and a scarf and gloves to add to my fleece jacket to fend off the frigid temperatures.

(yes, the camellias are blooming)

2.  We still don't have internet or cable at home.  I'm thankful for our local coffee and mobile hot spot (also called Starbucks) which allows us yummy drinks and internet access daily.  In fact, it's where I am right now typing this.

3.  I'm thankful for long time, special friends.  On Sunday I met up with an old Oregon friend who is now living off and on south of LA helping her parents.  Years ago, we homeschooled together and we still keep in touch.  We had a great time catching up.  It amazes me that sometimes friends grow in the same way I have and we end of being even closer than we were before.  It's like we're sisters.  I can't wait for her to return from her east coast visit so we can continue all those conversation trails we started.

4.  The Autry Museum is across the road from the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park.  We've been wanting to visit the Route 66 exhibit there and New Years Day turned out to be the best time.  Bonus:  it was freeeee!

5.  I'm thankful for being able to live healthfully. We have been walking regularly again.  I love walking the streets of my neighborhood and I'm thankful the mud has been mostly cleared and we can safely navigate the streets now.  Those daily three mile walks do make a difference.

What are you thankful for this week?

Live

I don't make New Years Resolutions.  It seems to me that resolutions fail epically in encouraging people to make positive changes in daily activities. Usually, one makes a resolution but doesn't have the plan in place to make that resolution last and so the momentum lasts only a few days or weeks at the most.  I prefer 'hopes and goals'. Some years at the end of December or early January, I have chosen a word that I think will identify what 'hopes and goals' I want to focus on during the coming year.  In 2011, I wrote a blog post about my word of the year which was Simplify.  Evidently, in 2012, I didn't write about that year's word because I have no post in my archives.  My word in 2013 was Save.  I seem to have skipped 2014, too.  In keeping with the trend of choosing a word every other year, I am focusing on LIVE in 2015.

This coming year I want to:

Live simply.  Continue to reduce the clutter and excess possessions in my life.  I don't plan to get rid of everything but 100 items and throw away things I use on a regular basis.  But I will keep what is useful, beautiful and has a happy memory which makes me smile.

Live healthfully.  I am making a commitment to exercise more consistently--three times a week for a half hour.  That doesn't include the nearly daily three mile walks I take.  We are still working on the details of this one.  Should we join a gym?  How about buying the equipment we would need and doing it on our own?  Healthy living also involves healthy eating.  We mostly have this part covered as I eat a whole foods plant based diet and The Professor adds in some cheese and meat.

Live mindfully.  This one could cover so much.  Here I am focusing on limiting my schedule to allow time for rest and relaxation.  I want to choose activities which add value to my life, my family's lives, and which are in line with my life values.

Live devoutly.  I want to focus more of my hours on prayer, Bible study and meditation.

Live thankfully.  Being thankful and grateful means not complaining or comparing.  Many people write a daily diary stating three things they are grateful for.  I'm not sure I have the discipline to write a quotidian journal, but I want to think thankfully on a minute by minute, hour by hour basis.

These 'hopes and goals' for 2015 which are embodied in the word Live are not new to me or unusual for how I have lived my life for years and decades.  They simply have a slightly different emphasis in the details for this year.

Have you made resolutions, written a list of hopes and goals, or chosen a focus word for 2015?