I love the idea of a fresh start in the new year. I said in a previous post that it’s the one time of year we’re all like little kids, convincing ourselves that what we feel at this golden inspired moment will last forever and ever. So we make resolutions and invariably fail to keep them. They feel like homework and I gave up on them years ago.

I found some wonderful alternatives this weekend that I want to share with you. Brenda posed a great question at Breast Cancer Sisterhood: Why only focus on the start of the year? Every day that you draw breath offers the chance for a fresh start. I like her thinking.

I also like Dr. Greg Smith’s thinking. A psychiatrist, he spends a lot of time taking patient histories and focusing on the past. His radical idea for the New Year is to focus on the future and what’s possible. No resolutions here. And please read his To Thine Own Self Be True, about finding and honoring your inner voice. You won’t regret it. 

Phil Baumann posted these great thoughts on his New Year’s wish that we look at life as it is right now instead of focusing on the past or future. (His Health Is Social blog is also worth checking out.)

Marie at Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer posted the wonderful An alternative new year’s resolution in which she picked three words to guide her in 2012. She was inspired by Philippa at Feisty Blue Gecko, who has been using the three-word approach to the new year since 2009.

I love this idea so I picked three words to guide me through the year. They are:

Create. Specifically, poetry. I need to write more and better poems. This will require a commitment of both time and stillness, things that have been in short supply. When I took a break recently from what Greg calls the 21st century hustle and bustle, I managed to write a poem. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.

Nurture. I loved it when Marie said the problem with resolutions is their focus on what we don’t like about ourselves, and how we should find something we want to nurture within ourselves this year. This ties in with my first word in that I want to nurture my poetic craft. But I also hope to nurture my relationships and my health, among other things.

Appreciate. Appreciating and nurturing go hand in hand. And along with appreciating the people around me (including me!) I want to remember to appreciate just how very precious life is. As we get older, the losses start piling up. Time with our loved ones is a blessing, and when we run out of time, the memories that sustain us are another kind of blessing.

I wish you many blessings and much joy in the year ahead.