No Resolutions

no-resolutions2 As we flip the calendar page to a new year, it’s nice to mark its beginnings in a meaningful way. Each time I sit down to write a New Year’s post, I bump up against what I am beginning to consider a highly overused word, Resolutions. Believe me, I’ve used and abused the “r” word, and its derivative, resolve, many times. In my mind, committing to resolutions seems…well, so 2011ish.

What’s the issue with resolutions? For one, I poked around and have not found any insightful end of the year round-up type articles about whether or not we fulfilled our resolutions from last year.

New Old Resolutions

I did find a lot of lists. This list from Earthshare includes simple rrrrresolutions (see, it’s not even rolling off my tongue comfortably).

Resolve to eat healthier. Resolve to lose weight and get in shape. Resolve to spend more quality time with my family and loved ones. Resolve to manage my money and spend less. Resolve to give back.

Don’t you think those were some nice New Year resolutions for our pristine new year? I do, but they leave me asking…

Who holds whom accountable for resolutions?

I guess it is the person making the resolutions. That seems like a set up…for failure.

Old New Rulin’s

The second list comes from Woody Guthrie. Yes, you read that right. This land is your land, this land is my land, and this land was made for making rulin’s (as Woody calls ‘em). In 1942, Woody Guthrie penned this list (click here to view list larger):

Wake Up And Fight

To me, Woody’s rulin’s are not resolutions. They are intentions. Number 33: Wake Up And Fight seems like it could have been written today about so many burning issues. The 99%ers are waking up the masses to inequalities in our social financial system. And many of us are waking up to climate change, food safety issues, how we educate our children and how best to protect our environment against polluters.

So, I’m turning away from resolutions that are made and broken, and moving on to intentions that are positive and hopeful. As new agey as this may seem, an intention embodies a feeling of noticing a new purpose. My hope is that my finest intentions will continue to lead to action.

I hold no ill will towards those who make remarkable resolutions. I’m all for a demarcation and promise of a fabulous year ahead with its vast amount of newness and wonder. I’m just dropping the “r” word from my New Year's vocabulary, and diving into 2012 with intention...and maybe a few rulin's.

Where will the new year lead you?

Photo Credits: ffffound, Boing Boing

Anew: Clearing The Pipes

After a few days of family and self-imposed unplugged bliss (an absolutely scary state for a blogger) over the holidays, I've now been thrown in the other direction. I'm struggling to find my way back into the prolific writing groove that generally drives me. Maybe it was that exhaustive A-Z DIY Eco-Gift Guide which was so much fun to organize and write - but, it kind of sucked the blogging out of me for a few weeks. Could it be the fresh year awash with newness and all the connotations that accompany that? Right now, I'm tip-toeing back into the blogosphere with a few new posts and a sprucing up of this blog (coming soon). I'm also moving forward with more careful intention. You can read about that here. This is new for me. I generally catapult myself on pure instinct - then "see where it all lands." The twists and turns have been exhilarating, and continue to allow me to keep singing my Econesting tune. While I could keep truckin' merrily along, I'm also taking in the larger landscape of what's next...

2 things on my mind right now:

1. It would be nice to monetize this blog. Any ideas?

2. I would like to collaborate more. Any ideas?

2 newsy-related items:

1. I will be profiled in the next issue of Where Women Create. This is an absolutely awe-inspiring honor to have 6-8 pages of magazine real estate devoted to…me. I promise to tell you more about that very soon.

2. If you are in the New York area and have any interest in starting your own blog, join me at Wing and Clover for a workshop: Blogging The Basics: A Niche and a Knack.

As the image above suggests, I'm clearing out and reconstructing for the new year. Will you be learning some new tunes - exercising your pipes differently in 2011?

Credit: Carl Kleiner via Design Love Fest (My dad was a trumpet and trombone player, and a master tinkerer. He would have loved eco-art - although it wasn't called that yet.)