Q07

How would you like to improve yourself and your life next year? Is there a piece of advice or counsel you received in the past year that could guide you?

don't repeat history: stop doing coke. YOU FUCKING MORON.

I would like to understand what" improve" means. It means a lot. But I don't understand what it's meaning is to me.

I'd like to lose weight again. One thing I remember is Adam Carolla's saying, "If it doesn't make you money or make happy, then don't do it." I need to follow that more this coming year.

Do not concentrate on what you believe you need, but rather on what you are needed for. I want to concentrate less on myself and more on how I affect others.

I want to be more forgiving with myself and other people, more trusting of myself and other people, more loving of myself and other people. I've known for awhile that the way I treat others is related to the way I treat myself. I made a prayer several years ago that said, "Let me love myself so that I can love others." That is very true and very important to me. Advice I've been getting this past year and previous years that could help me move towards this improvement is related to perfectionism. I sometimes expect myself to do things perfectly, and then I just give up if I can't do them all the way perfectly. I get paralyzed. I'm not sure what mantra I could use, maybe, nobody's perfect! No one is perfect. Or...we are all perfect and enough. We are all perfect and enough. We are all perfect and enough. I have also been stress eating a lot recently and gaining weight. I guess I just want things with my health to settle down so I can lose the weight I've gained. I don't want to get too strict with myself, because I hate doing that, but I would like to lose this weight. I hope I can figure out some way to do that that feels healthy and good.

I've taken a big step in 'improving' myself this year by beginning grad school. Keep Calm and Carry On.

I believe that achieving a more consistent schedule (and thereby becoming more productive) would also allow me to find more time for slowing down -- and not only on Shabbat. I plan to slate time each evening for reading or otherwise relaxing, and I'd like to reduce evening time spent with email or other devices. Additionally, I'd like to pause more often to drink in the world, and to say a blessing.

To listen more--really listen with mindful attention. Yes, to really listen with mindful attention or say that I need to wait until another time to listen. And then be sure to follow up.

I'd like to be more patient with myself, cut myself a little bit more slack...

I was advised to use more patience. I'm trying. I was also advised to strive harder for my artistic passions. I have to keep creating in order to keep improving. It's up to me to reach the next level with my art.

I would like to be healthier and happier. I want to spend more time being physically and emotionally intimate with my husband. I want to open up more to more people. I want to invite people over more. I just need to be more organized and plan better. I need to make a system and follow it.

I want to be better at saying no. I want to be more pro-active to getting the things that I want.

I would looooove to finally get a work ethic! none of this last minute cramming business! It's time to sit down and get on top of things! I'd also like to build stronger relationships with my friends and make a bigger effort to keep in contact with those not in my state. Maybe open myself up a little more. Better to have love and lost then to never have loved at all right?

I'd like to become more focused and develop will power. I'd love to become more ambitious and down to earth. I wish to take up some form of artistic expression and widen my knowledge of astrology and other thing that interest me. Improve my Spanish, definitely. To make long story short, I'd like to be more engaged in my life than I am now.

I wrote the same last year. I need to figure out a next step in my life. Since last year I've changed jobs again, but it's not sustainable. For the last 8 months I have been able to get by, but at this point I've realised I can't afford to stay where I am without some significant changes. Unfortunately, I don't think those changes will be happening within my company, so I hope in the next year I can figure out where I can go as a plan B. I have been reading a lot and connecting with people who live a lifestyle that I want to make for myself. I need to listen to their advice on how to live internationally, and independently so that I don't feel stuck.

i would like to be totally debt free

I would like to be a kinder and gentler person at home. I tend to tease my wife and children more than they'd like. This is an aspect of my personality I'd truly like to change.

I want to have my house be a home, and not just a place where we dump our stuff and eat and sleep. Maybe this isn't exactly improving myself, but it is improving my life!

I would like to get into a cleaning routine so I don't let things pile up! The Don't Break the Chain method could really work if I would just START it.

As cliched as it sounds, 'just do it!' seems the best advice I could give myself. I'm good at finding reasons why things won't work, and bad at actually doing things. There's a lot of things that I want to do, more than I could possibly do with the time and resources that I have, but that doesn't mean that I can't at least start some of the projects, do some of the things.

I would like to improve myself and my life by exercising for at least an hour every day.

I would like to finish my law degree and move on to the next stage of my career. Id also like to build on my sporting achievements. I think I have been well advised to not let my ego get the better of me, to focus the joy in doing the things I love (thanks Tim). Importantly Id like to help people - to give of myself to those in need.

I would like to remain connected to love more and more of the time; to catch myself "in the moment" when I go to judgement about myself or others, and to immediately remember that we are all creations of the divine.

I would like to have more courage, energy, and discipline in all things. And writing that, I just realized that fear is what saps our energy, paralyses us, and prevents us from fully committing to our path. But is it really courage that's needed or something else? I think something else: FAITH. Faith in self, faith in God, faith in others. Faith that when we have the courage to fully commit, all will ultimately work out. So let me be more courageous and less fearful, underpinned by the faith that goodness will follow.

I want to continue to be more fully me and more fully accept myself. I loved the quote from the Rosh Hashanah reflections shared at synagogue about Rabbi Zusya, along the lines of: When I get to heaven they won't ask me: Why weren't you like Moses? They will ask me: Why weren't you like Zusya?

Continue to pursue my dreams, rather than those of my children or grandchildren. Keep that balance that will guide me into retirement and my future.

LOSE WEIGHT....become more involved in hobbies I like, baking and photography. Be patient with Phil as he becomes older..look to mom as a model since she is so patient with dad...

During the coming year, I'd like to accomplish more, become less "lazy", get up off my ass and do more than I've done the past year. I talk and think about doing a lot of things, but much of it never seems to go beyond talking and thinking. There are a number of projects/improvements I want to get going on . . . writing, reading, gardening, physical fitness, cooking, cultural refinement, making myself more useful to humanity (a big one). As one of the ancient ones, I have not been given any advice or counsel that I can recall.

I would like to embrace my new "Be silly. Be honest. Be kind." approach to as many things as possible. I would like to mend my relationship with K. Really listen to my own sermon and stop to learn from each failure. There is a crack in everything It's how the light gets in.

I want to be productive, truly productive, in the time I dedicate to work, and be fearless about being entirely non-productive in my playtime. It's not about dividing the two, or even about 'balance' which I think is bullshit. But about focus. I think the 'turn off all incoming messages, etc' while you work is priceless, & I'm trying to do that more.

I would like to stop leading men on. I need to be more aware of how I present myself to men-- niceness is often interpreted as genuine romantic interest and sometimes I let that play out for the attention. This always, and without fail, gets me in trouble. Sometimes you have to be mean to be nice? I really want to keep this close to my heart as I start dating more and the potential for this situation increases. Just imagine if it were the other way around...

I'd like to get out more, both with and without the kid(s). I need a good babysitter, and I want to have more friends. I'd also like to embark on a project or two for myself only, like a class or my blog.

Questions like this make me tired. Why is everybody and everything so damn earnest these days?

I'd like to have a clean desk--and keep it that way for a month! And also I would like to remember to think before I speak. That may not be so much of a problem as my short term memory loss appears to have made it impossible to quickly retrieve the nouns I need at the moment I need them!

I would like to shift my outlook so that everything feels lighter, not such a burden. I want to appreciate my life as I live it and not feel like I need to just get through it (especially when the going is tough).

I would like to be more financially independent. I would like to lose another ten pounds. I really like the good feeling of everyone asking if I have lost weight and would like to keep that going and get down to around 150.

First, back to question 6. Take better care of myself. Second, you worked hard to get to where you are, enjoy the ride a little bit.

More discipline in life Carefully use time to improve myself - intellectually By reading more and studying issues More carefully Eat better Exercise more Laugh often

To enjoy each day, get rid of negativity, focus on what is good in my life...be positive.

I would like to be a better SELF cheerleader

I want to get my studio cleaned up and organized so that it stays organized. I want to be more of an creative artist his year- writing, painting, acting , dance!

I would like to be more tolerable of others.Most of the time I am but, I know that I can do better.

I would like to improve my health by losing weight and exercising consistently. I spend way too much time thinking and planning but never actually do anything about it. It is time to "Just Do It". Best advice is to make it your own. Take all of the information and make your own plan, one that works for you.

I would love to have the patience to say to myself, and to others, that I will listen to every person who asks a question, that I will make time for them.

I want to find balance. Relaxation is important but so is getting out and about in the world. Time with family and time with friends. being a mom and being me.

I'd like to be able to learn when I need to stop worrying and stop trying to be in control. I can do my best in my classes, I can do my best in my relationships, and I can do my best in trying to get pregnant, but at some point I can't do anymore. Everything I try makes me or someone else feel worse. I'd like to know when and how to "let go" of my control.

Vorrei che il mio trasferimento a Londra andasse come spero. Vorrei trovare un appartamento carino, trovare un lavoro che mi piaccia, incontrare tante persone nuove e avere una vita piena. Un po' quello che vogliono tutti. Ah, vorrei innamorarmi

I need to get more organized in all aspects of life- lose weight, get rid of the clutter, keep up with paperwork, keep up with family events and people who need prayer by sending cards. the only way to do that is to SIMPLIFY my entire life...God willing I can do this. I have to get rid of my EGO(edging God out) and tune into what is important. I need to live more simply so that others can simply live.

I'd like to remember to constantly consider other peoples feelings. As a generous person in general, I feel my karma quotient is constantly high. But humans are flexible, changing beings and you need to account for thier discomforts as well. I would also say, remember not to take life too seriously. its meant to be fun. and it can be if you make it that way. stay positive.

I hope I´ll find the time and will to finally start writing.

I don't know as far as how I'd like to improve, however I know two pieces of advice that I'll keep close. One being don't what if or wonder your life away. Remember why things have happened and live in the present. The other being that God only gives me things in my life that I can handle. I can handle anything that is thrown at me.

I want to be more present. I want to be more patient. I want to be more loving. I want to be more present to my son, especially. I want to be less addicted to my technology. I want to be able to handle conflict without feeling scared or diminished. I want to be kind.

I want to be the change I want to see in the world. I want to move through my apathy and hopelessness in the hopes that they will go away if I move in spite of them.

I would like to be less emotional. I would like for my emotions to have less power on my life and what I do. Best advice is from my best friend who says just to ignore it. Just stop dwelling on feelings and do something.

I had a health set-back this year, so I want to improve my health -- hydration will improve, I received advice on that. And I hope to lose weight, and I hope to get a job. I'm open to advice.

I would like to become a "Nutrarian" and follow Joel Furhman's advice about eating a more healthy way. I believe this will lead to the weightloss I desire and a more healthy body all around. Along with the use of Young Living oils, I believe following this plan will make me healthy for a long time. The book "Eat to Live" is the piece of advice I will be using to keep me on track. It is very difficult, however, to maintain discipline when there is too much going on. I have to remember not to over-schedule and maintain balance. I also need to learn how to plan to eat while on the road.

As usual, I would like to be more accepting of myself and my...quirks. I don't really have a plan for doing this, nor has my therapist been super helpful. I have repeated the words, "It is what it is" to myself many times this year.

My goal for the next 5 years is to pay off our debts and then apply for pilgrimage. I hope to be saving a little money and making progress on paying off debts. Sounds boring but that is what God wants me to do. Next year I will turn 60. Another of my goals for the next year is to exercise regularly. I have started walking, had to stop to have surgery. My goal is to continue walking on a more regular basis, restart my exercise routine which was going well before surgery, eat vegan and vegetarian most of the time & continue to improve our health habits. The only advice I remember given to me in the past year is from a dear woman named Alice. She told me I was in South Carolina to pray for forgiveness, for all the racists and former slave holders who walked this land. That thought haunts me still, that I am living on the same ground, in the same place, where slavery was the norm. On this same land, in these same fields, people owned by other people & all the horrors that went with it, was a reality. In some of these same pine forests, people tried to hide from slaveholders, and perhaps were hanging from some of the tree limbs. What kind of horrors occurred here. And this woman, a black woman, said I was here to pray for their forgiveness. If there is one thing that has been a pattern in my life, it is such statements, just one statement, made to me at some point in my life by a black woman, that has affected me greatly. I have learned to listen.

I would like to live each moment IN that moment...you know, like a kid does. Not to be dwelling on the past failures or the future calamities...to just breathe and live in the joy that each moment is. I guess that I have and am enough. To know this and feel it. Life would 'feel' as full as it really is. For this next year, I have so much hope.

I'd like to lose 20 lbs. Stop binge eatiNg

I would like to be more healthy physically, emotional, mentally. I think one of the best sayings I have heard lately is "watch what goes in your mouth and watch what goes out of your mouth." On so many levels these few words have been a driving force thus far.

I would like to be more confident and have better communication with my husband. The best piece of advice I've received about this is to recognize that in the end, I am enough. I am all I have.

I would like to be less reactive, to not only think before I speak, but to not speak at all when I can make no difference. I get frustrated by ignorance, stupidity, arrogance, self-righteousness, etc. and I'm unable to respond in a measured way. I can't just "let it go."

I would like to be more present, calm and mindful. I would like to be the kind of person who is able to remain calm and thoughtful no matter what is happening. The best advice I have been given is to question the thoughts that I have as they arise and to practice meditation twice daily.

I've spent too much of my life waiting for things to happen and being too scared to give things a go. You'll never feel ready, so just do it now.

I would just like to be more TENACIOUS and DISCIPLINED with my goals-- from finances to life principles. As a budding adult, I could use some consistency. It's not good to not have a formed set of ideas that I hold on to no matter what other people will say. I want to doggedly persist in those things I want to accomplish. I don't want to just start things but I want to finish them. So I guess my advice is to PERSEVERE, PRAY HARD, and KEEP GOING even when it seems so tough. And LOVE MORE.

My heart, brain and feelings reside in my body. To neglect exercise and physical health is to abandon your ability to love and help others. There is no time to allow gravity to smother the spirit. Sitting kills...

I want to be ME. I'm tired of being the person my significant other expects me to be (which is a replica of him). I want him to love me for being me, and I don't want to accept anything less. This will be difficult, because I am a people pleaser. It will also be difficult because I don't believe he has the ability to understand that the world all doesn't have to think/act like he does. But that is my goal. I'm too old to deny myself me.

Not To handle stress in self destructive ways

I'd like to be more dedicated to my work and hard working, and have found a passion that I can throw myself into fully. "Just Show Up" is what I think I'll use-- that is, just trying something and seeing what happens.

Take it easy, but take it. Start before you are ready. Don't dream your life - live your dream! I would love to finally get rid off my migrane, which I lived with for the last 10 years. I need to create and I will the path which I want to walk towards better future. That is: I need to get committed to my choices, I need to be more confident so this would help me find Site Manager's job for now and I need to learn how to make money work for me, not me work for money. I think the key to success is the clear mind, so get rid off migrane is the priority. Marta is going to be with me, I love her and we will have a family together.

I'd like to remember to talk to my wife. I rely a lot on her presence and on the comfort and security and joy of just being around her; but if we're not interacting, then my presence isn't available to her. Maybe this difference between us is related to my spending all day talking to people; she's by herself a lot more, and even at work sees a lot fewer people. In any case this is something that's a bit broken which is entirely in my power to fix.

Show your true emotions. Don't be afraid to share. Be happy. Cry. Love yourself. Tell everyone how much you love them. Don't stress. And the world turned.

I want to understand how blessed I am, each day, as many moments as possible. I want to live in the moment more, and worry less.

I would like I live a healthier lifestyle. I workout, eat well, and meditate fairly regularly but there is room for improvement. More specifically I would like to kick my sugar addiction. The really can't think of any advice I received that speficially relates to this issue that would help me learning to take it one day at a time and understanding that success is in the journey not the end result will really help me.

Less fear. More faith. Go for what I really, really want.

I would like to grow into my leadership role and really take on a management position at work. I think I am off to a good start already, but need to work on my interpersonal communication and need to learn how to work well with others while in that position. I would also like to improve my really loving myself because I understand that it is important to love yourself before expecting someone else to love you.

I want to become more available. It seems as though people feel comfortable opening up to me--confiding in me. But I almost never open up to others. I fear for the let-down and heartbreak that has plagued my past when I confide in others. I need to open myself up more to experience the love that is available, the love that I know I need.

Again if just like to dive even deeper into my faith. I'd like to be truly happy with myself and meet new people wherever I am next year that I enjoy being around. I hope to maybe find love but I'm in no hurry. Just remember that God has a plan and I don't know what it is but I need to just trust him. Also, my feelings are valid and I deserve to be around people who make me happy.

I want to feel that my time on earth has meaning--to know that I will have worked to improve things for others.

I would love to find myself feeling more confident and secure in general. I want to find a way to stand on my own two feet and take full responsibility for me. "things happen for a reason" seems to be my mantra at this point. I think maybe "trust in yourself" or "what would you do if you knew you could not fail?" would be good guidance mantras for my next journey.

I would like to focus on getting my life back in order and in making sure that I have time to relax but not so much that I don't let myself slide into any introverted hermit ways. I want to be able to read the magazines that pile up everywhere. At the same time I want to make sure I keep moving and improve my athletic health.

People WILL like me; people DO like me. Keep remembering that because it'll help me feel more confident and less insecure and nervous.

Save more money- look at making more dosh

As always, my weight continues to be my main source of anxiety stress and discomfort. The advice I am trying to stay true to is twofold: 1) No shame, no blame. If I make a "mistake" it serves me no purpose to get caught in a blame /shame spiral and usually compounds the negative feelings I have towards myself at that moment. 2) Be your own parent. I have seen the difference in the care I give to the children I work with and the care I give to myself. It should be no different. I need to love myself the way I am able to love, care for and protect a child.

I would like to gain the confidence needed to perform my job well. For many years I was told I wasn't worthy of growth, didn't know what I was doing and was better off simply completing tasks when they were given to me. Now I am at a job that values my opinions, wants to see me professional develop and cares about how I'm getting along. Over the next year I'd like to see myself take full advantage of the opportunities presented before me and know that in my heart and mind I am a strong professional. I've been told - "You need to stand up for yourself because no one else will with as much passion."

I need to stop being so self-deprecating. I am valuable as a person. I am okay.

to get a job, and become more indepant. Adivce: belive you can do it

I would like to continue to build on the lessons I learned this past year. Patience, presence and not fearing judgement. I want to become even better atdealing with my anger - and the anxiousness I get if i don't feel loved. The greatest piece of advice this year was the notion that I am not going to die from these moments and to face the pain of not feeling loved, or someone angry at you. Stay with the pain - don't try to run from it! The more I get used to that, the better I and my family will be.

