I Resolve...

Every year I create a unique to-do list that looks nothing like a typical  New Year’s Resolution list. Instead, it’s a list of things I resolve to do during the year. The items are designed to enrich both my life and others’.  

In 2013, I resolve to…

. Visit a friend who moved away.
. Splash in an ocean.
. Donate my used technology to charity.
. Plant something I can eat and watch it grow. (Last year’s choice: green onions.)  
. Read a book on improving marital communication.
. Write regularly to the child we support through Compassion International.
. Read aloud to a friend.
. Listen to my daughter's favorite CD and memorize the lyrics.
. Choose one book from the best-seller list and read it.  I’m thinking Behind the Beautiful Forevers would be good for 2013.
. Choose one classic and read it. I’m thinking, Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky (free on Kindle).
. Learn a new skill. This year: uploading footage from my camera to Vimeo.
. Master a complex recipe. My 2013 choice: Crème brûlée in a puff pastry. Yum.
. Write a letter to a public official saying something nice.
. Clean my closets and donate clothes to benefit a homeless shelter.
. Shop at a Farmer's Market. Give the local folks a chance.
. Donate to a library some books I'm no longer using.
. Give old eyeglasses and sunglasses to an organization that will redistribute them to the needy.
. Befriend someone who thinks totally differently from me. Ask lots of questions and really listen. Try hard to understand.
. Allow myself to change my mind on something.
. Read a book (or listen on tape) about the history of something with which I’m unfamiliar.  In the year ahead: Ataturk: The Biography of the founder of Modern Turkey.
. Take a meal to someone in need. Not a close friend—someone who will be truly surprised.
. Switch to greener energy. Research solar power.
. Memorize a poem: “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron.

What about you? I’d love to hear your ideas. What do you resolve to do?