It’s mid February and we are well in the start of this year. As is often the case our carefully crafted, much thought of and commonly stress inducing resolutions for this year have all but moved to the “guilt” pile of our consciousness.
I have had my share of such declarations of willingness to change the status quo of my life for the better. Also, just as many of you, made many unsuccessful, badly planned and all too unrealistically drawn plans of action to implement those changes. After many of those I even found myself declaring: “ I AM NEVER DOING THIS TO MYSELF AGAIN!”
This past Christmas, for the first time in sixteen years, I decorated a tree. It was the day after Thanksgiving, and my local Canadian tree sellers had just arrived the week before with some fragrant and beautiful samples all lined up and ready to grace neighborhood homes.
I marched up to them on Friday afternoon, with $44 in my hand. After a brief chat with Oliver, a sweet, daredevil of a kind, young man from the Madeline Islands, I got my tree. Oh what a lovely specimen! Fluffy, tall and aromatic I carried it home with such a sense of pride and a feeling that I finally manifested a new side of my “adult” self.
Soon after setting it up, I realized I did not own any lights or toys for it. What to do? My neighbor and dear friend, who helped me choose it, rummaged through her things and found three, still working, strands of multicolored lights and grabbed some multicolored craft paper. Just like that we went to work cutting and shaping garlands. I discovered some colored Popsicle sticks and made “stars” from them and before we knew it my tree looked festive.
Happy and proud with our resourcefulness and sipping our $10 sparkling wine we “went to town”!
Soon my tree, was “wearing” a ball gown skirt, had “hair” made out of the plastic wrapping the tree came in. Sunglasses, shoes, earrings, gloves, necklaces etc found their way in completing the look: Sheila, as we decided to name the tree entity, was born!
Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was that child like exhilaration one feels looking at a lit up Christmas tree but the best part of the experience begun just then.
We started writing in small pieces of left over paper wishes, hopes and dreams for the new year and lovingly placing them in Sheila’s green lap.
Over the next month, everyone stopping by the house was invited to do the same and before we knew it, Sheila became our ultimate “resolution” High Priestess and “Keeper”.
I now look at her,(yes, I did not throw her out yet!) stripped of her toys and lights, wishes carefully placed in the “hope chest” ( a shoe box) to be put to flames during my next trip Upstate, sincerely grateful for her contribution.
I am more certain than ever, that the simple act of creating this tree, has already made my year and the year of the rest of the contributors better.
I only have one nagging thought. How could our dreams and hopes gain fertile ground if their only addressed once a year? How do I, all of us, maintain momentum in our pursuit of happiness if we only focus on it for a few short weeks?
The “breakthrough” answer to this query came to me just yesterday. What if the only resolution is to make the beginning of each month, every month a sort of “new year‘s” eve? What if there’s a way to continue creating symbolic and other talismans of the future we wish to see, in the beginning of every month? Engage our loved ones, friends, neighbors in the manifestation of such totems? Get to celebrate each month the creation of a small , tangible goal and help each other complete or at least initiate the effort?
Could this help to move our thoughts out of the “guilt box” and into the “ I did it!” box?
I, for one, declare the rest of February the “One Cup Of Coffee a Day” month! I have chosen a red and orange mug as my celebratory symbol of commitment to the task, and a mason jar as the depository of moneys saved from skipping the lattes, cappuccinos and espressos of days past to fund future campaigns.
How would YOU express and manifest your month’s tasks? What kind of symbols, totems, co-conspirators would YOU engage in the process? Most importantly how are YOU going to celebrate your outcomes at the end of the month?
Looking forward to your stories and suggestions and let’s make February the best month so far!
A sincere “thank you” is due to Daniela and Yuki for their infinite creativity and full hearted participation in the “Sheila” project and to Sheila herself for her old school glamour and humorous consent to our childlike musings!
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