I would like to improve myself in countless ways. So many I don't know where to start. The usual. Exercise. Eat better. Be a better person. Learn a language. Blah blah blah. Actually I would mostly just like to be awake, by which I mean, aware, noticing things, not stuck in side of myself. I think I have made some progress in this area, but I have more to go. I would also like to continue to improve as a writer.

I would like to act on an idea for strengthening the Detroit School System, which is to create residential schools for students who would benefit from personal attention, academic guidance and positive, responsible role models.

It's the most tired cliche there is but I want to get in better physical shape and loose some weight. This isn't coming from a place of self hate though - rather it is just the opposite. Hiking up over 14,ooo feet in the Andes at the age of 54 was the hardest thing I have ever done physically. I felt so strong and fit and empowered when I finished, and it inspired me to want to do more things like that and to do them better. So I have been running more and pushing myself harder at the gym and eating better and my improvement for the year is to keep doing it - to be better at climbing mountains at 55 than I was at 54.

Better social life.

I would like to finish up a present project and go back to the re-write of my novel.

Stop worrying! Or rather, release your worries. You carry them around but they do nothing for you, and they change how you interact with the world and color the more attractive and wonderful version of yourself. They waste time and energy. Things will be how they will be, and it'll be good if you approach it with good intention. So focus on that, focus on your approach, and leave the worries to their rest.

I've been spending a great deal of time at the drawing board but not doing much. I need to get back to my creative work and improve my method of making art. I was once told about my spirituality to take it slow and there's no rush, just one moment at a time.

I would like to lose the weight that I gain since I stopped smoking. I decided to stop smoking and just did it! Now I've decided to take my own adviceto lose the extra weight and JUST DO IT! Wish me luck..it's a bitch! For me giving up smoking was easier!

Don't do anything stupid and if u start something stick to it

I really don't have any specific improvements I can think of. Things are so much better today than they've been in YEARS. If I think of anything, I'll go back and edit this answer.

I would like to continue to work on being a better teacher, of course. This is somethIng I strive for every year, and it is even more true now that I am teaching AP. I really enjoy the subject and I live seeing the kids get into it. My goal for this year is to get a higher passing rate, which I am apart positive that I will. This is in part because I know I will be a better teacher but I also feel I have a better crop of students. I look forward to seeing how the year goes!

Reaching out to be part of something. Taking people up on their offers of help. Going out of my way to help others. Living with love always.

Live in the now. I have a hard time not thinking about the future. Life is pretty difficult right now, with many bright moments. I often catch myself looking at what will come and it scares me. I can also look to the other side of that and know we will be alright. I want to be able to appreciate the moment and deal with the future in the future.

It's the simplest message there is: "Who cares?" And really, who cares if I do something or don't do something, especially if their opinion should not matter to me anyway. It's silly how I have let people who mean so little to me control so much of my life. I want to do things because I want to do them, not because others want me to do them. Really, who cares? Not me.

I would like to be more independent. I say this every year, but I need to work to achieve it. I really would like to be able to live totally independently by next year...besides Willow. But like, just the two of us.

"shake the dust". everyday is a new beginning, shake off the past to make yourself brand new. handle stress better, don't freak out, just do.

Keep working out at the gym! I lost 25 pounds since I joined the gym and started tracking my meals. I have more stamina and energy and feel so much better. If I keep up the work I'll feel and look a lot better.

I hope to be in a serious, committed relationship.

Maybe really, I just need to have more sex. No one has given me advice or counseled me on this, other than my boyfriend who told me he wants more sex, which isn't really advice or counsel. And since he had a large portion of his prostate removed last Spring, sex is a good thing for him to keep what's left of it in good shape. So the counsel inside if me is to have sex because it's good for him and it's a loving thing to do with him. And it's good for me. I avoid it, but when I do it, I like it. And I feel better in my body. And it keeps our relationship sound. So, yes, have more sex.

I would like to be more organized. I would like to allocate time for different things and not just do what I want to at one specific time. If I do that than the things I do not want to do get pushed to the back and are not given as much time and effort as those that I wanted to do. I would advise myself to stay true to myself when put in new situations with new people.

I just want to grow more and more as a person and in my relationship with God. Probably the best advice I got this past year was from a friend who was leaving for college and she told me.. High school is hard, and you're not always going to be okay.. And thats okay. It's OKAY to not be okay!!

I want take things less personally. In trying to be less defensive, I try to remember that everyone may be having difficulties at any given time.

I would really like to become more healthy and find out what the heck is wrong with me. I keep getting shuffled from one Dr to the next and its starting to piss me off.

Same thing most everyone wants to improve I suppose. Health. That always entails self-discipline and that is in short supply in my life. I would like very much to lose much weight in the next year and be a svelte 140 by this time next year. We'll see, won't we?

I would like to become more organized, and even more self sufficient. This year's experiences are useful in that regard as friend and mentor to this future me.

Um. . . I don't know, I'd like to be more spiritually advanced (it's pretty much impossible for any of us to not be). I'd like to be taking better care of my physical body. I'd like to be more economically sound (thriving, if that's possible). I'd like to be better at Chinese, so I can connect with people more. Other stuff would be icing on the cake. No, you know what else? I'd really love to be in the relationship of my happiest dreams, or something even better than I imagine. I would really, really, be so appreciative of having something that beautiful in my life, and I've been waiting an AWFULLY long time, so it would be nice, and I hope it will be able to happen sometime pretty soon. Advice or counsel that could guide me? Everything my friends and guides say that really comes from the soul is helpful, but I can't pick one single most important thing. I'm grateful for this; there's a lot of good counsel in my life. And that's wonderful. :)

I would like to be more comfortable with speaking my mind and sticking to my guns.

I want to get myself to a place physically, spiritually and emotionally in which I can truly enter into a lasting and loving relationship should I be blessed with meeting the right person.

Stick to the diet/exercise goals I have set for myself!! No more excuses -- just keep moving. Keep walking every day, continue with other exercises -- keep it FUN so you will keep on doing it.

I would like to put my discord with my sister behind me. With my husband selling the store, we will hopefully relax,travel, and, hopefully, not do serious damage to each other if we have to be together 24/7! I hope to take better care of myself and exercise more, but probably will not. We can learn Spanish, and I hope he takes cooking classes. I would like to continue the work as a docent at the Skirball until we move. Advice I have been given? Always be honest. It is old advice, and I cannot think of anything that came to me this year that is better than that.

be a part of the small things, for they will have big impacts

Write more, write often, even though most of what I write, I do not like. I do not write nearly enough as I should and I need to begin compiling more work, crafting my own style instead pseudo-Victorian/Edwardian/turn of the century style prose. I need to work on my projects. I'll finally see my girlfriend, too, and in that, I want to build confidence and self-esteem. I have never been a believer in myself, and until she came along, I never had reason to. But clearly there is something there, bewildering a thought as it is. I want to write more, and I want to believe in myself.

The idea that a week today I'll be moving out is terrifying, as much as it is exciting. I would like to get to the point where I'm comfortable with, for the first time in my life, my address not being '9, Westmead'. I think that I'm currently a bit saddened by growing up and leaving a beautiful chapter of my life behind me. In the next year, I'd love to be so happy with the next chapter that I don't mind so much any more.

I would like to focus more on taking care of myself, my daughters, my family, and my communities...I need to make sure my energy is used wisely and not wasted. The best advice I got was to put my hands over my heart and strengthen myself before I try to give my energy to other people. And to listen to my instincts, and know that all love is true love.

Loose the 10 pounds without following a plan, paying a program or using someone else as a guiding force. Shift my reality from eating healthy and exercise from occasional to habit. Advice.... Chocolate or Vanilla choose!

I would like to do more - for school, my body, my relationships, my family. Not sitting at home thinking of all the things I could do but don't. Not complaining about nothing to ever happen.

Close this tab and get back to studying! And possibly the best advise I received this year: One of the hardest things to do, and one of the most valuable, is to be able to listen to criticism without resentment. See correction as the act of honest kindness and even love that it very often is.

Hmm... I feel like every time I've answered this question in the past, I've not achieved what I've wanted but rather learned how to cope without. I think that over this upcoming year I'd like to rekindle the fire that used to drive me so passionately. I'd like to rediscover something I can believe in, some larger ideal or principle that can sustain me. I feel very much in between great projects, and I'm appreciating how much I can flounder without something giving me purpose. I'd like a feeling of purpose again. That might not be answering the question though. Self improvement... I'd like to be better at maintaining valued relationships. I'm appreciating them much more now, as I've gone away and am in new environments.

Keep calm and carry on. If you worry, it means you aren't trusting God. I want to be able to let go of the money anxiety and keep breathing. We may struggle financially, but we have the resources and fortitude to make it through.

I want to just go for it. Go for what I want whatever I want without apology or fear. Especially without fear.

Yes, I should learn to accept that as people age, their physical abilities to do things also change, and one has to learn to enjoy what can be done with others without dwelling about what could have been done in the past, athletically, sexually, etc.. This can be difficult if people lose abilities and interst at different rates.

Making exercise part and parcel of the day, not the first thing that falls off the schedule.

The very phrase "improve yourself" gives me the willies right now. I do not think I can think of myself or my life that way right now. I want to go deeper with who I am, keep meditating, allow myself to be in the moment. "I am enough." I feel that all of the wise ones I have encountered this year have supported this: Pema Chodron, Patti Digh, Jen Louden, Marianne Eliot, Cary, Tracey Clark. All of them have given me different aspects of the same message.

I would like to expand my social life. I need to work on finding connections outside of home.

I would like to be healthier, more patient and fully engaged with life.

More than anything, I am lonely. I want to add to my network of family and friends. To lead a richer, more full life.

I want to maintain a view of "I am all that and a bag of chips!" I am a strong, healthy, beautiful woman worthy of being loved.

Spend and plan prudently. Exercise without risking injury. Avoid temptation and excess. Conrol appetite. Sounds trite. But if I had handled these issues with more discipline over the last 71 years, I could have avoided a lot of trouble.

To be more focused in my devotional life. To better meet my Guru's expectations. And to remember my Guru's advice,"Just try your best".

I want to be more knowledgable when it comes to education matters of local and national importance. I want to read research articles and be able to respond with intelligent points to ensure the best for our student's futures.

I would like the embrace the power and ability for change. My mother used to laugh at me when I was a kid, always digging my heels in about any change in life or the house, family, or class. This year, I got out of a six and a half year relationship that I spend half of unhappy because I was afraid of change. (And because, as one person old me this year, I am loyal above all else.) Too much time passes when you're not changing. There is so much in me that I want to improve, and rarely find the time or energy to. I want to believe I can change my habits. I want to be bold. Be comfortable with change. And make choices that are right for me, even if it means change. Especially because it means change.

I want to take my grief and turn it into something purposeful. I wrote this today and want to try and focus on the good things in my life. 1Corinthians 13 v13 Faith's remains, weakened by certainy's demolition, all that was known to be true lying in ruin, a crumbled tangle of doubts. Hope's remains, torn down by the awfulness of reality, laid low by convictions torn apart, a shadow of what it had been. Yet Love, the greatest of these three,remains steadfast, boundless, immeasurable. He came alongside and took my hand, "Don't worry about your faith and hope. Accept the love that has been lavishly given. Notice it, feel it, share it. And all will be well."

I would like to be more self-directive - don't get sucked into the tide of I must do this, and I am obliged to attend that. Just take control and run life how I want to run it

Focus more on my health and reduce my weight.

I want to start a prayer group with my women friends... maybe start learning Spanish and Hebrew...spend more time with Richie... help my mother transition to the other side....

One of the adults with developmental disabilities that I work with gave me the best advice. He think that he's a doctor and everyday asks how I'm doing. One day when he was asking me this, I told him that my heart was hurting. He said, “Well Amy, you need to take an aspirin.” I told him that it was not that kind of hurt but the kind of hurt when someone is not nice to you. Full of wisdom he replied, “Well Amy, you don’t need to be friends with people who are not nice to you!” That did it. I got out of a hurtful relationship and want to work at cultivating healthy relationships. Working on both the love I receive and that I give.

Be kinder, more resilient, "be charitable." I can't understand the motivations of other people, no matter how perceptive I am.

I'd like to be out of debt and spending sensibly. A piece of advice to guide me - get out of debt as soon as I can, it will be worth it so much in the long run and each month I'm in debt is one more red mark against my credit record and one more thing I can't get; a car, a mortgage. I'm making the situation worse!

Year after year, I am challenged to learn to live in the moment. This for me addresses my fear, my greed, my anxiousness - so many things. As I face the death of my beloved dog from cancer, I believe she has one more thing to teach me: to not miss the joy of today by worrying about tomorrow.

I'd like to be "laid back", weigh 12 pounds less, and crank up my business a few notches. Advice I've received for each of these: live and let live, keep moving and don't be afraid of risk.

Life is too short! I don't want to miss out on opportunites. However, my "word" for the new year is SLOWER. I also wish to slow down a bit, not plan too much into one day.

what if its possible I can feel safe (& joyful & happy & amazing ) without having to figure anything out DONT PUSH THE RIVER

I want to really believe it when I say I can accept myself as I am and be proud of my skills I do not know why but somehow the word "talent" always seemed more inportant than words like skill or strength. I thought talent was something like painting, singing or being a star athlete. My skills were working with difficult clients and being a mentor and supervisor in my 30 year as a lawyer in the public defenders office in Chicago A wise person told me "just because you cannot invite friends to watch something does not mean it is not a talent" I want to own this concept. I think it will free me to apprciate those with more traditional talents with out self deprecation or envy.

To be satisfied with what we have. To stop trying to second guess myself on everything. For some reason, I'm not able to be happy with everything. I need to remember that this too shall pass, and that just because you don't get the job or promotion or you have a fight with your husband, it doesn't mean that everything else isn't wonderful.

Simplify Simplify Simplify and take care of yourself.

I would like to learn to accept what is, rather than fight against things that I don't like. I also would like to learn to accept people, even when they behave in ways I don't like, or wouldn't do personally.

I would like to keep my body and mind strong through biking, yoga, walking, running, and any other form of exercise. In this past year since I quit smoking I have gained around 15 pounds which I don't regret, but this year my focus will be not only shedding those pounds but showing the world what a strong, healthy, and beautiful body I have.

Make dates with yourself to do nothing flanking busy travel and work times. Regularly check in on your budget and reward progress on meeting financial commitments. Be open to lasting love. Renew your commitment to self improvement and diversifying pursuits.

My last dream of the night as I was waking up was of preparing a meal of freshly cooked garden vegetables with some friends from France. One woman was spooning out the small fruits of squash, eggplant, artichoke, etc. from the cooking pans onto the platter and they looked so delicious, these plentiful small portions of delicious tender vegetal delight. The dream discussion centered around the illusion of needing the biggest one piece of something versus so many delightful small tastes. These friends had told me earlier, the French eat for pleasure, to enjoy the experience of eating for the moment itself. In every moment, there is small pleasure of the world's beauty to be had as we live this life. In this way, I wish to be a part of the world and a part of all I do, rather than with the eye to a lofty goal on a distant horizon that I may never actually reach.

I would like to be permanently out of the U.S., and off to where I belong. I'd also like to lose weight, and have a normal life, with a place to live. Not much has moved at all on this in the last year, except when I was visited by someone for two weeks, that gave me hope that maybe someday things will be better.

Besides learning Hebrew more fluently, I want to make a success of my new business, Aliyah Petsitting, and get down to 138 pounds, finally! The advice that has best served me in the past is the advice I have always given myself. When I have taken it, I've been successful. When I haven't, I haven't been successful. The advice is this: "Eat around the edges" of a problem if the whole thing is too big to eat at once. Remind yourself of your goals daily, and ask yourself what ONE THING ONLY you can do that day to bring you closer, then do at least one thing. When you're feeling discouraged, make a list of everything you've accomplished towards your goal so far, so you won't get so fixated on the future and on frustration and despair in the present moment. Instead, you'll remember just how far you've come already.

Exercise more; develop a routine. Act more on my ideas. Stay motivated and alive. No new advice, just lots of old advice kicking in. Just be. Failure is not a bad thing. In fact, it's necessary to get where you want to go.

I hope focus on what I need to do - write and make art. It took me a long time, but I finally understand who I am and what I am meant to do. I also hope that with R's retirement we can focus on us and just have a good time together.

I'd just like not to worry as much. If the whole digital design training kicks off, then I'd hope that more job satisfaction would come with it and less feeling more valued and indispensable at work. With this I hope that life in general would become carefree and enjoyable.

I had a practically life-changing conversation with my brother when he visited me briefly this summer. I'm inspired by his course of action because he's worked a ton of different jobs & is now basically doing what he wants--writing. Being that he comes from such an experienced background, & a sympathetic one at that, it was easy for me to take his advice to heart & trust it. He said not to worry so much about who I am--others will do that for me irrespective of whether I want them to--& worry instead about just doing things I like, finding out what works & what doesn't for me. I hope to be more like that person next year, but I'm anxious about it. Hopefully I can remember how he felt when he first gave me that advice.

At this stage of life, health becomes increasingly a concern. Mine is good, better than most of my peers, and this is due in no small part to my efforts at this. My urologist discharged me in the past year with the comment that, "at you age, to be blunt, something else is gonna get you." Although on the one hand, this removes prostate cancer as a concern, I find myself focused now on just what some of these other things might be, and what I can do to minimize or delay them. I am realistic about this, not morbid, and it is definitely a topic worthy of my interest.

I would like to be more consistent in my eating habits. I tend to do okay for a spell and then eat stuff that isn't good for me (and I know it). So combining better overall eating habits with regular exercise to become more fit is my goal for the next year.

Be less angry about peopl's stupidity. Be less involved, and realize that the errors they make are thier decision.

Be more accountable , be my word more consistently!! Remember and ask, what am I doing?, why? what is the context ? Believe in miracles, lots, bigger, more beautiful miracles. . . Make more requests of my Self, my God, and others to help bring the miracles to reality

There's several things I would like to improve in myself and my life next year. I hope to be more active and lose more weight to be in better health and energy. I also hope to let go more and not always strive to control. My need for constant control has become sort of a "guard" and even when I do believe that I trust, I have difficulty in giving full trust out of fear of loss and hurt.

I would tell myself to trust more.

To be myself and to be very happy. To live in the moment.

