As we approach 2023, and celebrate in tandem its advent and 2022’s passing, I find myself thinking about the best resolutions for me to adopt for this New Year.

I’m leaning toward a “carpe diem” approach – seize the day! After all, none of us is ever promised so much as one tomorrow – a fact that should resolve all of us to appreciate the days we have to the fullest.

Shakespeare’s Prospero says (in The Tempest), “Every third thought shall be my grave,” meaning he will remain mindful (there’s that word again!) of his mortality – as we all, I think, do well to emulate.

As I reflect on, though, on “carpe diem,” I realize that this concept, joined with the possibility of no tomorrow, can be taken farther than I am willing to do.

I don’t want my New Year’s resolutions diminished to making a “bucket list,” resulting in a focus on crossing items off it.

I would like to seize each day by living it in a manner I’m happy with – knowing I’ve improved in consideration of others’ needs and happiness, in the practice of mindfulness and in the openness of my heart. Knowing I am striving every day toward becoming the best version of myself.

And I’d like to carry that banner into an ever-happier family life, an ever-more vibrant community life among my friends and acquaintances as well as my family, and an ever-more dynamic and productive professional life as well. To ensure that all the improvements I make to myself carry into my relationships with my clients and with my team, as well as those with my family and my friends.

So, I will simply resolve on continuing my work toward being a better person, a more mindful, a more loving person, a more effective and productive person. As close as I can get to being the best possible version of myself.

Always, to do the best I can to help those less fortunate than I. To practice random acts of kindness – and non-random ones as well.

In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote: “Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature.”

So, let’s look at this New Year as a fresh start, a blank page. We can write our own 2023s, each and every one of us. Let’s make them beautiful.

What are your New Year’s resolutions this year?

Please click here to email me directly – I’d love to know what you plan to focus on for 2023.

Until next time –

Peace,

Eric