Resolutions

   With the New Year comes the most ignored list of the year.. The New Year's Resolutions. I loved reading about The Pillow Book, a journal of sorts written by Sei Shōnagona who was lady-in-waiting for the Japanese Empress Teishi around 1001 AD. It includes musings, poetry, sketches, and LISTS. There are 164 lists. (The best description I have found of The Pillow Book is at www.koyotojournal.org.) Perhaps you would enjoy reading about this very personal journal and the lady who wrote it. Meanwhile, I'm still writing my lists. Every day I start with my "To Do" list.... very mundane things like "water the garden, pull weeds for 1 hour, write next week's class handout, work on class sample books, use up the pastepaints, vacume..." But The New Year's Resolution list is different... it's about aspirations, about dreams, and sometimes wishful thinking (that diet?) In the past, the things on the lists have been pretty hard to imagine attaining. It doesn't matter if I cross off all the things on the list or not.  Eventually they might get crossed off.. But they are a record of my aspirations at the time.. a record of what I think would be the perfect life, of who would be the perfect me.

   Several years ago I came across my New Years Resolution List from 1995. I remember writing the list, crying (good grief!) and thinking "These are things I WILL NEVER ATTAIN, but I'm writing them anyway, just to see them." The list was:
New Year's Resolutions for 1995
1. Write a book
2. Travel outside the USA
3. Have my art in shows and be recognized
4. Learn to play the guitar
I still haven't learned to play the guitar, but realized in 2005 that I had achieved each of the others many times over!

Now, my big list of the year...

Kathy's New Year's Resolutions for 2012
1. Write in the blog once a week... communicate
2. Complete 52 books for Jenny's "One Book A Week" project... commit to a challenge
3. Join the local Literacy council... volunteer
4. Write more letters and support the USPS... honor the past
5. Figure out my IPhone... embrace the future
6. Write in the blog once a week... love my mistakes

What's your New Year's Resolutions list? If you're local to the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area, consider one of my book arts classes.. or some other sort of creative endeavor. I'll list the upcoming book arts classes in my next post. I promise!
Kathy