Become a better communicator, dedicated to honesty and authenticity. To stay grounded in spirituality, to keep the channels open. Mary Goldenson. “Sufficiency,” is the surprising answer she gives me. “This is a lesson I had to learn to finish the book. It follows from consciousness about time,” she goes on. “When is enough enough? It’s a spiritual question. Spirituality, to me, is being conscious and taking responsibility. Be conscious of time, go for it, play it big, be grateful — and then know when to let go, and move on. We talk about living from abundance, but there can be a trap in ‘abundance.’ Where does it come to rest? When are we satisfied, and grateful? When do we find peace? Take money, for example: People are trapped — more, more more. Money, sex, houses, stuff, even ‘enlightenment.’ When is it enough?”

I'd like to still not drink, smoke weed occasionally, and get As

I want to take better care of myself as a person, and get over my fear of missing out in favor of setting my priorities right and getting things done. I want to take care of my body by eating well, not hurting my back, and being healthy. I want to also take care of my mind and spirit by surrounding myself with good people, things, and thoughts.

The best piece of advice I've gotten was "hang in there." I seem to be doing the right things, I just need to continue doing them; I need to make sure I stay patient, and I need to believe that it's all going to work out wonderfully. Other counseling advice that were useful, were reminders of things that I already know, but don't seem to practice them regularly.

I'd like to be with being "okay". And what I mean by that is learning to accept myself for who I am and know that I'm okay. Regardless of my disorders and the way I feel about myself, I'm perfectly fine.

This year I finally reached my goal weight after four years of getting closer. So this year is about toning on the physical level. On the emotional level it's about anxiety reduction (having gone through menopause this year) so continuing with taichi and meditation. On the spiritual level I would like to become wiser. Advice for that is "I am already here. Present. Tall."

This year I was told not to "settle." Believe that your life has the potential to be excellent and that there is no reason to settle for 'good enough.' I hope to continue living life as a sunbeam, radiating out into the world.

"Everything will be ok in the end. If everything is not ok, then it is not the end."

"This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice in it". I want to internalize the meaning of this psalm so that I find the good in every day. I had been thinking about these words. And then I met a young man who has been undergoing treatment for cancer for over 9 years. He went on to get married has 2 young children. I asked him how he kept such a positive attitude about life and he quoted the line above. I'm Jewish and he is Christian. A few questions ago I responded that I didn't have a spiritual experience this year, but I was wrong.

I would like to make better use of the time I do have instead of bemoaning the time I don't have. "Better use" includes quality time for myself in reading, doing my crafts, getting exercise, and spending time with my family. Part of it is in not waiting until I am "finished with work (I do half my work at home)", but in stopping work to do those things. Maybe "eat dessert first" is some humorous advice that applies here.

I want to continue on my path to financial success. My husband and I have accomplished so much in the past year, and I want so badly to keep up the momentum. We are out of debt with the exception of our house payments, and we are working hard to pay that off within 5 years. There is so much you can do, when you don't have those car payments, loans, and credit card payments to hold you down. Next year, I look forward to seeing how far we've come and how we will be 1/2 way to our goal of paying off our house.

There are a lot of things that I'd like to change about myself. I'd like to be in better shape, eating better, procrastinating less on the Internet, and doing more to go outside of my comfort zone (as regards to my social anxiety). When I socialize with others, I want to be focused on and genuinely interested in who they are and what they have to say, instead of obsessing over how my behavior comes across to them. I want to live in the world surrounding me, instead of the world inside my head. I realize that this is a tall order to fill, and in all likeliness, I won't get a good chunk of these wants and needs done. I can start, though, with challenging my anxiety instead of shying away from it. In a book on anxiety that my therapist recommended for me, a section on social anxiety stressed the fact that if you don't do things that make you nervous or scared, then you'll never get over your fear. That stuck with me. If I start tensing up in a situation, whether it's talking to people I don't know or a particularly stressful homework assignment, I should take that as a prompt to go ahead and DO something about it, instead of running away from it. If I do that, I'll make progress.

Be more able to accept life as it comes, and deal with reality as one ages life is ever changing. Yes I was told not to beat myself up over daughters death in 2011 and now my brother's eminent death due to terminal cancer. Don't look back at what ifs.

Since we are headed on our new adventure, I want to be more outgoing on our trip. The piece of advice that I think is the most important that will guide me is to not be afaird to take chances, and to not be afraid of the difficult decisions and conversations.

I would like to reduce my weight. So much advice, I have to piece together what works for me.

I intend to be as karmic happy and successful in where ever life takes me as i go through next year and the time ahead and something i'll keep with me always is no matter what I'm or your facing, good or bad, everthing passes and you get more of what you focus on, so focus on whats good and best best possible outcome of what your involved in.

I have been struggling financially. I am on a fixed income collecting disability. So I took the bull by the horns and began a small tutoring business. I plan to grow it and with GOD's help I plan to become financially more comfortable.

I would like to become a better person. I want to commit myself to truthiness and honesty with those I love. There are several people in the last year that have pointed out that if I had only asked for help it would have been given... I am extremely grateful to those people, and wish I had recognized that sooner.

I want to appreciate and enjoy my children, to respect their unique path in life. A really good piece of advice I read on a friend's blog was never to predict what your children will do. Her children are small mine are grown. This advice, I believe applies to children of all ages. The moment that I heard this advice, so simple, yet so profound I wanted to implement it. My relationships with my adult children are very important to me. I am now trying one moment at a time to not, even internally, predict what they will do. If they ask for advice, I will gladly give it, but I will not make up scenarios in my head and try to protect them from possible harm invented by me.

Take better care of myself. "Caretaker syndrome" is real and has taken its toll on me. Allow others to help more, so I won't be so lonely.

I would like to be more open, and more willing to ask for help. I have a terribly hard time accepting help from others, which I truly want to change. I need to realize that it doesn't mean I'm weak and I can still be a self-sufficient, strong woman. i shouldn't deny someone else the opportunity to do a mitzvah by aiding or counseling me.

I would like to be more ME. Let myself do the things that give me breath and passion and self. I turned 40 this year, and I decided that it's the time to "own it", whatever "it" may be. Someone who just turned 50 said that is her time to start "doing it". There's no time left to dilly dally. Start doing. Why should I wait 10 years? Let this be my time to start DOING, maybe I'll find myself again.

I am hoping to finish out my AA and find a architectural drafting job. I haven’t received any sage advice. However, I have been privy to a great deal of cosmic interlink lately. In an insane move from LA to Denver everything has just fallen into place. It is hard to believe that it has only been one month since we rolled up.

Colin's "Be yourself" Continue with school Continue with study at Yale Read more theol Live more in the moment Daily Prayer

I would like to become less of a procrastinator and time debtor. Work on my memoirs. Also, reduce my cc debt. And be in a committed, loving relationship. Best advice ... take life one day at a time.

I am working to be more positive. I realize that I don't have to be untrue to myself, but by putting a smile and positive approach to my encounters, I may get a better response in my interactions, both at home and at work.

No advice, but I would like to be as good a listener at home and as understanding with my family as I am with my patients

I want to get thinner, and i'm sure there's tons of advice I got but hey, do i listen? yes, i know this is a vanity thing.

I would like to continue to go to the gym with the same fervor that I have been doing for the past few months. I hope to have a six pack before we hit 2013 - here's hoping! I would also like to try and cook for myself more often. It will, no doubt, be a healthier choice, plus it will save me a lot of money.

I would like to make myself for physically active in the next year. Doing so and being healthy are important for my future and the future of my family. No real advice other than knowing that if I would just make myself do it, I will feel better.

I hope everything calms down with my husband. I am really worried about him and our relationship at the moment. He's convinced that he is going to die in the same way as his father and is also very stressed at work. He's staying away at least 2 nights a week and that makes it hard for me with the boys, not to mention our relationship. I'm working a lot and juggling like mad. I love him and both boys beyond words. Until a few weeks ago, I felt very lucky - part of a pretty perfect little family. Let's hope this is a puncture and not a wheel falling off.

"Be yourself, everyone else is already taken" is something i like to live by. I hope that i improve myself by becoming more confident and happy. I want to exercise, keep my grades up, be successful in BBYO, and all that good stuff. Hopefully that will translate into me being more confident and happy because i view those two virtues as extremely important.

I would like to incorporate the advise given today about just do it. I could apply this to everything I want and need to do and get stuck. Meditation, photos,writing letters, phone calls, cooking, golf etc. and of course exercise.

I was so miserable in my job this last year and am grateful to have finally found a new one after a year of searching. I want to regain a more positive outlook on life, and I think being removed from the negativity of the workplace I'm leaving will help.

The two biggest pieces of advice I've received are knowing that no one can tell you how to feel, its completely up to you. You can't make other's feel a certain way, and you can't worry about someone else's actions, you only have control over yourself. I would like to improve myself by thinking less about the people who I don't want to be friends with but still strangely admire and think more about the true and real friends that I currently have around me.

I would like to find a better work-life balance (although I realize that I have said this before). I need/want to be more present. I am hoping that my meditation practice will help me do so.

I want to be more physically active to medicate my depression. If I play more I will be happier.

Exercise. I just want to exercise more regularly which will mean carving out time to just go do it and to leave Mike to fend for himself with the children.

The advice and counsel I keep receiving from some friends and giving to other friends, and all the wisdom reading I do--is "you already have everything you need within you." I'd like to spend as much time as possible no matter what I'm doing or not doing--content in the moment, open to the beauty and bliss available in every breathing moment, which means I'll be spending less time angsting about what and how to do something and more time simply engaging myself in the task of the moment.

I want to read more real books and less web surfing.

I would like to be more content. I have God, and He is all I need. I need to complain less and talk about all of the many blessings I have instead of what isn't going my way. I also need to procrastinate less.

Make life take precedence over work, not the other way around. Get together with old friends more and meet some new ones. Entertain again. Be satisfied with "what is" and stop worrying about "what might be"

I want to spend less time wasting time and more time pursing artistic inspirations.

Take responsibility for my life!

Less weight; more exercise; gentler thoughts; don't always believe what I think; Anne Lamott said there is a mythical toolbox (God's? mystic? just a belief system?)--you can always ask to borrow some of the tools as you need them--calmer heart, steadier hands, greater compassion..... Turning 70 next year should be a great motivator to make my world larger.

I want to live a healthier life. Cook dinner at home more. Drink more water and less soda and caffeine. Cut out alcohol and exercise more.

First of all, and perhaps most importantly, my health has to be my key focus. It is paramount that I am healthy. I hope that I can look back in a year from now and see that this has been true. I want to continue being spiritually focused and cultivate holistic living. I want to continue maturing. I must focus on who I can be, and not let the distraction of the lack of healthiness of college living get in my way.

Retire! But first, I would get more sleep, get more organized, and stop multitasking.

I would like to keep better track of time so I can tell the people I love how I feel about them more often. I get so busy, and I love being busy, but sometimes I just lose complete track of how much time goes by because of it. There isn't any advice or counsel that can help, I'm hoping a calendar will do the trick!

Two smart women have told me in the past few months that I need to seek out more support. Maybe counseling, maybe friendship or other help. I have started to ask a little for more help from other parents. I have also gotten more serious since Rosh Hashanah about better eating, drinking and exercise habits. I want to keep this up.

i would like to become less dependent on material things and focus more on experiences - friendships, travel; exploring, discovering and using my abilities to find out what i am capable of. my acupucturist told me to quit obsessing so much, and she's right.

I would like to get back to my kung fu training and yoga practice. I have always worked out and practiced yoga "just enough" to maintain a fit body, but I can tell that I am losing my flexibility and stamina. I have the time now, so I have no excuse!

Measure my self esteem by the authenticity of my emotions and actions, rather than any outer success. I hope to get more grounded in what to do with all my talents: God, show me the way, how can I best serve the world?

I'm all about the type II diabetes this year. I want to continue to improve my health, lose weight and have good a1c reports. Hearing "this could be a blessing" from my doctor was hard to hear, but he was right. I'm more confident in myself and more in touch with myself. I am going to dance at my son's wedding.

I would like to talk less and listen more, I would like to make openings from the closings, and I want to be grateful for every minute of every day.

I could improve myself by being a better Jew, and if my wife would communicate with me. My whole everything would improve. I probably need to stop losing my temper so quickly, and constantly swearing.

I would like to finally be happy with the way my body looks. I have been running with a friend and we started the first month only running a mile and now we are up to running three miles. I am hoping to increase the distance along with the endurance and incorporate healthier eating habits as well. As for guidance or counsel, there are two pieces of advice that I have been trying to live by and they sort of go together. The first is Temple Grandin who believes that every opportunity, fear, or change is a door to something new and it is just about stepping through that door. The next is from Kenneth Bouyer, Director of inclusiveness recruitment for Ernst & Young. He said to "never feel as though you have arrived". In other words, never take advantage or feel like you dont have to work hard in your situations. So now, I take a walk through every door and never feel as though I have arrived. Always taking steps forward to whats next, working hard when I get there.

Get it all under control.

One major change that I'd like to work on is is keeping shabbat. My wife and I really love when we sit down to dinner together and have everything turned off except some music and just hang out and chat. I want to get back to that. I also would like to renew my energy to being healthy. I think I've been focusing on a lot of different things but I would like to create better eating habits and increase my workout routine to 4 days a week.

Well, I still want to lose that 10 pounds. Also, nurture myself with art and silence. To do a little art every day.

I'd like to travel more. I had such an amazing time in 2011, going to Alaska and all over the west coast and then to India... I have grand ideas of visiting Europe next summer, and maybe taking a cruise, and possibly going back up to Canada to visit Dad in his nearly-done house, and someday doing an amazing hike-slash-luxury-hotel tour to Machu Picchu. Hawaii and Iona are also on the list. As are continuing to return to Camp Cross, and hopefully visiting Ghost Ranch again. There is so much to see on this Earth, and I love travel adventures with my husband!

I would like to not give a fuck what people think of me and live for me. The best advice that I saw this year was Brotip #1510: use the bricks people throw at you to build a fucking castle.

I would just like to continue to be more comfortable in myself and my faith.

The vedic philosophy that H told me about. He said, you have to do every single thing that you can to get what you want; every. single. thing. That will take you up to this point where you have to open your arms, give it up to the universe and let the ultimate outcome be something that you can't control. I learnt this; that I can control how smart and how hard I work, and then I have to give it up to the universe. This duality, this balance is a beautiful thing; the push and the pull; the fight and then the letting go.

I would like to make some areas of my life more efficient so that I can enjoy the things I enjoy without feeling guilty about the undone tasks in my life.

I want to speak up for myself without fear of rejection. A piece of advice I received was better to close your mouth and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it

I would like to simplify my commitments so that I have more time to spend with my family. I would also like to document in photographs the beauty that I see around me so as to appreciate it more. Also, I wish to create more by writing about the things that I know and to leave a record for the children and grandchildren to have so that they will know me better and appreciate how I thought and felt about life.

I want to continue to lose weight, to become stronger and healthier, to improve my skills in acting for the camera, and most definitely MOVE away from this state. I would like to be living in NY within the next six months.

I would like to overcome the inertia and fear that tend to overtake me. There are so many things to do in the world ... and in my neighborhood. But I tend to get "stuck" in the house. I don't go out and take advantage of the endless opportunities that are available to me. I would also like to get back into living a God-driven life, rather than a self-driven life.

I would like to downsize my acquiring of "stuff". Also I'd like to make the change over to paperless bill paying for all my accounts. I also would like to start doing a real exercise plan...

I wish I could hold my temper. Instead of flying off the handle, take some time, maybe an hour to cool off, then take action if needed.

I really can do it. I can do anything. I would've told myself this a long time ago if I would've believed it. Next year I want to do things that fufill me and give my life more meaning. I want to explore everything in life, starting with my career and spirituality. I WANT EVERYTHING TO BE A MILLION TIMES BETTER BY NEXT YEAR and I have a plan that I'm sticking to regardless of what anyone says. I'm quitting Michael's sometime in the summer, going to New York, and then getting a job (or even an internship) in my prospective career field. Working on a movie set, writing, sleeping on people's couches and trying to get my art exposed. Just in case the year-from-now me forgot what I am supposed to be doing...

There are many ways I'd like to improve myself and my life in the coming year. But at the top of my list is fitness. I'd really like to get back in shape, even though I've got my weight under control. I love the Wayne Gretzky quote "Skate to where the puck is going." In other words, look forward and move forward in life (as in ice hockey).

no copouts when things derail. face the facts and move on. no hiding from dinner requests. get out, do. stop hiding and eating alone. be brave, always.

Wow. There are so many things that I'd like to improve about myself. If I could choose one thing, it would be to be content with my weight, age, looks, personality, neuroses, brains, education, finances, job, number of friends, where I live, how I eat, what I feel, and on and on and on. So I want to become more self- accepting in the next year.

With the kids now off -- school and their own lives -- I would like to find a schedule that keeps me active. Physically active and writing both. I'm very good at keeping up with friends, and the dog gets me out every day but I need to find some energy to set up my office and write every day. Make money too. Make money writing if possible, or even editing, which I love to do. I'm still walking around in a bit of a daze doing whatever comes to mind to get the apartment set up and my office is still mostly in boxes. I also want to get my body back in shape -- I've lost about half the weight I gained but need to lose more, and I should be swimming and/or going to yoga or pilates once a week to keep my muscles alive and kicking. None of that is happening regularly now, and I used to do it all. Now that I have more time, I have to start scheduling it. As for advice or counsel, the best advice I've had recently from Dr.B was when I told him I was mad at myself on days I don't "accomplish" anything. He said: I can lie around playing games and be mad at myself or I can do the things on my list (at least some of them) or I can accept that I'm not getting anything done because being mad at myself does nothing, changes nothing. That makes it pretty clear.

I'm always wanting to improve myself and my life every year. This year I'm really focused on losing weight and since I'm more financially secure, I can think about improving my living situation. Letting go of anger toward others has freed me in unimaginable ways.

What I hope to, and will, accomplish over this next year is to truly and honestly mean all the things that I say. I say positive and philosophical things to myself and my friends, but a lot of the time I don't fully believe in what I say. I am currently in the early stages of actually working toward that change, it's something that's been very hard for me to start. Now I have some new beliefs that are being put into my own words, something that can be mine and mine alone. My friends have given me much advice in making these goals a reality, but I would never use the advice or take advantage of their words. I aim to fix that. By his time next year, September 22, 2013, I will be in a much more advanced state of mind, body, heart and soul than I currently am. I am building a solid ground for this journey I'm on and I will continue to build upon this journey over my entire life. Taking one baby step at a time is something that I've said that I've been doing, but actually haven't. I put all of my goals on my plate at once and expect them to be solved now. I never made progress that way. Now I am taking my time to do so. Next year I wish to have made good progress on this very first step toward improving the greatest life to me, my life.

