As I was driving back from Tallahassee, feeling kinda bummed, this drifted into my mind. I stopped and wrote it down, and felt better. It stems from the fact that my New Year's resolution is nothing more than this: That 2012 will be the best year I have ever lived, whatever it takes. I'll share my writing with you now.

Today is a new day.
And this is the eve of a new year.
I would like to propose that we act like it. Often, we let the years run together, one into the next. Let's let this one be a truly new year.
Forgive the last year's injuries.
Release its burdens and set them down at last.
Bless its kindnesses.
Thank it for its many lessons, and opportunities to grow.
Think of it as a friend; it has passed, and now you must part ways. And as you would with a departed friend, choose to think fondly of it. If you must dwell on its memory, dwell on the laughter, the good times. Speak of them, for it it is good to speak well of the dead.
And we have cause to celebrate. We celebrate a year that was, in part, spent well; and we celebrate the birth of a new year, too. If this new year were a newborn child, how would we welcome it?
With awe? Admiration? Joy, or wonder? Would we welcome it with hope?
Or would we dread the coming of this new life into our experience? Would we great it with loathing and disgust, doubts and fears?
May it ever be that we look on a new year with the first list of sentiments. It can, like a child, enrich our lives and help us to develop as it matures. Bless it, celebrate it, and decide right now that this year will be the best year of your life so far. You have never had a better chance than this one. Choose now to say that, at the end of the next year, you have never lived a better year than 2012.
If it is to be the end of anything, let it be the end of what is holding you back from following your dreams, from being who you know in your heart that person who you truly are. Look at what is lacking in your life and decide to change it for the better, right now.
Happy New Year, and may it bring you better than the last.