Time to resolve

The year is drawing to a close and it is time once again to reflect back on the events of the past twelve months. This year has been chuck-a-block full. Over full. Way too much! Some good and unfortunately some very sad. In spite of it all there has been beauty and joy, and when I have found it, I've grabbed onto it and relished it. The one lesson I firmly learned was to give up playing the "what if" game. It simply doesn't matter and it is just a waste of mental energy. The "Why?" game isn't one you should play either. Sometimes there is no answer, and why make yourself miserable trying to find one? Here's where the Serenity Prayer comes to the rescue:
      God give me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Resolving can mean to solve or to break down into component parts. Instead of resolutions this year I want to seek solutions in order to resolve the "problems" in my life. For example, getting organized. Once and for all I must get organized, I'm tired of living with my current technique of piling. Piles no longer work for me because I waste way too much time sorting through them looking for what I want. It's stressing me out too much! So I've pulled an "oldy" but goody off the shelf, Julie Morgenstern's  Organizing from the Inside Out. Confession time, I never managed to get through it the first time which is probably why I still haven't gotten organized. Well that may be one reason. What I think is really the answer is found in this quote, "Organizing from the inside out means creating a system based on your specific personality, needs, and goals. It focuses on defining who you are and what is important to you as a person so that your system can be designed to reflect that. (page 13)" Up until now I didn't really know who I was or what I wanted in life. I was living based on what I thought people expected of me. No wonder I couldn't come up with a system for myself. Here is where the resolving comes in, the breaking down of my life into its component parts so that I can observe them and fashion them into a new whole. This past year has been one which has challenged me to see myself in a new way and to redefine who I am. It is the work of this new year to express what I've learned and put it into practice.