I need to be more patient, and I need to panic less. Together with that comes controlling anger (that part, I am improving on but still have a ways to go).

I would like to react less quickly and emotionally to things that I don't like or that offend me, such as Fox News or Republican campaign propaganda. I would like to be able to step back mentally and consider my answers. No, there was nothing in the way of advice or counsel that guided me.

I would like to be more patient and less frustrated. I would like to feel like things are OK without being perfect. I would like to spend more quality time with my family without feeling like I need to be working all the time.

I would like to improve myself in the next year by doing all the silly little things I've been putting off, either out of fear or laziness or sometimes both. Getting my license is the first one I can think of off the top of my head. I'll be 20 this time next year; I guess I want to stop being a teenager and start being an adult, even if I'm still living at home. Making my own appointments. Getting myself to them. Learning how to cook. You know, that kind of thing.

Physical and mental health - due to family history, I want to improve both to be here and support my family as long as I can.

I want to become more confident. I have had so much success this past year -- in school, in BBYO, in my extra curricular activities -- still, I am often over-thinking, worried, insecure, and second guessing myself. I need to remind myself that I am good enough, that I'm worth something. There is so much that I can do in the world if I set my heart to it.

I would like to less judgmental, more flexible, less desperate in finding love. I think all the advice I learn from various sources can guide me, if I could only put it in action. I would also like to sit more.

I'd like to focus on God's will and the salvation it offers rather than the turmoil, fear and conflict generated by my ego. Kindness and positive attitude will be my watchwords. I'll ask: What would you have me do? Where would you have me go? What would you have me say and to whom?

Stop delaying the things you want to do and stop worrying about little things that don't really matter.

I want to learn to just be. Surrender and accept so I can live in each moment. Present in the moment with acceptance. But diffused from the petty stress that makes me so angsty. Let it be, and then that which doesn't matter can wash away like water.

I want to continue to be more like my own best self. "You are not a failed attempt at being me. And I am not a failed attempt at being you."

I want to model what I teach my clients. It's a simple DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) mantra. It basically states that "you are doing the best you can, but keep pushing for change." I think if I can live up to this I will be happier. It's hard to accept sometimes that I am doing the best I can because I know I can always do better. Its important to take a step back, validate that I am doing everything I can, and realize I can continue to push myself to be a better version of me.

I would like to get more involved with people, I have retired and all my friends have moved or are just busy with new friends and I feel lonely. I do not have anyone to guide me and I am also tring to get work and also would like to move just do not know where I want to live.

Equanimity. Put a pause between the match and the fuse. Recognize that anger and hurt have no more permanence than any other emotion.

Even though I am concious of getting older and the passage of time, I want to still take the time to watch, observe and luxuriate in the time I have left and seep myself in enjoyment.

I want to be more positive! Sometimes, I think I resort to complaining so that I have something to talk about and I very much doubt that's what people want to hear all the time. Be kinder, be happier, be loving. To the future you: Did you finally try that kickboxing class you've been talking about for the last 3 years?

What I learned in the last year is to work for the common good. Then, I'm improving my own life along with everyone else's. If I focus only on my own life, I am probably causing detriment elsewhere.

I would like to stop procrastinating about the following: losing weight, riding my bicycle, organizing or eliminating my clutter. I dream about this. I obsess about this. But I don't do it.

I have goals to get my finances in order to retire in such a fashion that I can enjoy my retirement; to learn Spanish; to improve my personal and the world environment. The best piece of advice to guide me came from a book called "The Game" which stimulated me to take on these challenges (my husband has chosen others but is using the Game format). The author used to have a website which I can no longer locate but the ideas in the book are useful enough. The questions in each chapter guide me to look at my overall purpose in my life and match my choices to that purpose, as well as make change fun

"Pretend that your best friend is doing what you're doing right now. What would your advice to her be?" I don't know if I received that from someone this year, but it came to mind immediately when I read the question. What would my life be like, if I lived the way I could encourage someone else to live? Could I have the same standards -both dreams and expectations- for myself?

Life is not about tomorrow or yesterday, life is about TODAY. Focus on being a better person now and serving God now, because now is the only thing you have any control over.

I would like to continue to become more outgoing. I've been told by a friend to stop giving a fuck about what people think. I think I've been getting better about that...but I want to embrace that concept even more.

I would like to work on being me. And return to saving money. But mostly just be me, build some confidence, improve health... The last seems like a pipe dream because I'm not really willing to do the work. The big advice is to quit worrying. Also unlikely.

I would like to become more outgoing and more of a social butterfly. I guess the years of rejections and having people not letting me speak has silenced me. But this year I am no longer silent. I want to become the person who can say hi to anyone without getting the death glare. At graduation, my principal and the director of the school told us to take flight and basically go after your dreams. With my audition into the theater department and becoming involved with what I love at JMU, I have taken the beginning steps to fly on the right path for my future.

I have decided to apply for an AA degree in geography so that I can quit school without regrets.

I want to replace bad habits with good habits. Best advice I was told this year was to wait and let people hang themselves with their own rope.

I would like to improve myself by becoming a little more assertive especially in the situations I need to be. Also, I need to be more observant and think things through and all of their possibilities.

I would like to be in conscious contact with God as I understand God and align myself with God's will for me. The improvements in my life that I seek involve relationship and vocation. "Let your life speak" (Parker Palmer)

I would like to get off the dime more... Make real headway in my career, before it's too late! Make a living at my art... It will mean changing a lot of things, taking a more pro-active stance regarding my marriage (by which I mean dissolving it--or at least putting distance between us) and the harassment of those who mean me no good.... Dad said, "keep your eye on the goal," and that's one of the best pieces of advice he ever gave me.... But when the goal shifts???? That's the trick....

More then ever I am discovering the importance of saying NO and how I just don't say it enough. I am getting better but my people pleasing tendencies and difficulty in setting boundaries leaves me feeling resentful and worn out far more often then is healthy emotionally and physically. I would like to get better at stating what my needs are without fear of loss or angering someone. I admire people who stand up for themselves and yet I still can't seem to figure out how to do it myself. By next year I would like to be one of those people I admire.

I just want to be better to myself.

I would like to be healthier, fitter, faster, thinner, better cholesteral numbers. The advice I've received is what I developed myself: 1) that which doesn't kill you does make you stronger; 2) no matter how bad my/our story, there are others much worse out there and, no doubt, I'll hear about them whether I want to or not; and 3) there's no place like home.

Embrace my vulnerability. Face into it. Own it. Enough said.

As stated in an answer to a previous question, I hope to get into a PhD program in Religious Studies at a non-denominational, unaffiliated with any one religion school. This would help me improve in many ways. One recent piece of advice is to make sure I write a good letter of Introduction as to why I wish to attend said school. This person (a Professor) offered to look over my letter and I will definitely take advantage of their offer.

Lower my perfectionistic standards to lower my stress.

Continue feeling. Emotions. Work on myself. Make progress on issues. Dont sweep emotions under the rug and don't ignore the important shit. Make priorities that are spiritual and stuck with them. Life is good, the world is mine in a lot of ways and I can continue thriving but the long term can not be ignored.

I'd like to find employment, but much more than a job, I'd like to enjoy satisfaction anf fulfillment in a career. I'd also like to lose 25-30 pounds. The advice I've received that is most helpful in guiding me: "No one can make it happen but you."

My new year's resolution is to practice being a more compassionate person. Meditation is supposed to increase one's capacity for compassion. I hope that as I meditate more regularly, I will be able to grow in my compassion, focusing on putting out positive thoughts to those who are suffering.

I've been guided this year by a teaching from my Mussar class. When you're trying to decide whether to do something that's permissable, try these 2 questions: Is it for the glory of God? Is it done with great love? It's made it easy to make some good choices. I hope to apply it even more broadly in the coming year to make even more good choices.

I am on a constant improvement plan...do more good, exercise more, be a better professional, write more, think more, be a better wife and mother, be a better citizen...so I guess I will just continue - I continue to work on not worrying so much and to be content with what I know as opposed to what I imagine.

I want to continue moving in the positive direction that I have set out for myself. I also want to be able to master my emotions by living them to their fullest.

The best piece of advice I got is to look forward never backward. The past can't be changed, but the future is in our hands. I would like to create a happier future, for myself and my family.

I think I touched on this a lot in the last question, but I'd like to become very confident, self-assured, and self-reliant. I'd like to genuinely be less insecure and to feel comfortable with my body.

Give myself more breaks... "Sometimes it's okay if the only thing you did today was breathe." I have busy enough day and honestly, a busy enough mind that sometimes I need to just shut everything out. I have to find a better balance.

I would like to move closer to achieving sincere inner peace so I can get beyond past wrongs done me by my family and friends and stop being so critical of everything around me and so angry all the time. To get there, I think I need to recall the words of the monks/masters who taught the Dhammakaya meditation class I used to take. They would say that if a thought came to you while meditating, you should acknowledge it and let it pass as if it were a flock of geese flying by -- in your field of vision at one moment and gone the next. In that vein, I think that if something upsets me, I need to note it and move on, letting it pass. Holding on to anger/frustration has not done me any good up to now, so I have no reason to think that if I were to hold on to such emotions in the future anything would be different. Practicing having fewer attachments, I think, would do me a WORLD of good.

The best advice I've ever received: Trust God. God is faithful.

From Sons of Anarchy: "There’s an old saying: that which does not kill you makes you stronger. I don’t believe that. I think the things that try to kill you make you angry and sad. strength comes from the good things: your family, your friends, the satisfaction of hard work. those are the things that keep you whole, those are the things to hold on to when you’re broken". I want to hold onto this. My family and a few really special friends kept me from breaking this year.

I want to be stable, free of resentment and anger, and enjoying every moment. I want to be doing something I absolutely love and not just doing something so I can survive. I want to exercise, eat well and make wise & healthy decisions. I want to see the beauty in everything. And I want to have some real friends I can trust and who really love me.

Be in the moment. Still working on having more patience and truly enjoying remarkable (be they "everyday" or rare) moments.

I want to be more politically fluent with my opinions. I'm excited to be well read and up with the times. I want to do really well in school, learn how to write good essays and such. I have a poster in my room that says "not all who wander are lost." I'm making my way through NYC, finding myself, and wandering a bit. I don't know what direction I'm going in, I'm just going and wandering to find something new and beautiful.

I would like to accept growing older, to stop trying to hide it or pretending to avoid it, but do it and do it well, without embarrassment ot fear.

I want to continue exercising on a very regular basis. I have been averaging 15 times a month, and I want to continue going at that level or more. I want to be more in touch with my emotions. I want to be more in the now, and spend less of my life focused on negative predictions or mind reads. I feel like I am in the neutral zone today. I am not exactly sure where I am headed, but I hope to have made considerable progress over the next 12 months.

Calm down. Breathe. Don't take everything so seriously.

I think peace and acceptance is going to be a huge theme for me this year...that and learning more/enough about myself to let go of the bad parts of my past... Advice? Slow and steady...

Be more gentle in argument, and be less argumentative. Keep my word more. Waste less time. Be less upset by what I see as the stupidity of others.

I'd like to improve myself and my life by focusing on the good, by not being distracted by petty, annoying, derailing people or events, by being generous and committed not only to others' needs & well being but to my own as well. I'd like to improve myself by taking the time to follow ideas and projects through to a satisfying conclusion or beginning... to recognize my own ability to make wonderful things happen and run with it, to succeed.

I want to make things simpler. When you make things more complicated than they need to be, that's when you start questioning yourself and others. I definitely need to work on that.

I would like to focus on what I have and try to make the most of it rather than pondering over what I do not have. I want to appreciate the things I have instead of focusing on the things I lack. One piece of advice that will help me is that I don't have to feel like there is a time bomb. I have time to figure out what I want to do, where I want to be, and that gives me some peace of mind.

I would like to worry less. Recently something I read made the observation that if you worry about a bad outcome, and it comes true, then you have suffered from it twice as much. I need to develop the mental resources that allow me to determine when there is nothing additional to be gained from thinking through a problem, and to then consciously decide and stick to the decision to stop doing so.

I read somewhere recently that there will never be a perfect time to do the things that matter, so do them as soon as you can. It's arguably not the perfect time to have children: unmarried, living in a 2-bedroom apartment, still deciding where to live and what to do with my career. But I'm 35, so there isn't time to wait for everything to be just perfect. Having children, and doing it soon, is so important that we'll find a way to make it work. In addition, I want to continue to reflect on and live out the lessons I've learned from my divorce. In particular, I'd like to continue to try to be less judgmental of others and their choices, especially when they make different choices than I would have. (Not easy! Judgmental is my default status!) I want to continue to take the high road, speaking kindly of people and doing the right thing whenever I can. I want to continue to build a healthy and loving relationship with my fella, accepting him for who he is and giving him the opportunity to know and accept me in return. And I want to continue to focus on my own goals and dreams, and keep working toward them. Not a small order, but as long as I keep moving forward it will be a success.

I would like to be more active and enjoy the outdoors more. Life is not infinite, so make it count.

i would like to pick up and slick up. toss away old clutter, streamline, get organized. find some ways to make more income, and pay off debt. lose some weight and get more active. spend more quality time with my spouse. improve family relationships.

To do it. If I want it, I need to work for it and do it. In the past I have always been afraid of the consequences or I haven't pulled through on ideas. I want to do anything I set my mind to. Also, lately I have become more negative and I complain a lot. So I want to become postive and happy because it is contagious. If I become positive, I can love life again.

I would like to continue to grow, I believe that only by growing & discovering we continue to be who we were meant to be. The best advice I've ever received is to live each moment like it matters for the truth is it may be our last.

I think that if I could just believe that I am loved, I am lovable, I am special, and that a healthy weight I am saner and all around healthier and a better Paula. That I am ok and not just ok, thriving, when I am at that spot. I hope to be able to focus a little less on myself and a little more on other people and being a good example and role model and mentor.

More faith. Less fear. Work out more, eat better, meditate, practice gratitude - take care of my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self. Volunteer - don't just be upset about poverty, hungry, cruelty, loneliness, injustice - be there for others. Be good. Think before acting - especially when feeling irritable, sad, angry.

I really need to learn to live in the present. I dwell in the past, and worry about what people think way too much.

I want this coming year to be more about "transformations" and less about "transactions." I want to focus less on replying to emails and checking things off my list, and more on stopping to have a conversation with someone in the hallway and doing extra thinking about a case or an article when it interests or challenges me.

I would like to be healthy, whole hearted and emotionally graceful. Brene Brown's Tedtalk on Vulnerability gave me an understanding of what whole hearted means, and participating in workshops held by www.hai.org gave me the tools to begin.

Over the next year of my life, I would like to be as creative as possible and express myself to the fullest. The one piece of advice I would like to guide my life is to express my feelings and just be myself. I don't know why I would want to be anyone else, but I recently realized that I hold a lot of jealousy for other people who can do this and that better than I can, or women who are more beautiful, or people who have it easier. I want to have so much compassion for myself and love myself just the way I am.

A quote I should live by: "If you're going through Hell, keep going." If I'm feeling down or that I don't have enough to make it, I hope that I just pick up the pieces and try again.

Honestly, I'd like to care less about others and more for myself. I need to quit worrying about the toes I may or may not step on and put my feelings out there. If I lose friends over it then they weren't true friends now were they?

Ted Hughes, in a letter to his son, wrote, "The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. And the only thing people regret is that they didn’t live boldly enough, that they didn’t invest enough heart, didn’t love enough. Nothing else really counts at all." I yearn to live boldly and for me that means both time alone and time spent living fully with others. As Anais Nin said, "You must not fear, hold back, count or be a miser with your thoughts and feelings. It is also true that creation comes from an overflow, so you have to learn to intake, to imbibe, to nourish yourself and not be afraid of fullness. The fullness is like a tidal wave which then carries you, sweeps you into experience and into writing. Permit yourself to flow and overflow, allow for the rise in temperature, all the expansions and intensifications."

I want to set clear goals for both my personal and professional life. The goals help me to focus and negotiate the hurdles that come along the way. While I want to work had to achieve the goals, I also want the ability to fully relax at times and enjoy what I have achieved so far.

I want to be more confident in my identity, strengthen my personal boundaries and awareness of boundaries, and appreciate the reality that saying 'no' to something you don't want is a very good thing.

I think I need to learn how to trust myself the way other people trust me. In the Masterful Trainer practice exercise, Manaav said that I should be more confident as a facilitator because "people trust me." That was really amazing to hear, and I need to internalize that more. Also the quote I found that says "There is beauty everywhere, even though once upon a time someone taught you that it was not in you. It was. It is." is something I need to internalize. But beyond that, I think that this past year has been the new time for reflection as a new practice, which has been transformative in terms of rewiring my brain, my responses to things and analysis in the moment. But I still need to shift the actions, so that I'm living the life I choose and really moving forward led by my inner "truth" or my heart. I've made progress identifying what my heart is telling me- not there yet- but definitely on my way. And I still need to get better at listening to my heart, especially in times of tension- in settings where I've most ingrained that I shouldn't trust it, that it's wrong- like at work, and maybe in certain kinds of relationships. I need to remember to listen to it when there are tense, complicated dynamics where other people reinforce negative patterns like taking up too much space with their needs, violating boundaries etc. So some of that is Julie's stepping forward into growth rather than stepping back into comfort quote from Maslow, and some sort of version of "just do it" because life is short.

"There's an audience for everything." --Steve Vai

Please be there for Aiden. Pay attention. Ignore the distractions. Just be present.

Don't compare jyourself to everyone else. All you are doing is comparing your blooper reel to everyone else's highlights. I would think more before I spoke. Also work on engaging my creativity when I need to destress

Stop eating my emotions, start FEELING my emotions.

I have had profound messages from the universe to take better care of myself by having balance in my life and spending less time working by having help. I want to achieve that this year. Finally. And I really need to be mindful and focus each minute.

