Embracing possibility

Are you ready to ring in the New Year with your usual laundry list of resolutions? All the things in your life that you promise to do better this year... We've heard them all before: I won't gain weight, I'll exercise more, I'll stop dying my hair. Yeah right.

Instead of making promises that you're sure to break, consider an easier, more carefree type of commitment. Consider embracing YOU.

100 "stealable" resolutions

embrace new years positivelyThis year, I'm ditching self-limiting behavior that starves my soul and making resolutions that feed my mind, body and soul. Feel free to steal these and make them your own.

1.     Reject fear. Make your faith bigger and embrace possibility.

2.     Pay the bridge toll of the person in the car behind you.

3.     Give yourself permission to nap when you're tired, eat when you're hungry and cry when you're sad.

4.     Take a class in a subject you know nothing about - herbology, genealogy, poetry.

5.     Think about the injustices of the world while making dinner. While you're eating, talk about one thing you can do to help.

6.     Donate your old magazines to a school for art class.

7.     Depending on where you live, make sand or snow angels. Take a picture and inspire others to do the same.

8.     Feed the birds - bird feeders and recipes.

9.     Remember Auschwitz and talk to your kids about Veteran's (USA) and Remembrance (Canada) Day. Plan a visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC to learn more.

10.  Explore your senses: sleep in the nude on satin sheets.

11.  Turn the computer off and hand write thank you cards. Seal them with a kiss.

12.  Write in your journal by candlelight.

13.  Wrap a friend in a hug and make it last for 6 seconds.

14.  Know why you support or bash a politician. Do some research on Rock the Vote.

15.  Donate an afternoon to a soup kitchen, old age home or shelter - AFTER the holidays.  

16.  Treat your boss to dinner. Share something good about your life that s/he may not know.

17.  Call (800) GIVE-LIFE. Donate blood and sign an organ donor card.

18.  Wear shoes that don't give you blisters, backaches or otherwise limit your ability to walk.

19.  Turn the TV off for a whole week and rediscover the art of conversation.

20.  Refuse to use social media to complain.

21.  Embrace your bra size, be it triple A or double D.

22.  Teach someone how to play license plate bingo or punch buggy. Let them win.

23.  Write reviews for Amazon of terrific and terrible books you read. Give constructive feedback.

24.  Fall in love with yourself. Take yourself out to dinner, buy yourself flowers and chocolates.

25.  Make popcorn without a microwave.

26.  Plan one family activity each week. No cellphones allowed.

27.  Cherish your victories but don't settle for them.

28.  Take a walk for AIDS with your mom, best friend or co-workers.  

29.  Change the answer. Start with the word YES.

30.  Read the book. Then see the movie.

31.  Stop trying to be perfect and just be yourself. You are enough just the way you are.

32.  Take a stand against racist, sexist and homophobic jokes. Speak up and explain why.

33.  Support your local library by attending free lectures.  

34.  Read the same novel your daughter is reading. Discuss it with her.

35.  If you smoke, quit. If you know a teenager who smokes, quit together.

36.  Always wear a seat belt.

37.  Enjoy screen-free days once in a while. Social media will still be there when you return.

38.  Embrace your flaws. Real life doesn't come with airbrushing.

39.  Make sure guys and gals share dish duty at the next family dinner.

40.  Respect other people's time and be early. Set your watch five minutes ahead and forget about it.

41.  Make every day Earth Day.

42.  Travel to a place you've always wanted to see.

43.  Find out who said, "Well behaved women rarely make history."

44.  Tune into new ideas. Set your clock radio to your local National Public Radio station.

45.  Buy yourself a fancy birthday cake and serve it for breakfast - for no reason at all.

46.  Share joy - be a pinball wizard and light up every corner of your life.

47.  Explore different faiths. Attend a neighborhood church you've never been inside before.

48.  Take a tour of your local art gallery and discover the beauty of curvy women.

49.  Eat a different fruit every morning and a different vegetable every afternoon for a week.

50.  Relax.

51.  Experience catharsis. Watch a tearjerker, cry your eyes out and then discover your life isn't as bad as you thought.

52.  Don't spread gossip. End it with you.

53.  Listen more, talk less.

54.  Kiss more, argue less.

55.  Call Outward Bound and go on a real adventure for a change.

56.  Refuse to worry about what others think.

57.  Videotape your parents. Listen to their childhood stories.

58.  Lock your bedroom door, take of your clothes and look in the mirror. Smile at yourself and say, "I'm beautiful." Believe it.

59.  Be bold. If you're going to fail, make it a doozy.

60.  Take your Dad for a walk.

61.  Don't check your e-mail for a whole day.

62.  Laugh for no reason at all - on a subway.

63.  Fly a kite.

64.  Remember, lingerie ALWAYS looks better on the floor.

65.  Be part of the solution. Before you complain, make sure you're prepared to do something.  

66.  Write your goals, dreams and hopes for next year in a letter. Give it to a friend and ask her to mail it to you in six months.

67.  Breathe deep from the bottom of your belly. Enjoy.

68.  Make your own status quo.

69.  Record yourself singing your favorite songs. Listen to it.

70.  Draw cellulite on super models in fashion magazines.

71.  Be silly. Jump rope in your backyard.  

72.  Reread your high school journal. Congratulate yourself for surviving.

73.  Know when to break the rules and when to follow them. Break them more often.

74.  Give yourself permission to cry, laugh and love. You need them all.

75.  Reread Beverly Clearly.

76.  Dance, just dance.

77.  Say your age out loud.

78.  Go ice skating without skates.

79.  Diet because you want to feel better, not because you want to be thinner.

80.  Stop listening to that voice in your head that says you're not good enough thin enough, whatever enough. It's lying.

81.  Look around you. Find something beautiful. Share it with the world.

82.  Watch the Seattle Children's Hospital version of Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger."

83.  Clean out your closets and hold a garage sale. Give the proceeds to your favorite charity.

84.  Memorize a love poem. Tell it to yourself.  

85.  Make brownies from scratch.

86.  Discover a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

87.  Talk softly while using your cell phone in public.

88.  Always kiss someone goodnight - even if it's yourself.

89.  Learn a constellation other than the big dipper.

90.  Remember your first boyfriend? Send a prayer that he still remembers you.

91.  Say more than just "hello" to your neighbors.

92.  Invest in creativity and courage - visit KickStarter.com.

93.  When you ask someone how they are, ask them to explain what "I'm fine" means to them.

94.  Never say never.

95.  Give someone a gift for no reason at all.

96.  Discover how your food lives.

97.  Refuse to go to sleep angry. Stay up, fight it out and then make up.

98.  Give more than you expect to receive. Always.

99.  Smile. Often.

This is YOUR year, Baby! Enjoy it ...

I'd love to hear YOUR resolutions. Shout out to us on Facebook or Twitter and let's start talking!