Happy New Year!

Wow! It's 2009. I love the new beginning of a new year. I plan to keep up the good habits I've managed to establish, and add more that have been neglected. I also plan to do things carefully and little by little. I guess I've decided to work on my feelings first, probably first, last, and always. It's because I've learned in my years that unless I'm in the right frame of mind, not much gets done. So my first goal is to feel and express gratitude as soon as I wake up in the mornings, even before I get out of bed. Try it. It works wonders. And if you don't feel very happy, just pretend. That's something I learned from my dad. He was a farm boy at heart, who grew up on a small farm with his mom and dad and six younger siblings and lots of grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins nearby. When Dad went away to college, he got so homesick he thought he would die. His solution? He pretended he wasn't homesick. And after a while, he wasn't. Good lesson. Attitude is everything. How is yours? Do you want to be happier? Or do you kind of enjoy the dreary, "poor me" outlook? I once read that a man is just about as happy as he makes up his mind to be. I think that's very true.