I would like to be able to forgive more. I feel very abandoned by my once close family, that was torn apart by money when my grandma ish died. Yesterday it was 4 years ago that day the my granny died and it made me think, if she were alive, would she allow her 7 children to not be speaking to each other? My mom has 3 siblings she still talks to, and one recently came back into our life and I am finding it very hard to let go of the fact that she left, that for the past 5 years her ex husband and his new gf have been more of a family to me than she has. Today, like every year the rest of my family went to the lake where they spread my granny's ashes and they had a family gathering , but I could not bring myself to go, I could not bring myself to forgive my uncle John, who used to be like a dad to me for leaving, I could not forgive my aunty for going to Anfganistan and not telling me, I couldn't forgive my aunt Gwen for leaving me behind for power and money, I couldn't forgive my aunt Donna for what she's said about my mom. So now I'm faced with the question when is it time to forgive? And I wish that my granny could be here to guide me with advice because she always knew what to say, but I'm here contemplating it on my own, and knowing I should forgive god for taking her away from me.

I must stay in better touch with my friends and loved ones.

I would like to improve the way that I treat myself. I feel that I am too hard on myself instead of being more loving and compassionate with myself. I get really frustrated when I could have done things differently. Instead of seeing it as a learning and I will do better next time I feel guilty that I did not to it perfectly the first time.

Breathe - from friend and fellow Wing Mom Deb Estep. I need to step back and let my adult children be just that ADULTS. I need to let them make their own mistakes and suffer the consequences. I can no longer pick them before they fall and skin their knees. A hug and a kiss from Mommy, followed by a popsicle and a video will no longer fix everything in their world. I was an amazing mom when they were little, but I am not G-D. Chaplain Ron Cooley, thank you for that reminder.

I want to lose 50 pounds. I want to control my eating, be the one in charge, not the "voice" in my head that tells me 'one more cookie (or whatever) is ok, it won't hurt you. It's not ok to continually have these weight issues....it's time to take control of my health for my remaining years. I know all the answers, I just need to quit thinking about them and act on them.

I would like to stop selling myself short. I am cable of doing great things and I'm not sure if I'm just lazy or not motivated. Just because something seems hard doesn't mean I should quite before I even make an attempt. I can do it and I just need to believe in myself.

Stop bloody procrastinating. Do more, talk less. Accept my actions and achievements. Grow my heart. Love more. Live more. Fear less.

Let the world know what I'm good at, by just doing it as much and as well as I possibly can, and know within myself that I am doing my best

I want to make an effort to be more involved and meet new people.

Slow down. Breathe. do yoga. be more disciplined ....spend a little time each morning in quiet reflection; keep my room clean and tidy; eat less sugar; drink less wine; keep only clothes that I love; go to bed at 10:30 get up at 6. Trust more. Play more. Make love more.

I would just like to live life to the fullest as you never know what can happen in the future

Next year I would like to be experiencing more unalloyed joy and fun in my life. Not worrying so much. Recently I told a friend about a job I wanted to apply to - well being my comfort zone. His reaction? "it would really be fun to go through that interview process!" I want to think like that. To feel like that.

I want to have better control over my eating. I feel that much of my eating is emotional and that with control over it, I would also gain better control over my weight. I have begun fasting (from food, not water) once a week and have been doing that for the past month, but feel there is more that I need to be doing. Breathing, going to bed at a reasonable time and drinking water when I am hungry.

i strongly believe, and try and live my life to the following sayings: "you have to be cruel to be kind" and "never regret anything that ever made you smile". i would like to be able to confidently say that i have lived my life like that, especially socially and in my life, transitioning from being a student into a full-time worker.

My goal is to develop some self employment work job that will make me a secure amount of money. I would like to become independent of Jon and not need to rely on him for financing.

I would like to learn to read Hebrew and to gain a deeper knowledge of Torah. I often struggle and feel ill equipped in shul and in my community. I have tried to learn before and want to give it another try. The advice I hear in my head is to do it and don't let fear or my age stop me. It may take a little longer, but if I take my time and focus, I will do it.

Oh this is so silly. But I have a date next week! I don't know that anything will happen with it. But I learned to be a good partner to another person, you can't be too needy. You have to be actively giving, too, actively engaged, actively listening. So we'll see how the date goes or if there are more after it, with who. But more than that, this goes for friends, too. To be a good friend I can't just take. I want to be more giving. And being in a place where you can give means knowing yourself better, too, being more secure in it.

Hang in there. Deal with your insecurities.

I think maybe just learn to be open to new experiences and people, and that people are just people full of hopes and fears and neuroses and whatnot. Most recently something that is sticking out in my head, with the passing of Ed Sabol, there was a quote he said his father told him, "Treat everyone like they are a gentleman, not because they are, but because you are." So I'd like to move thru this year, a little more compassionate, and less judgmental. To treat everyone well and with respect and dignity, which I think I do pretty much anyway. But also not to be so timid and fearful, not to be afraid to ask people for help. If you don't ask, you don't get and ultimately people really do like to help you reach your peak.

I want to get out more, be more reckless, so I can have more fun! Also be better at contacting people- especially those I want to stay in touch with after finishing school.

I want to be more engaged with other people and focus less on things are need or am supposed to do. "People First" from Zadie

Having confidence in myself. Knowing that if I want to do something, then I should do it. That I have the resources, bravery, skills as much as any one else and I should do it and be proud. Because I am so talented but I do absolutely nothing with it. I want to be profilic in my creations, thoughtful and deep.

Try to keep everything in perspective. Hashem rules the world, not me.

I have no idea.

I think the best advice I ever got was from my acting teacher - do what you're doing when you're doing it. I'd like to get the front of my house cleaned up and pave a deck. The advice I need from that is from Flylady: You can do anything for 15 minutes at a time.

The best thing I could really do for myself in this coming year is to move on, let go of the entanglements of the past. I think the advice I received was something along the lines of learn to be yourself, let your inner child help you to move past the past. If you let your inner child know that she is safe, loving,and appreciated all things are possible. I am trying to explore more of me in order to accomplish what is possible and find a life that really suits my soul and spirit.

i would like to be fit and healthy, i want to change my relationship with food, i really want to feel energetic and motivated. I think once that is manageable and thriving, the rest of my life will follow suit.

Focus on just a couple of things, instead of a multitude.

I will continue to follow my spiritual path and infuse what I learn and practice into my daily life. I receive daily guidance from my intuitive/spiritual self, and am successful when I follow it.

I would like to slow down, pay more attention to life and less to screens!

Again, I want to be a more patient and thoughtful person. I want to think before I speak, to consider *before* I react how my words/tone will come across and be received.

Health, Health, Health Too much counsel actually. It is hard to be healthy when you recieve conflicting good advice even from doctors! Or incomplete information....

I'd like to be more striving to give my best in all the things that I do. I want to use my talent to the maximum, because it'd be such a waste if I just do it like how the mediocre does it. I hope I can help other people's lives by doing so, and left a huge impact for this world in years to come. I'll always remember one of 4 value at my current company which is "strive for excellence".

A lot of this is mentioned in the last question, but I would like to increase my network here in my new city - friends in the arts community - friends to go and do things with (events, shopping, arts, weekend workshops, vacations, etc.) - find volunteer stuff that is fun, exciting and means something to me - better understand my changing physiology - decide what I want to do regarding school - pare down the amount of STUFF I have in the house - sell on eBay or garage sale or something - increase my knowledge regarding my job - travel for work

Two big things...Do it now - whether it is exercising or cleaning the house, and learn everything - whether it is guitar or Hebrew or better meditation.

I'd like to be open to other people. I tend to behave like a cynic, even though I'm not a genuinely cynical person. I believe in romance and happiness, and I don't think I have any space for negativity in my life anymore. A friend of mine always comments on my dry sense of humor and jaded view on life, which has made me realize its just an act, and that I should be more aware of the way I project myself. I also want to be in the best shape ever, and become more flexible!

Continue opening and loving with myself and let it be okay to take care of myself emotionally and other ways first; then and only then, can I be truly generous with others

I would like to get better at keeping in touch with friends. I love the close friends I have but I think my life could improve from having a bigger circle around me. I would like to keep more people close without compromising the friendships I already have.

My great aunt told me recently that you shouldn't be afraid to treat your self once in awhile, no matter what it is so I will continue to buy myself new shoes but within my budget.

i hope to have lost a total of 120 lbs by this time next year, i am already on the way and i know i can do it. the best piece of advice i got is to do this for myself, not for other people.

I would like to improve myself by being less self-conscious & relaxing into situations that in the past would cause me some anxiety. I am becoming more aware of the way I present myself to others; & I would like to be perceived as open & friendly & non-judgmental. This is a huge task for me to achieve, but I believe that I am capable of this.

I would like to be able to feel extremely comfortable with my body. I don't as of right now, and the only way to do so is by exercising more and making better food choices. Another thing I would like to do is stop putting things off to the last minute. I want to be able to get through senior year with the least amount of stress possible. The best counsel I received in the past year was at CLTC during the endless programs on the 7 habits of highly effective teens. This taught me how to stay calm and do what I want to do right away.

I need to stop over thinking things. I have such an imagination and when things don't work out like I want then to or how it happens in my head, I get really down. I've got to get passed that mindset.

I need to follow my heart and continue to do good in the world. I need to be kinder to myself and appreciate all that I am. And I need to keep making art.

I want to follow my heart more and over-think things less. I want to do what feels right in my heart and my soul.

Live a fearless life~

Organize, simplify. Get rid of all the shit!

Lose weight, get into yoga, RELAX, get on with things. If not now, when? Begin things and follow through on them. Keep going, nothing will ever be that bad!

I would like to continue to try and live more in the present. I want to feel more at peace with who I am, my life, and the natural ebb and flow of it. I'd like to fear less and laugh more.

Yes. I'm so used to being with someone, and making decisions for two. I actually enjoy making decisions that benefit my partner more than me. I enjoy being selfless for the benefit of investing into "us". Now that I'm single, a friend told me, "That's great! Now you can do whatever you want, go wherever you want, and you don't have to worry about anybody else". Logically, I know that is so true, and I wish I could more genuinely see the advantages in that.

Be more active. Be a better student. Be something Aaron and my family will be proud of. Be a better girlfriend, a better daughter, a better sister, a better niece, a better friend. Rekindle old friendships. And I'll need to keep in mind, "It is easier to appreciate people genuinely when I'm not looking at them as the potential missing piece to something my own life is lacking."

I want to work on being softer and less rigid. I want to be capable of compromise. I want to expand my understanding of the world and explore topics and skills that I never would've considered before.

I'm going to clear the mental cobwebs. Flex the flabby attitudinal muscles. Activate a lot of what is lying dormant just beneath the surface.

Would you rather be right, or would you rather be free? This was advice I received during a 10 day meditation retreat that was an amazing and new experience. It encapsulates the pain that we cause ourselves by being attached to particular outcomes, and by holding on to self-righteousness. In general, I believe meditation practice and the wisdom of the Buddhist tradition would greatly benefit my life. Since returning from the retreat over a month ago, I have only meditated intermittently, so I hope that next year I can report a robust habit of sitting.

I would like to be more involved with my local Modern Orthodox shul. Right now I feel like I'm too busy and have too many commitments, but that will change in Oct-Nov 2012. After that I won't have the same excuses. I want to be more involved.

A piece of advice given to me by my chemistry teacher mr Slusher was that you must set goals for yourself an never stop trying to achieve these goals

I want to love myself a lot more! Feel more confident! I want to enjoy time on my own without the need to have people around me or hear positive comments and reassurance to feel that confidence or to feel loved. Why should I feel lonely if I don't get that?!

To realize that my words and voice deserves to be heard. Also that I cant do everything alone. I need to accept help and love from others in order to fully suceed.

A couple of things: 1. I want to be happy with where I am. I have enough of what I need. I'm fortunate, and while there may be things in my life that I want, I have everything I need. 2. I need to DO more, rather than just saying I want to do more. I spend a lot of time in front of the computer, doing easy things like watching TV and playing games. I need to create more. 3. I want to evaluate my relationships in relation to The Way to Love. While I may not agree with everything in the book, I really need to evaluate whether my relationships are benefiting me, and not have my happiness depend upon them.

This year I learned that it's important to stop and think and to not just get mad or react. And once I say things... I don't need to repeat myself over and over lecturing. And don't blame other people. You might always be part of the solution - but youre also part of the problem! If people are getting defensive, stop to see how you are contributing!

Be yourself, If you can be yourself then who will. And also express your feelings. Don't hide them, it just makes it worse. There are people who love you and want to see you do better, especially your family don't forget that.

I want to get on top of my physical health and my financial life. I want to hire an ergonomist to improve my work space. I want to spend less time on the computer and the phone. I want to read more books. I want to exercise more. As we sell off two buildings, I want to make sure our financial partnership invests wisely and gets organized. I think the best advice has been ubiquitous: Keep calm and carry on. Also - did not receive it in the past year, rather when I was in my 20s, but somehow it has resurfaced: Go the extra step. Make the extra call. (It was advice to a young journalist, but it applies to everything.)

I would like to not be afraid to express myself creatively and to have opinions. My voice is not less important than others. There is no reason for me to be ashamed of it or scared to use it. Believe in yourself and don't listen to the negative voices in your head or the thoughts of how others may perceive you.

I want to find the motivation to become healthier: exercise more (not hard when starting from none) and eat less (very hard when food is a crutch in many ways.) On an intellectual level, I've known I need to do this for years. But now that I'm over 50 years old, the importance is manifesting itself. If I achieve this, one bonus is lower expenses for medication. Another might be the confidence to go swimming again -- I miss it, but I haven't owned a bathing suit in years because I don't like what I see in the mirror. That makes me sad.

"So much can be stitched into every word." If another person's actions/words/etc are bothering you, focus instead on what's going on for you. I would like to continue to improve my ability to focus on my own healing and self-awareness/self-acceptance. I would love to be less self-critical, at least in terms of my writing... And I want more reasons to be less "on guard" against triggered memories of traumatic events in the past, or even their reoccurence.

I have to stop procrastinating about doing as much physical activity as my body will allow. I would like to know how much strengyh I couldactually achieve, especially on my weaker left side. Also investigate what is causing the excessive swelling in my left leg and foot.

I want to spend less time daydreaming and more time channeling those daydreams into motivation and published stories. I can develop this type of focus; I've done it in the past, but not with writing.

I would like to have more stability in my day to day. I would like to make a larger group of people I socialize wtih regularly. I need to be better about calling my long-distance buddies. I need to be less afraid of asking for what I want.

Cultivating a habit of gratitude: seeing the beauty and plentitude and miracles in others, in the physical world, in what and who is before me.

I think I said this last time: I want to do the things that I know I should be doing, not in the kind of pathological "should" ing the CBT is always talking about ('Why should you?') but based on what I know from my own research and experience. I have values; I want to be a certain kind of person, live a certain kind of life. It doesn't matter why, what matters is that it's what I want, it's been vetted for thirty-odd years. And what matters is that I know what needs to be done, at least, I know some of those things, I've learned these lessons so many times. Now I just have to make all that shit happen, actually implement those hard lessons.

My relationships and my work seem to be the two sources of satisfaction and meaning in my life. I hope to improve both. I want so much to get in tune my internal wisdom. I believe the 'answers' are inside of me if I could hear them, and understand what they're saying. And then have the courage to act on them. I hope that mistakes feel like learning experiences, and I learn to let go of them quickly so that I can take the wisdom and move on with my life without chewing on it so much. I also hope that I find the meaningful wisdom so that life gets more efficient and easier instead of repeating mistakes.

I would like to feel more confident and in control. I attempt to read notes that are positive and provide inspirational thoughts. As a browse the net I come across some interesting pieces. I realize that all growth comes from within so that's where I will be starting.

I would like to become more aggressive but not in a bad way. I'm living in Israel and aggression is needed to survive here. I would also like to take the advice of Florence + The Machine's song Shake it Out. I know it's hard to do but I need to shake it out sometimes. Whenever I listen to that song I feel like I can take on anything. It's what I want to be able to do to my anxiety and all the other bad shit that happens. It's totally unrealistic because its just SO hard, but it makes me think that I can.

My motto for 2012/13 will be to say no less and yes more - in work, at home and socially. I want to become a more positive person who helps people and makes them happy rather than avoiding difficult work or tasks.

I want to be less critical of others, especially my husband, and of myself. I want to learn to breath more and let go of the small stuff - to be less crazy, less mean, more spacious, gracious and kind.

I want to have something that is just for me. A hobby. A passion. I still havent found it yet....

I want to be my life owner. I have just seen who and how has dominated me for a long years ago. Only if I'm my life owner, my sons will see againt to me.

I am ready to have my own home and create new traditions instead of always "being" somewhere else.

I want to be less flustered and angry on a daily basis. There are legitimate reasons that I feel frustrated with the way things are going in the big picture, largely because they are beyond my control. What I can control, however, is my reaction to my situation, particularly in the day-by-day, minute-by-minute reactions. I want to be less angered by bad driving and less flustered when interacting with others, especially students. A friend recently started leaving for everything 5 minutes early. I think this could go a long way to helping me build a more calm, collected daily presence.

I would like to be more exact about the things that I have to do. I would like to live my life to the fullest. Carpe Diem..cease the day.

I would like to keep minimizing my belongings. Start getting into more kettle bell exercises and other body weight exercises. Cut most corn and fried foods out of my diet. Read more. Meet more people. Start thinking about actual travel plans.

I would like to have myself on a regular exercise schedule-- taking care of my body outside the dance studio. It will make me a better dancer and more confident. I didn't get a direct piece of advice, but I want to continue talking to people who take good care of themselves and let them inspire me.

More reading, more writing, more acting, more remodeling! Maybe even learn to play the guitar.

I want to start thinking more win-win rather than lose-win or win-lose. This includes both being able to sympathize and empathize with people, helping them get what they want, and also being able to direct myself on a path to get what I want. I know that I have the ability to accomplish each part on its own, but I struggle with balancing them. I always choose one rather than both. So by this time next year I hope that I am better at doing both simultaneously, ending in a win-win outlook.

I want to feel the power of "just" and not be trapped by it.

I have started working on losing weight and would like to be at my goal - living a healthier, more active lifestyle, in a body that I feel good in. The best advice/counsel I've received is to remember that I'm worth it.

I would like to not stress out so much. I need to not think so much and worry so much about things I cannot control. I think it I keep worrying I will have even more health problems, stress is literally killing me I think. I am much happier when I am not stressed and I need to learn to let go. I will do this!

Eli gave me three great pieces of advice, which I have written down but won't put here because they're very long. Basically, I'm trying not to care so much what other people think of me, and trying to be happy with myself. I would really like to be doing well in school by next year.

