Read Elsewhere: New Year Inspiration

A few of the things that have inspired me lately:

*This post at Zen Habits, How to Start, makes it as simple as possible to begin anew.

*This quote from the wise writer Heather Sellers:

"I notice a pattern of (adult) people opening many or most conversations with “How are you?” and the response we give is so often “Good–busy!”  Like one word with a hitch in the middle, good-busy.  I feel this pattern denies something relational, something really important. I think we can so easily get into a pattern of using “busyness” or “swamped-ness” to keep from making a deep, close, or meaningful connection with the other person before us.  I noticed this in myself, and I got so sick of myself! It was like I was bragging about my importance in the world. I’m so busy = I’m so vital to the world!"

*This wisdom, which I linked to earlier, from Shauna Niequist, meant for Christmas but really necessary all year round:

"In our lowest, most fragmented moments, we feel out of control, controlled, in fact, by expectations and to-do lists and commitments and traditions. This is that season, we shrug, when things get a little crazy. No avoiding it.But that's not true. And that's shifting the blame. You've been entrusted with one life, made up of days and hours and minutes. You are spending them according to your values, whether you admit it or not.Let's be courageous in these days.Let's choose love and rest and grace.Let's use our minutes and hours to create memories with the people we love, instead of dragging them on one more errand or shushing them while we accomplish one more seemingly necessary thing."

*And this Brian Andreas quote I just wrote on the chalkboard by the back door, right above our family's resolutions:   “Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life.”