John Roberts in work, whilst I was undergoing my divorce said something along the lines of..... '.....your a good man and good things happen to good men!' That was an inspirational piece of advice. Guided I am! Good things did happen. I ended up with a good settlement. Fair actually! I would like to strive to being a person more content with living alone. The desire to be in a relatonship has been foremost for a while now. I still desire that but would like to think that in a year from now, if it hasn't happened, I'll be happy being single. Not desperate :)

Oh I want to do so much this year. I want to get myself on a set sleep schedule, study the scriptures, visit the temple once a month, and lose weight healthily. I also want to start practicing my violin daily and brushing up on my piano, and studying different textbooks just for fun. I feel like I am wasting my life and I don't like it. I want to exercise my brain, my spirit, and my body!

I want to continue to embrace the philosophy of tackling each day on its own, not worrying about the future too much or over-thinking things. I just want to be bold, and make things happen instead of waiting for them. I like the idea that everything happens for a reason, I'm a major believer in fate, but often times that leaves me to think if I just wait around something good will come to me. Not only am I going to take all of the opportunities that come my way, I'm going to seek them out and seize them.

The results of discipline are their own reward.

Loose more weight!! I'd like to be a size 12. I know what will work the best is walking and other types of exercise .. This winter I will use my treadmill .... I have no excuses!!

Continue to pay down our debt, especially our home equity loan. Become more and more the man God wants me to be. Achieve another year of sobriety. Take one day at a time. Ensure that I am so valuable at my work that I will never lose my job.

I want to be loved whole heartedly for the rest of my life by a significant other/husband and to love him the same with loyalty 100% to both and be #2 priorities for each other under YHWY who is #1. I dont know what love is anymore. I feel empty. I need to focus on my art and getting onmy own feet to move forward in my life and dreams.

Less judgemental. I'd like to be less judgemental of myself and of others especially Mollie.

Accepting "what is". This has worked well for me recently, and believe it will lead to improvements in my relationships with strangers and close friends alike.

Stress less and laugh more.

To be patient with the process of growth and to not strive but work patiently and lovingly towards growing as a person and parent. Too often, I worked too hard to make change and now I want to trust that I am doing what I need to - yoga, meditation, volunteering as a person and as a family - to grow spiritually and help others more as a result. To continue on this path with daily rituals and room for laughter and commitment that is healthy and safe. To understand I am truly here for a reason - we all are - and to live, love and laugh as much as I can by embracing who I am - warts and all!

"Get the hell out" A co-workers advice about our current company.

I am always working on becoming the "best me I can be". This time next I would like to see myself a little further along that path. So many quotes that inspire but I think "you have to become the world you wish to see" is the one that is a constant in my thoughts.

Learn to say no. It's more difficult than I ever thought. But if I don't, I'll end up miserable, spread too thin, and not doing anything well. It will take time and I'll need to learn how to deal with the guilt. But it will benefit me and my family if I can stay focused.

Do what makes you happy, go with how you feel and please oh please. Take some time for yourself. Don't multitask like mad and learn to stop. Everything. Turn off the computer. Close your eyes. Breathe. Appreciate my parents for they are getting older and my sister for they won't be there forever. Love my friends who always there for me and lift my spirits up. Pray and be thankful for what I have.

I read a quote by Oscar Wilde (on facebook of all places) that said something to the nature of "what you read when you dont have to, determines what you'll be when you can't help it." I had to read that 3 times before I understood it - but it made so much sense to me once i absorbed it. One of the reasons working on Edorati (formerly Primer) has been so important to me is because I think it has an incredible social purpose. Reading widely, on many topics, makes you a better person, fiction gives you empathy, and non fiction gives you more perspective. I want to read much, much more in the next year. With a new library just down the street, I think I can make that possible.

I would like to get into better shape, physically and mentally. I would like to grow as a person, and I would like to be more comfortable being on my own.

I want to become more confident. I want to love who I am because if I don't love myself, how can I expect anyone to truly love me? Enjoy life, you only live once.

I think by continuing what I've been doing, health-wise. Why the hell should I suddenly switch to something else, or cram other things into my life that are less important? What's more important than good health? All other good things come from good health - good body, good mood, energy. All these things make you SEEM more successful, and therefore you get farther in life. I honestly don't think I would keep moving up if I didn't have good health. It gives me drive and it keeps me happy and fitting in my jeans! I want to take it up a notch this coming year and become even fitter.

I hope I can embrace the philosophy of "oh, well," and let the little things go. I would like to not worry about things that go wrong that don't matter in the long run, and learn to love and appreciate what is right in my life.

This will be the year where I start to tell people at synagogue about my Asperger's - how it affects my life - how I see the world - and so forth. But I want to do it with a great deal of tact and finesse - not just dumping on them to eat it - but in a way that will be growthful for all concerned.

I want to be happier. I want to continue doing what I love (singing, journalism, and BBYO) and not lose any of those things. I need to not take everything for granted and remember I only have three years left of High School.

i'd like to continue to surround myself with supportive people. And, I'd like to continue to improve my relationship with my family.

I would like to continue working on living an authentic and intimate life, especially with the person I love. I want to explore my creative/artistic side, and get back to writing and my art work. I want to be less anxious and more playful, less rigid, and more spontaneous, less fearful, and more assertive, less concerned with how I look and more focused on how I feel. A friend said she lives by the motto: YOLA. YOLA means You Only Live Once. To me, that means "going for it," "if not now, when," and a phrase my son often says, "you will regret the things you didn't do."

I want to be nicer to people in my life and stop being so selfish. I want to not be angry about everything all the time. I want to be calmer and more centred. I want to be happier about everything in my life and realise no matter how good or bad things are they're all a gift from Hashem and I should celebrate that.

I would like to reduce the amount of energy I spend focused on how others perceive me, including my loved ones. The Steve Jobs quote -- about not wasting your time living someone else's life speaks loudly to me.

Carpe diem--seize the day is hardly new advice. But it's what I hope I can set my mind to, instead of watching life go by.

Two things come to mind: 1. I read "The Automatic Millionaire" over the summer and I am going to try to implement many of the ideas in the book so that I can retire worry-free in 25 years and also so I can start saving some money now for fun things like vacations or for unexpected things like car repairs. 2. I started researching organic living this summer and over the next year I want to make the switch to all organic products and more organic/less processed foods. I've started but I still have a ways to go since it's expensive to replace everything at once. The things like beauty and cleaning products are easy, it's the food situation that's going to be hard. But I'm becoming more of a label reader and I know it will be the healthiest choice on the long run.

I would like to be more disciplined. I may have said it in the past... but now that i'm in a relationship where I have a partner who notices when I fall down on this... I'm hoping that will be the push I've needed to get this trait to be part of my character.

I would like to improve my physical health and well-being this next year. I need to maintain better healthy eating and exercise habits. I also need to improve my work ethic (ideally this will come w/ a job I enjoy). I need to remain on top of my mental health and well-being. I want to continue to maintain my very important relationships and grow the new ones that seem worth investing in. I just want to work to live a balanced life-every year, for the rest of my years.

One way I'd like to improve myself is to become a better Christian. I know God loves me, but I really want to show him I love Him. I feel the beat way to show your love of God as a Christian is to do good works for people and help those who are suffering and need assistance. Jesus went to ALL types of people, and dint complain about anything. That is what I want to dovote my life to, and that is what will make Him happy.

Keep positive. There's going to be a lot of stumbles but we WILL get there. My answers are the same as question #6: I'd like to be somewhat established in our own living space, financially more secure, and working towards bettering our future. This also includes supporting my husband's goals, learning Korean, perhaps traveling. Just generally getting our life "going".

I would like to learn to be more open. It can be very difficult for me to verbalize what I feel to others or to ask for help when I need it. This is something I would like to work on in the future. My dad once told me when I was young that "the squeaky wheel gets the oil," something I have to learn to do more.

abbott said to me, "communication through response and not reaction is one of the great skeleton keys of them all when accepting a situation we find ourselves in to seek growth from." I want to instill this in my everyday dealings, to be able to empathize with a situation, digest it, really think about how I respond in order to avoid repeating mistakes of the last year, which I feel we're caused by the rhetoric of not thinking before I open my mouth.

I want to trust more. The advice I was given was "I want you to trust more."

Being more present with now...worry less!

I want to take care of issues in order to please myself, to address problems according to my priorities, and to make the improvements I want to see, when I want to see them. If I do something, it should be to make me happy, not because I think I should.

-deepen friendships -save more money -apply to law school -be true to myself in romantic relationships (I think I have been much better about this this year) and take bigger risks when I am ready -stay active all the time, because I love it basically, do the things I love better and set myself up for the things I want later.

One advise I'd want to follow this year is to remember that the future does not always have to be gloomy. There is always good times just as much as there are bad. It is in what we focus on that defines where we'll go.

There is one piece of advice that I got that I know i'll remember for the rest of my life and live by it, one of the dean's at my university: "you must chose something with your life that will make you excited to wake up each morning"

I want to create a simpler life. I want to be happy with the simple things in life and be grateful for just that. I want to do simple things for other people to make them feel happy. Something small could be so great for someone else and I suppose that's what I want, just to make other people happy and for them to smile. So through that I would like to improve to be happy with simple.

I have been getting the hang of it recently, but I'd like to be able to just do things that I want, not avoid things that I don't want to do. My existence needs to be active. I want to own my actions and not feel like I am going around things. Do what you want. Don't wait to find a chance to move... Move yourself. I'd like to improve my ability to sympathize with others. I have been told that I can be dismissive of others' feelings, and I don't want to be like that. I want to be welcoming and encouraging, and if I am dismissive it will only hurt my desire to help.

I would like to improve my life by losing weight, paying off more debt, and pursuing my national boards teacher certification.

I would like to be less shy in certain situations and to be less afraid of talking in front of groups of people and those that I don't know.

I hope that this time next year I am still doing regular exercise. I started doing Zumba 6 weeks ago and, whilst it's a cliche, it's the first time in my adult life I've really enjoyed doing regular exercise that genuinely seemed to get me out of puff. I want to be fit and healthy for my daughter so I can keep up with her energy and live to see her grow up - I know in the past I have been terrible about prioritising exercise so I hope that she is the incentive I need.

My girlfriend told me she thinks I am still looking for transformation, by discovering what I love in the world. I found the advice life-affirming and reassuring. I would like to embrace what I do, embrace all of me, my uncertainties, my strengths, the parts of me I wish I didn't have. I would like to accept that I am discovering what I love, moving closer and closer to who I truly am.

A partial list of personnel improvements: Be more understanding of my wife and love her more each day. I would like to learn to read from the Torah. I would like to learn to chant any haftorah. Find a compassionate and patient teacher. Follow things through and be patient with my projects. That is just the beginning. As for advice, who am I to advise or give counsel. Be Kind and do no harm to man kind or the world. Prepare each for our childrens children so that they can grow majestically.

I would like to finally deal with my emotional eating issues and lose that last 20 pounds. I think the issue is really loving myself for who I am, and finding other ways besides food to deal with stress, hurt, fear, tiredness.

I want to feel like I am not giving up everything I am. I feel that way right now. I have moved away from family and friends and job opportunities to be with my boyfriend in Italy. These sacrifices are very hard on me. I feel like I am giving up myself to be in this relationship. I know that its not really like that. I am happy with my boyfriend and living in Rome but missing family, friends and job opportunities really hurts.

Better time management! I attended a time management workshop, and found it outstanding, although I have been unable to implement any of the ideas that were shared. I know what I have to do, but breaking old habits is hard.

If I am not for myself who will be for me? Yet, if I am for myself only, what am I? And if not now, when? Jewish talmud I want to continue to build up my confidence and to be gentler with myself.

I would like to pay more attention to my husband and children instead of being consumed by work and giving most of my attention to other people.

I would want to take care of my health as good as I did when I was in school. I know I can do whatever I want, I mean I did manage to save up all this money. Of couse I can achieve whatever I want. I just have to remember that even if it's hard sometimes, the end result makes it worth it. That involves everything. All you want to achieve, you CAN achieve, as long as you're prepared for some hard work to get it, nothing can stop you.

I need to get as organized personally as I can be professionally. I do pretty well at work, which has 'boundaries'. The personal doesn't have boundaries that help with organization. Personal life is messy.

Physically. Continue to explore combinations of medical solutions and varying exercise routines. Something's got to give.

I guess the biggest thing I'd like to accomplish is learning how to not see the world as so black & white.

I would like to continue to be more aware of patterns which have been painful for me, to practice being more direct about my needs and transparent about my feelings. And I would like to improve myself by giving more to organizations that I believe in, become more community oriented than I have been of late.

Stick to your routines, don't let others make you feel guilty. Let yourself be. Meditate often. Eat healthily. Look after your body. Get enough sleep. Be kind to others. Don't shout.

I would like to be a more compassionate and more courageous person. The counsel I've received from several people is to live what I feel is right in my heart. (Not in those exact words but it's how I interpreted it!)

I'd like to be more content with who I am and where I'm going. I've been feeling more content each passing year, but I'd like to continue it. I'd also like to be more physically active over the coming year.

Be myself. Don't worry what others think. Don't worry about making money. Do what is true to me. LIVE, flourish.

I would like to feel more grateful and less put upon.

I need to learn self-discipline & stop procrastinating. I need to stop being afraid of taking control of my own life. I need to keep my head up and my feet moving!

Nobody deserves me. And that's it. From this break up on, me and my son will be the only priorities in my life. Nobody deserves any kind of sacrifices but my son. Nobody will love me more than myself. Because I respect myself and I don't want to be into the same situation I am going through right now. If there appears someone who seems interested and even more, they will have to be very patient and show every day how much they say to love me, because every day they will be questioned on that.

I want to improve myself by following my dreams - no matter how crazy, weird, or non-academic they may be. I want to do something I love. I am sick of sticking it out in a job I find unsatisfying.

I need healthy routines. I despise routines, but I know they are necessary. I have let go of nearly all routine in my life, other than those of my children. I need to establish them for myself, for my relationships, for my work, for my health. Piece of advice: Don't talk about doing it, just do it.

To act less from frustration and anger. I've already come a long way in this and the best advice I ever got was that notion that it is not necessary to react immediately. It is possible to give yourself time to think before you react. That has given me a lot more space and calm for stressful or (over)emotional situations and a feeling of being less overwhelmed, more collected and in control. And nicer :)

Somehow I want to figure out how to know what I want, and to be able to prioritize it -- without taking care of everyone -- and everything -- else first. I guess the advice is that it might take great risk -- risk to say no, risk to listen very closely to myself, and then risk to follow what I discover.

I desperately want to get in a financial situation where I can forget about the daily drudgery of Bell Canada. I would love to take a year off, be financially successful and independent so that I can spend the year exploring who I am. My husband would love this too.

i would like to continue to write and try to be published. i would like to work less. i would like to feel my life was more fluid and congruent. and mostly more receptive, aware that i don't know more than i need to, and can always benefit from having my view of the world altered.

I would like to be more patient. I know that I will need all the patience I can muster because we will have a baby and all of the trappings (i.e. imposing family members) that accompany that. But I also want to be more patient with my friends, co-workers, and with myself. Everyone deserves a break and some time to get where they need to go. I just want to keep that in mind and afford everyone that opportunity.

I would like to stop making my weight a central issue in my life. I would like the # on the scale to not reflect whether or not it will be a good day and I would like to stop the abuse I heap on myself because of my weight. I would never talk to ANYONE the way I talk to myself.

I would definitely love to be more content with what is. When I was going on about how unfulfilling my job was, Mary said, "Well, consider it your karma, this is where you are and see it for what it could bring." I would like to stop the incessant striving after which what Self-Help Guru #486 defines as "success". I want to be able to be okay with where I am, in a way that does not scream complancency. I know that I have a lot of goals, dreams, that seem to scream like hyper-active children at me regarding their unfulfillment. But, I also know I have a heart that is not satisfied with the gifts life has already given me. I would like to be more content and compassionate towards what my life is, considering my present shitty days as meaningful for something I don't quite know of yet...

I want to get as much healing as I can through my class, so that I can be a more secure, kinder person. Making sure that I feel loved at my very core is important. The more blocks that are removed, the more time I can spend with the Lord and be transformed. For some reason I have been avoiding spending too much time with the Lord. Perhaps in my core I don't believe deeply that I am lovable. The Bible assures me that God is always good, that He's always after my very best, that he loves me very much. I have to believe that.

I would like to get to my goal weight. I want to accomplish that so badly. I want to see myself in the best of lights. I have plateaued the past few weeks and it's driving me crazy. I know that to do any of this I need to prioritize me. I need to cut out the negativity. There isn't much, but it does exist.

I want to really increase the weight I'm lifting. Is that shallow? I want to squat 150 by this time next year. The way I feel after a good lifting day, powerful and beautiful, is important to me. I want to keep building on that. The advice on that is: lift what you can lift today. Lift it again, over and over, until you can't lift it anymore. Keep doing that until you get to where you want to be.

I would like to be able to be independent again. I think that is the most important goal for me is to take care of me. The hardest thing in the world was spending a good portion of the past seven years taking care of everyone else and making sure that everyone else was okay. Sometimes it's absolutely okay to be selfish, particularly when you need some serious TLC and rehabilitation.

I discovered during a life coach session that it is really important for me to have a good rapport with the people I work with. I hope in my new job to form close bonds with my co-workers and create a work "family."

One thing that I have learned this year is to "Don't take it personally." In the coming year I hope that I can take each situation and apply this to it before jumping to conclusions and feeling hurt.

I would like to be more self-accepting, and more patient. I would like to give others more of a chance. I would like to feel less afraid. I cannot think of any outside advice that was helpful to me, except maybe my husband's continual, and humorous reminder to "CALM DOWN."

I think I need to let go of resentments that keep me shackled in the past and prevent me from growing and moving forward. I find myself being mean spirited and petty at times when people are not overtly trying to make things difficult... more errors of omission than commission. Forgiveness is the key to moving past these obstacles.

I want to be more balanced, especially with how I spend my time. I want to be bolder with my convictions and how they go public. I want to be more selfless.

I would like to stop spreading myself so thinly and enjoy more time with my immediate and extended family. I have given a lot as a volunteer and would like to be freer in the evenings and weekends to give Daniel and the girls my time.

I want to study mental health this year, and complete the writing courses I have paid for last year. Then, next year i would like to embark on another challenging course. I want my own Healthcare center and Mediterranean Tea garden, where we provide health care services to the aged and divorced woman. The only council I received was: "get a job, be sure of a pension" and "what for?" + "why all the trouble?" I am going to take my own advice: "why not?"

Stop being a fatass, exercise or read less - whichever also read more, get finances in control

I want to have the principles of the faculty success program firmly embedded in my life. I've been doing a good job so far, and I can see how helpful it has been, but I am also acutely aware that all the pieces of it fit together and I want to make sure that I keep working the program. I want to maintain my daily writing practice. I want to make sure I'm always working within a long-range plan, and I want to have weekly planning sessions to help make sure I am proactive about making time for the most important tasks. I also realize that this means that I need to make sure to maintain some form of accountability, either with my small group or with Nydia, Karen, or other study buddies. More importantly, though, I want to put the same principles of conscious, up-front decision making and prioritization into other aspects of my life. It makes me feel so in control, rather than constantly playing catch-up and feeling bad about what I haven't been able to accomplish.

I want to work on my anger. I need to be more positive, especially with the people that I love the most and am close to. Especially with my mom. She means well and is trying the best she can. I don't think she realizes how worried and upset I am sometimes. Lashing out at her has really hurt me too. I need to take a breath and not go with my gut when I talk to her. I hate how mean I am to her sometimes. And with B too. He doesn't deserve my attitude. I really need to work on going from0-60 a LOT slower when it comes to anger. I think I will be happier too, if I let the little stuff go.

A quote from one of my favorite blogs this year: "Don't borrow trouble from the future." I love this quote and have it taped to my computer monitor at work. I know how easy it is to project doubt about situations or keep myself from trying/doing something because it might go wrong.

I'd like to find that calm, that peace. I still want to do all the things I do (sing, draw, cook, socialize, take care of my home, be w/ family) but I also want to have downtime. What's the advice or counsel? I don't know. I always think I have a strange (or strained) relationship w/ time. Others seem to get so much more accomplished!

I would like to work concertedly towards achieving good health, and work harder towards growing my business. It would be great if I could quit smoking and lead a healthier lifestyle. I have the best of advice on all these fronts from family and friends. I should take it.

I would like to be a little more focused

Years ago when there were work issues and changes a friend said change is good. I will in this coming year accept and even greet change with open arms.

Not really. I mean we have made strides both together and on our own to improve ourselves and its really working out perfectly.

I would like to not be so self-critical. I hope that I am able to look back on my past year with few regrets, but mostly appreciation for my flexibility, resourcefulness and sense of ambition and adventure. I hope to be able to write next year that I have maintained those qualities throughout my various social, academic and personal experiences and that I will not look back on the year with harshness for what I did not accomplish but pride for what I did. And if I can figure out how to strengthen my inner sense of self-worth and independence, all the better.

I would like to be an early riser and I would like to get daily exercise. I've gotten recent advice on this: run before work and go to the gym before work.

My focus on the Presence of God is at the forefront of my life, and I want to trust Him wholeheartedly. It is easy to be distracted by the world yet He is the answer to all of life's questions.

I would like to be more generous, more compassionate, more giving. And yes, as another one wrote, just do it.

I would like to develop my professional identity. Phrasing it that way turns me off, sounding so utilitarian and corporate. But I need to get over that feeling. A piece of advice I've received? "If you don't know where to go, and over-thinking isn't helping, just go somewhere."

I would like to spend more time deepening the friendships and relationships that I have here in Philly. Not so much traveling. And I would like to move into our new house and stay put for a while, not always worrying something is going to break or leak or fall apart. I would like to maintain a workout regimen that is fun and invigorating. I would like to cook at home more, with all working appliances, bake challah a few times a year and host people at our house.

At risk of sounding trite, I would like to become a better person, friend, husband, father and grandfather. I need to listen better, follow-through consistently on commitments and be more available to those who need me. The best advice I have received is to take a daily personal inventory at day's end.

I'm going to repeat my answer from last year on this question: I read somewhere to "always give more than you get back." That's how you make the world a better place. And that's the expectation that I want to set for myself. Because when you get right down to it, it is next to impossible to give more than you get back.

I would like to push myself to get better at speaking in public. I gave a speech at a wedding this last weekend and it is much better than I have done before but could definitely use some improvement. Also, to regain control of my power from reactions to other people and their moods.

It would improve my life if my son could feel better about himself. That he has enough, and does really well. He is such a perfectionist. Someone said you can't live another person's life for them but I wish he wasn't so driven. I would love to be something positive in his life, not another perceived problem.

Become neat and organized at home: A place for everything and everything in its place.

I read two qoutes this year that stuck with me in regards to my struggle with the scale, food, exercise: "If you want it bad enough you will find a way, if you don't you will find an excuse" ""30 days from now you will wish you started." I have a hard time eating healthy and getting my exercise in at the sae, time. I want to achieve that this year. I want to look forward to my workout. I want to enjoy my salad or fruit. I want to know the importance of taking time out for me.

I really want to stay more focused in the present moment and mindful that I'm aware of what I'm doing, it is what I want to be doing, and I'm doing it the best I can - the advice comes from books on Buddhist meditation I've been reading

I want to be doing something I want to be doing. This ties back in to question 6 and looking for a job in my field. My non-work related answer is this: I want to be the healthies form of myself I can be. This includes mind and body. I want to savor every day and feel satiated by all the small moments in my life. This includes people too. I want to fill my life with people who get me and whom I get. I want to take advantage of every day even if that means taking a day to relax and re-energize.

Meditate. Focus. Be calm.

I want to stop running as fast as I can just to barely make it through each week. I want time to breathe, so that I can be present in the moments that are truly important. I want to not have to nag my daughter to hurry so I can get to something, anything, that I'm not passionate about. I want to remember that even those times when my family drives me completely insane, I would miss them if they weren't around.

I want to 'hold my horses'. Someone said to me this year, has anyone said to you maybe you should just hold your horses? I think I should in all aspects of my life, not just my leisure time. Take relationships slower. Speak slower and more intently. Stay in one place for a little while. Be there for someone more than the bare minimum.

by next year I would love to have an output to channel many of my stresses. I see myself acting out on people close to me and I feel like that is a result. I m already working hard on channeling my stress so hopefully ill have it mastered by next year.

As always, I would like to achieve more balance. Not sure how to do that though! The number one thing is to figure out how much I want to work vs. be with Adrian. I am terrible at balance, but now that I am having more fun being a mother, hopefully I will be able to keep that in perspective when I am offered projects. It would also be great to be able to subcontract out more work to help with this. I'd also love more involvement with the local Jewish community, in the form of our Havurah, family services, etc.

I want to take time to enjoy life while I'm young. I'll finally be finished with education, I want to visit my family around the world, explore and even when I'm working I want to be able to go home in the evening and not have to worry and stress about the next day. I want a stress free year.

I'd like to respond to things I disagree with with greater equanimity. I'd like to express my opinion with a more even tone or, better still, think long and hard about what it is that irks me before expressing anything at all.

I would like to continue looking towards my future and setting goals for myself, but at the same time, be present and okay with where I am at. To not be judgemental of my failures or compare myself to my peers. I am where I am and that is fine. That can apply to both my career and my relationships. I would like to remember that I am "enough" and worthy of success and love.

I have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me and i thank God for Him. I want my counsel to be from God and i want to more diligently seek it out. I want to be so in tune with God that the instant He says it, im already in the act of obedience. Im seeking to know wisdom, understanding and prudence. In that obedience is love...i want to learn obedience with Gods help.

Viola Spolin's mantra 'out of the head and into the space' - both in acting and in life - stop worrying about it and just do it. It will work or it won't and you've lost nothing if it doesn't - start again with a different plan.

I would like to be at my goal weight. My mom and I started Weight Watchers in April and I really like the program. I would like to keep going with it and working towards making my self healthier as a whole and working towards being a more fit person.

I would like to lose some weight, keep in shape, have better grades and be earning more money. The best advice I have gotten is to work hard and stay motivated.

Oh, it's all about self-discipline, as usual. To practise my singing every day, get out running, do some yoga.... and not fritter time.

I am working on being more patient and slooooowing down and planning less. My husband and daughter both have asked this of me and I hope to be a more patient and understanding person in their lives.

I would like to be healthier. I am currently exercising and eating better.

"Before it ends, well, we should try to start." I want to take chances and become a more positive person.

"In twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than the ones that you did..."

I think this year it's more of the same: Work when you're working. Don't work when you're not working. Make time for the things that matter. Don't be lazy, but don't be stupidly focused either. Your friends are worth investing in. You are worth investing in. Your relationships are worth investing in. This time next year, I would like a more organized house. I think this involves developing strategies to effortlessly put things back where they belong and clean things.

I would like to beat the battle with procrastination. I'm battling it right now, as a matter of fact. I'd also like to find more balance with friends. I sometimes feel out of sync with them. Like Carin--sometimes I get annoyed that she texts me every single day to hang out. Other times I'm texting her because I feel more comfortable with her than having to make new friends. So I try to go out of my comfort zone. As usual, more confident and better self esteem. It's improved a lot since coming to Emerson, thankfully, but there's room for improvement. I've received a lot of advice and I've tried to stick to it--be careful in the city, go out with a group of friends, get your work done (that's slipped a little bit), and don't over commit yourself (yeah, that's slipped a little too). I do really enjoy what I'm involved in and I definitely want to keep it balanced and get the most out of the experiences.

I want to be more in the now, more positive, and have less anxiety. The one piece of advice I try to always tell myself is that every little thing is gonna be alright... things work themselves out.

I'd like to figure out what I really want out of life. I'm enjoying my life, but I'm not 100% sure what I really want to do. Do I really want to stay in Philly or move back west... what do I want career wise? I have a solid job but conflicted if it's what I really want at this point.

Learn not to react but rather respond. Communicate better - not sure how to learn this skill but LISTENING, I imagine, is the first step.

Anything worth having is not easily attained. I think I will really need to remember this in the coming year as I attempt to lose all the baby weight and readjust to life caring for another human being. Just to have the patience to know that hard times will only make a more fulfilling outcome is something to keep in mind.

I want to improve my physical health. I'm not taking time to exercise the way I should or the way I like to. A periodic walk at lunchtime is inadequate. I need to stay healthy so that I can enjoy my life with my wonderful mate.

I am also taking a break from self-improvement this year. Not because it is not needed, far from it, but because I have tried unsuccessfully to improve on several fronts for a few years, and am simply feeling that maybe, if I just accept who I am right now, with the flaws and the long list of things I wish I could change, it will free up some precious time and energy for actually living life.

Less email, more physical affection. Less electronic devices, more live interaction. Less consume culture, more make it. Less jealousy, more enthusiasm for others' accomplishments. Less cyncism, more optimism.

Just do it do what you life. Find something you love and pursue it! There will never be a perfect opportunity, there is only now.

Be healthy. Be positive. I'm too quick right now to look at the bad stuff - i need to remember that I have all that matters - family, friends, security. I want to stay active and not make myself reliant on others for being happy and having fun.

I think if I strive to meet my goals I will improve myself in the process.

TRUST MYSELF. TRUST OTHERS. TRUST THE PROCESS

I would like to lose weight, make more time for my self, make more art, and be peaceful. Progress goes in this pattern: two steps forward, one step back. I want to be patient and flexible enough to recognize my progress.

We can always be improved, but it takes an outsider to show us how.

I would like to improve my fitness level this year. Some advice that could guide me: you could feel sore tomorrow or you could feel sorry tomorrow. Your choice. I always feel sore. Chronic pain does that to you so I might as well not be sorry.

Two of my adult kids are teaching me to put on a happy persona, no matter how I feel inside. I hope I can accomplish that and perhaps it will lead to my actually feeling more like a happy person.

I want to "Live small" in my RV with my dogs. Everyone has been giving me advice. Everyone thinks it's a great idea.

i want to poop a lot

I could use a couple of friends. One, even. That feels hard right now. Some longstanding friendships have gone by the wayside in recent years, and I feel isolated. My wife and I have met a lot of new people in our first year of parenthood, but for some reason I've kept most of these people at arm's length. Last year somebody told me, "Don't be afraid to let yourself be vulnerable." I don't know quite why she said that, but I think about that often and wonder what it would feel like.

I want my thoughts in place, if possible in any way. I want to understand peace, love and their relation to human idealness. Well, actually I must admit, this thinking on peace and love has been a giving of my relationship..:)

i want to be stronger, i think. more independent? there is a part of me that feels like i've been using this man business as a crutch. i mean it's true -- i have to live without a huge support that most people around me have. i guess i kind of have to settle into this though, and do whatever i can on my own (or get help from others), to move forward, both in small ways (say around the house) and big ways (say a new house).

listen to my heart. really figure out what i want and then be assertive and do what it takes to achieve that, even if it is hard or painful and wont be easy.

I want to become less cluttered and more organized so that I can engage in a given task easier. Often, i feel that i cannot start a project because I have to first do tasks such as clearing a work space, locating a file, organizing my tools etc. One piece of counsel I had this last year was to be on top of things and one step ahead as much as possible. I have moved forward in this area, but I still have more work to do.

I would like to focus solely on health instead of how I look, relationships etc. Health and family and friends. I would like to see my work ethic improve, to be someone others can depend on. There is no specific piece of advice, more of a sense of living in the moment, passed on from my father as he sat in the cancer ward. It is important to be happy. I have wasted so much time being sad.

More meditation. Qi Gong too.

Listen better. Ask better questions. Practice gratitude.

I plan to continue on my path, step by step

I would like to let go of the toxic people still looming around. I know who they are. I need to just do it.

I would like to mediate regularly; exercise regularly; and volunteer regularly.

I would like to become a better listener. Only through listening can we truly build connections with our fellow humans. This means that I need to talk less, a LOT less.

My improvement of myself continues to revolve around continuing to get healthy. I want to improve my eating and exercising habits. The advice I follow most and will continue to follow is that I didn't get this way overnight, and it's not going to improve overnight.

Quit the negative self talk, be kind to yourself and take your weight seriously.

I want to become more confident. I want to actually become physically fit. I want to learn how to open up to my husband and allow him to open up to me. Continued therapy with these and other goals is what will guide me.

Now that I'm retired, I'd like to settle into a bit more of a routine, with discipline for my writing and exercise. Otherwise, just keeping up what I'm doing now, which is so nice.

I want to become more empowered, more positive and energetic. I want to tackle my challenges head-on. I want to exude peace, acceptance and contentedness. I want to be tireless in my pursuit of goals and dreams. I want to leave behind my sarcastic, pessimistic persona and let people see the real me, at risk of seeming naive. I want to get my body back into shape. I want to stop smoking, I want to work out more, play more tennis and hike more. I want to eat healthier and drink...probably the same amount.

I would like to face my problems more directly. It can only help to talk about your challenges and to make a plan. Just do it and not be afraid.

I plan to live authentically. I will do those things that feel right and reject those that don't. I will keep an open mind if I am presented with something that requires change or a new approach.

I want to get in shape and be healthier. My whole life people have told me to stop thinking I don't deserve to be happy and healthy. I hide behind my weight out of insecurity. It's time to stop doing that.

In order to get to where I believe I should be in my career, I need to follow through on my masters classes. Thus far, my classes have been causing me to loose sleep because I have so much to do. With work and studying, I don't have much time for anything else. However, I have to keep telling myself to follow through to improve my life after I finish with my program.

Compassion for myself and compassion for others. It is something I strive for every time I go to my mat, and something I want to take away from my mat into my daily life even more. I am trying hard to put my trust in the universe, to sit back and not try to "fix" everything, and to recognize that I am loved and I love others very, very deeply. I would like that love to guide my day-to-day actions more than it does right now.

Spend more time with my daughter focused solely on my daughter. Dont be one of those moms at the playground who is always on her smartphone. See every day how she is growing, what she is thinking, who she is becoming.

Live and love even tho I may be hurt. Keep trying new things.

I want to continue to work on my goal of downsizing. I still mostly suck at it. My daughter moved back in to complete her last year of college so I've had to absorb her stuff. That depresses me. I have more junk than I did last year. I've become interested in "tiny houses" (less than 500 square feet) and dream about buying some property (even renting some property) and building a tiny house on wheels. I think there'd be some comfort in having a portable "dream house", one I built myself, and owned outright. I don't know how to start, but maybe I can find out this year. Also, I want to feel happier. I'm tired of constantly struggling with depression. Maybe it's time for a vagus nerve stimulator... My mantra is: "If you want things to be different, then do things differently." I bet I say this to myself 50 times a day. Playing that "tape" in my head does help.

I'd like to get together a portfolio, a nice little website, and keep my online/social presence top of mind a little more. This means putting time into the initial creating of all this stuff, but also doing maintenance -- blogging, updating content, etc. Whether or not I want a new job in the near future, I need to start building a history of presence and attention and some sort of care about image/influence, just because eventually I'm going to want people to pay attention to me and that is infinitely easier if I have information on myself gathered in one place (and one that I can control). This is advice and feedback that's come in bits and pieces from everywhere. It's a matter of overcoming inertia.

Let. It. Go. I'd really like to work on not judging others and letting the things go that I cannot control.

I want to be more focused on my "inner sanctum." Life is full of so many distractions that we often lose sight of what is truly important, what the ultimate goal should be. My motivation and purpose in life is to get closer to God and positively contribute to the greater good. Murvin told me that I need to take a good look at myself; spend some more time with me, meditate and pray. I know he's right; it is the only way to figure out some things within me that have plagues me, so that I can move forward; I must clean out all the clutter from my "inner sanctum."

Following this degree, I will likely staart on the next. i will try to not delay in the work that is required!

I want to establish a daily regimen, and follow it strictly. "Saying no is saying yes to other things." There are not enough hours in the day for the things you want to do, so you're going to have to say no sometimes, or you will overstress yourself.

Move! Commit to movement! Write! Commit to writing! Be present! Commit to presence!

Take time. Breathe. Be easy on yourself.

I want to be happy with myself. Even though I've gained a bit of weight and would like to shed it I do notice I feel better with myself. I need to learn to not care what others might think of my body, I'm the first one who has to love it so everyone around can appreciate the beauty of it.

I think that I am in a growing process, and I want to keep remembering not to sit still and to live life. Affirm "Gam Zu Letova"--don't let myself get angry over situations that could be misunderstandings, and give benefit of the doubt. "If you're in bed, you're dead." Also, the things I said in question 6!

I continue to struggle with staying in touch with my friends who don't live in Oakland. I thought it was a temporary issue but it seems to be something I struggle with constantly. I think it all comes down to the fact that I need to be more organized. I would like to be more organized before I start nursing school. School is going to be incredibly intense and there won't be a lot of room for last minute papers and on the fly homework. I will have to give myself completely to school - because before you know it - it will be done (and I'll be a nurse)! So, I guess organization. I could definitely use some "pieces of advice or counsel."

BE COURAGEOUS! BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO LIVE AND ENJOY MY LIFE without worrying what other people will think or say.

I would like to make myself more studious, i can do this by myself and thats the only way.

I like that advice I heard recently, start anything from a foundation of "it's already good enough". Instead of "I'm dissatisfied with this, therefore I will fix it".

APPRECIATION for everything I have..... Realize that you have an AMAZING life. So take advantage of everything that you can do with it, and go for it! Don't let negative thoughts take over your mind without our explicit permission. they have no right. its YOUR mind, its YOUR life. Live it the way YOU, the REAL you.... wants to live it.

I want to get into better shape. I just had knee replacement surgery, so I need to lose some weight gained from that experience, maybe 15 or so pounds. I will not be able to get back to the gym before the end of November. Advice from doctor since I need to have my other knee done. I also know I am much happier when I am my goal weight.

Get more involved in the community around me, from attending the museums that I'm a member of to meeting new people and helping good organizations. I need to get outside myself and my job more.

On the cruise this summer one of our table-mates suggested MyFitnessPal app to motivate me to exercise and eat more healthfully. I have been using it consistently for the last 45 days. I hope to continue to lose weight and become more fit for when we go to Hawaii next summer. I want this healthy lifestyle to last a lifetime!

I need to focus. I have taken on so many disparate projects, and feel myself being pulled in so many directions. I don't know if I merely hesitate to commit to one path or if I am afraid of choosing the wrong one. But I need to accomplish something once and for all.

Same as last question: I want a relationship. The best advice I've been given about that this year is to just go for it. I'll never get anywhere if I'm shy about it. I need to go out there and get it.

I would like to be more patient, have more time to myself, spend time giving more attention to my cat, make some inroads with my career. Advice: be patient, ask for what you want.

I want to increase peace within myself and surroundings. I have a good foundation for this laid in my inner-sphere (not just the brain but something much more pervasive that includes all of my body but is not really of my physical self). My background as a Lutheran confirmationist, Da Silva Method student, Rolfing recipient, and Eckhart Tolle neophyte has lead me to my current state that is ready for the next developmental stage of being leading to the death of my physical body but not of my spirit.

Develop my persistence muscle. Don't give up on what I begin. Finish to completion. Stick to it. Don't give up. The secret to success is taking lots of little steps in the right direction. Every choice I made has a predictable outcome. Every bite of food I take is taking me farther away or closer to where I want to go. Every minute I waste is a choice that has an outcome.

I would like to feel more secure in myself, less in need of outside approval, and be less sensitive to slights or stings to my ego. It's like the Ann Landers line, "Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head.” I want to stop replaying old hurts in my head and just move on knowing that only I can determine my own self-image and worth each day.

Be less timid, do more stuff, make more things, be more active & less passive. But equally, try not to put too much emphasis on willpower, here, as much as engineering situations, (emotional/cognitive) infrastructure and the environment.

Live your life. Do not focus so much on what others think. Be you. Do not always assume the worst-case scenario. I cannot change my sensitivity, that is part of who I am and what makes me me. I can change my attitude, though, and I think I've already starting doing that. If someone says something that bothers me, I should stand up for myself or I should let it go.

Wear heels, wear make-up, be confident. Really exercise and stop being so lazy.

Fiscal balance, health balance, relationship balance. This year I received some healthy advice from a relationship blog: http://www.baggagereclaim.co.uk/ Everything on that website has been very helpful. "When you treat you with love, care, trust, and respect, there’s little, if any incentive to hang around somebody who treats you less than what you already do."

I want to learn to let go of the past and live in the present. I want to be more mindful - whether it's meditation or just taking five minutes to reflect and breath each day.

I want to work harder at my health--my weight, for example. I know that I'll feel a lot better if I lose about 10-15 lbs. I could lose more even but I think that's a healthy goal right now. I need to exercise more and have smaller portion sizes. I guess advice I've received would be about the portion sizes. It's hard 'tho LOL I LOVE my pasta! But I'm really going to make a concerted effort!!

Next year I want to be living my values more and focusing more on the things I love to do. Staying home with two kids, it was really hard to not loose everything I love to do, but now as they get older I'm able to focus more on myself. I hate that I'm not a vegetrarian, I think about everyday and I think it's wrong of me to eat animal products so I really want to commit to that. I also want my kids to going to a good school. Where they are now is okay, but they are such bright, senstive and thoughful kids I want them to be going somewhere where I feel like they are able to develop to their full potential. I would also like to be traveling more next year and surfing a lot more too! I think I need to also remember to not torture myself, or challenge myself because I don't like to do something. Follow what I am able to see the intrisic beauty, vaule, and shear fun of and stop wasting my time with things I think I should be doing.

I would like to improve myself by getting a job that is fulfilling and exercising more. Work is one part of us as is our physical , spiritual & emotional wellbeing. My priorities are usually on my child & my partner so work & my physical health have also got to be taken care of too...

I'd like not to have to worry about the future. We're maintaining right now, but we're unable to accomplish many of our goals as quickly as we'd like. A job that paid me what I'm worth, or even close to that, would make a big difference. Working part time for ten dollars an hour is insulting and degrading.

I would like to make more money and provide better for my family. A good piece of advice to make that happen?: WORK. HUSTLE.

It always feels like there isn't enough time. There always is.

"You are not responsible for other people's happiness, you cannot take that on." "That I am enough." These are wisdom and truths spoken into my life in the last month and couple days. To surrender those things and step forward.

"And for the sin which we have committed before You in passing judgment"...this is pretty much the only part of Yom Kippur services that hit home for me today. I have come to realize that I am a lot more judgmental that I thought. Especially when I am feeling judged by others, I respond by judging them even harder. It's a defensive response, I think. I would like to accept people with more of an open heart and mind in the future and let myself get to know them better before I solidify my judgments about them...I also think that my lateness has a bit to do with judgement. When I am late, especially when the other person is waiting on me, it really is judging my time as more valuable than theirs and that' something I would really like to stop doing.

Three things: Write more -creatively that is Exercise more - tone up and feel I am in better shape Move - get out of this financial quagmire. Advice: Just do it. Take care of yourself so you can take care of others.

I want to become a better listener. I want to think more before I speak. I want to learn patience. karma is good

Practice my art diligently The Dalai Lama's definition of art as "skillful means." And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was greater than the risk it took to bloom ~ Anais Nin

I would like to get control of my life and time so that I can meet my personal expectations regarding my lifestyle at home and my fitness goals.

I would like to be able to better make my wife happy and consistently happy. I have already done and hope to continue to readjust my time to be at home, where I should be.

I would like to be able to be alone, really alone. I would like to be able to feel sad, and be okay with feeling sad. It sounds weird but i need to learn things don't always go the way i want and thats okay it really is. Plan B is much better than plan a anyway.

I would like really allow myself to fall into a Mussar practice. Moving out of myself to truly "be there for the other." My Mussar study group is both intellectually and emotionally stimulating and full of specific and tangible guidance to lead a more ethical fulfilling life.

stay wide awake - see clearly and make decisions based on good clear information. spend time with people and in places where and with who I feel like the person I know I enjoy myself to be.

I'd like to sleep and exercise more in order to retain my good health and I'd like to get back to painting more regularly because it gives me great pleasure. I can't recall a specific piece of advice I've received in this past year, but I have always found the Serenity Prayer to be an excellent guide.

I want to live with expeditiously finished projects, be more decisive and ruminate less on decisions...calm movement toward action! I've noticed how friends have had the courage to up and leave NYC and start new lives elsewhere and while that is NOT on my agenda, living more decisively, is.

Today, 9/25/12 marks your seventh day of not smoking. You better still be smoke free, or I will kick your fucking ass. The piece of advice? "Quit smoking or you will die, retard." - Every doctor ever.

take it easy. trust the universe. consciously AND subconsciously be connected to and congruent with Source. rejoice that i was given an entire lifetime to work on soul-level healing?

I want to be an amazeballs West Coast dancer! I need to slow down my follow, take small steps, keep my toes from turning in, keep posture and frame, spot consistently, turn small, carry momentum and make my style look better. I hope to learn more solo jazz and blues to keep things fresh. I want to start travelling and competing. YAY DANCING!

I'd like to be more attentive to the things that I do, especially those things that cause others distress. I'd like to be nicer.

I want to accept myself the way I am: middle-aged, saggy, shrinking, wrinkling. Not as strong as I was. But alive and eager to be in this world. I'm still waiting for that "menopausal zest" people keep referring to! The Four Agreements is a great piece of advice: be impeccable with your word; don't take anything personally; don't make assumptions; always do your best.

I really, really need to get more exercise

I want to continue to try my best, while acknowledging that I don't have to be "the best." I want to never get fewer than 6 hours of sleep/night. While I am good at controlling my actions, I want to try to really open my mind and be less judgemental of myself and others.

To learn how to focus, and be disciplined. And then to find a way to cultivate all my gifts and talents to reach a higher level of living and prosperity.

fell into old and bad patterns this year. I acted helpless instead of taking action to make myself happier. I want to make sure to not forget that I'm responsible for my own happiness. In fact, it's the only thing I can really control. I would like to keep trying to do things that scare me, even if I get comfortable and have people that can hold me up. "Don't let your mind stop you from having a good time." Or even a hard time.

Be confident. Make mistakes in public. Be okay with being yourself without needing to hide who you are. Share yourself honestly.

I'd like to learn how to be more time effective and not such a procrastinator!

I want to make things happen. I want to find a new job as that is the key to a lot of other things changing. I want to move out, I want to travel the world, I want to be able to buy things or go out without feeling guilty/worrying that I won't have enough money for petrol. That means I have to start actively looking for jobs and pushing myself. I actually applied for another job over the summer, and I was so disappointed to not get an interview that I knew I was ready to move on. Before I wasn't sure but that confirmed it for me. My message to myself is MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Focus little more on making money so that Z doesn't have to worry about it. Piece of advise from myself: make better use of my professional abilities.

Advice from a Tree Stand Tall + Proud Go Out on a Limb Remember your roots Drink Plenty of Water Be Content With Your Natural Beauty Enjoy the View I would love to give more of myself + my time + not play everything so safe. Be more spontaneous. Be honest. Be happy.

I want to appreciate things in life more. I've taken too much for granted. I worry too much about the future and I just need to live in the present and appreciate the time I have with the people I love at the places I love because one day it could all be gone. Advice from Kate: Proverbs 3: 5-6

"We look back to remember, but move forward to live."--From my dear friend Susi Lock.

I want to appreciate myself more. What I do, Who I am, Whom I love. I hope to complain and stress less and do and laugh more. I need to find guts but also the inner kid in me, because now and then it comes out, but 9 out of 10 times I've lost it. I do not want wait for better circumstances I have to do with whatever I've got.

I would like to have more patience for my children. The patience to listen to them and hear them, the patience to focus on them and not multi task, the patience to teach them so they understand.

I'd like to find a way to be good to myself and good to my husband. I'm failing at both and I don't want to be lonely like this anymore. I don't know how to start.

Just be healthier. I wish I had a guide.

i would like to be doing more of what i love: helping children and families.

I guess it's mostly answered in Question 6. Being talented and prolific; visionary. Joel, my drawing teacher says " You have to draw 5,000 bad drawings before you can draw a good one; so get started!"

A good friend of mine said, "The world will be a better place when you become a rabbi." My rabbi told me to "not get stuck" and "keep the fire alive". A career is my struggle in this economy. I want to move beyond the fear. I want to be more Jewishly involved, return towards the health centered mindset that I had in my 20s, and find more contentment. My rabbi also said that he learned this: "Other people are not failed attempts at being you. You are not a failed attempt at being another person. You are not a failed attempt at being you." I hope these words stick with me.

I want to be more focused and disciplined. I want to engage with my community without spreading myself thin. I want to be bolder, to really make my dreams real.

In the next year, I want to supplement my education. I really want to get my degree and there is only one way to acheive that. Just do it! My hope is to have at least 12-15 units under my belt by this time next year. But, I am not sure how easy that will be once the baby is born in April. But, one class at a time or with a full load, I want to follow through and make it happen.

I'd like to work on personality. I could be a bit more talkative. I'm not the most confident individual. I don't have a great deal of patience and have a perfection streak that hinders more than it helps. These could all do with some work. I'd like to exercise more, become fitter. I can feel the steady fall into middle age approaching me. The tubby stomach, the bad food, the sitting at a desk all day, the lack of any meaningful movement after 5pm. This needs to be stopped. Now.

I want to quite smoking. I'm scared that I will fail. It has been 9 years since I started smoking. I've decided if I am making healthy changes in my life, this needs to be one of them .

"Learn to let things go". I had a unique experience working with somebody that I admire and that was the exact advice given to me after a petty dispute with a "rival". I would like to see myself in a space where I am comfortable with myself and the people I surround myself with. I feel as though I have gone through cycles of friends and situations and I would like to be able to say that I trust my environment and the people I let in.

Read more financial planner and books. Get outside the Danielle bubble.

I want to declutter my environment. I have made some progress with this goal, but I am not happy with my environment and I intend to use all my resources to change what I can. I would love to move, but that is not an option.

I'd like to be at peace with my living arrangements, whatever they are. The past year has been marred by a gnawing dissatisfaction with my home environment, and I'd like either to change said environment or stop giving a toss about the aspects I presently dislike. Several pieces of advice come to mind; all point in different directions, however. A woman I sat next to on a plane mentioned that buying her home had been the best thing she'd ever done personally and financially. That inspired me.

So much of what I do is either for others (caring for my elderly parents, family and friends) or for my own useless pleasure like sitting and watching television or playing games on facebook. By this time next year, I will focus on what I desire in my life. will say I am healthy and fit, I will be earning an income from something I truly enjoy and am passionate about, I will have adopted a pet, I will be writing daily, and I will help my Mom find and do what she loves.

To relax and to live life with more joy. I worry a lot and I think it stops things from happening as easily as they should. It also prevents me from appreciating all the good in my life because I'm too focused on the gaps. Over the past year I have realized that the universe does have a plan for you, and all the worrying about and fighting against the plan really doesn't achieve much - except frustration!

I want to be a runner, who runs consistently and who enjoys it. I want to feel proud of myself and like my body.

I need to learn to be patient when it comes to my career. My parents told me that they were on their last pennies before their great jobs came along. I'm so thankful that I have them supporting me and that I never have to starve.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, life isn't all that grim! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. What do we do? We swim! Right! LalalalalalalalalalalalalalalaLAla. (Look, there's a shiny thing.)

I'd like to lose 10 pounds and be more muscular. I could probably do that if I followed the advice of my friend Charles. "Wake up and do it. Make it part of your routine like drinking coffee. "

Get Fixed! Never get pregnant again!

i want to be more creative. this can encompass many areas of my life - creating art, and art through writing, creating more love and peace in the world, within my family, within myself. also i want to find gratitude and joy more - and complain less.

I want to continue to act with strength and courage and to really nourish my life. Sometimes I feel as if I'm just surviving, not exploring and enjoying life as I ought to/want to. I hope to really grow my life this year.

Put on your own air mask first. And just act, don't hesitate. Risk more.

I would like to be more involved in humanitarian work, travel more, think more outside of the box, love more, trust more, be more. I would like to be a better friend, a loving daughter and a supportive girlfriend. I would like to be content and holding on to the things that matter most. I would like to laugh more, be happier. I would like to have honored my celibacy vow. I would like to take more risks, pursue more of my dreams, be bolder, stronger, nicer. Advice and counsel comes and go so I guess what I'm trying to say is that experience is what's really teaching me and guiding me. I follow my gut and instincts a lot more and I feel more satisfied with my decisions. Even if they don't abide with someone else's expectations. I'm getting better at being me.

Live more in the now, and remember to write from that space too.

I need to learn to let people in and let myself be really loved by those closest to me.

I'd like to be more responsible for my own expenses. I'm lucky to have parents who are able to support me through college, but I'll be graduating soon and really need to take charge of my life in a real adult way.

I would like to be able to make a conscious decision in every moment to look at the positive side of things rather than the negative. If I have a choice to be happy or sad in each moment, or peaceful versus angry, or whatever the case, I would like to always choose the positive mood and the positive reaction to all events in my life. I can't control anything outside of myself, all I can control is myself. I have to keep a positive outlook and keep making positive decisions so that I can make a positive impact.

I would like to reconnect with my friends, and maybe make some new ones. I've been so focused on my career and my relationship and my day-to-day mental health, that I've lost touch with people who are really important to me. I think I would be happier if I could refocus some of my energy outwards.

I would like to spend more time outdoors and work less.

I need to act and stop thinking. I'm always planning instead of doing. Act, assess, correct, and act again.

I would like to be more calm, joyful, and to worry less. The best piece of advice i can think of is when the mind begins to drive you crazy, remember to ground yr feet, because that is ultimately the only reality. Being grounded in the present. Don't get all tripped up by fearful projections of the future, and the dust of the past.

I must, must, must learn to make myself and my health and my space a priority. My insides are falling apart and while I believe there are underlying medical causes, I also know without a doubt it is the result of years of pushing myself too hard and working too much and not taking care of myself. Someone once told me to picture myself at the center of the universe.....and I'm still working on that.

Stick to your plans. Creating a plan is a great first step and sticking to them will help me get to where I want to goal. I don't have a lack of goals or ambition but rather concrete ways to get there. I hope going forward I can create a faint path for me to follow to achieve the goals and dreams I have for myself.

I would like to be a better listener. Stop saying "you should" and instead say "you could..?" I want to listen more than I speak and think deeply about the words that come out of my mouth BEFORE they actually escape. Nik, Ash, my mom...have all said that I can be intense when offering advice. I don't want to be intense. I want to be open & generous. Hence, could instead of should.

Take care of and love yourself!

I would like to be less focused on the way I look and more focused on what I want to do with my life. I want to realize that there is no such thing as perfection and I need to stop trying to find it.

I wish to stay disciplined in my exercise, healthy eating and maintain a structure to my life that keeps me healthy and engaged. there are so many things I wish to do before my time here is done. I now have less time than the years I have lived. I feel compelled not to waste - an urgency sets in at times; I have to remember that I am doing whatever it is I want to do at the moment I do it. I love my attitude about life for the most part. I hope to continue to be loving toward my family and friends and remember how precious it all is!

As usual, I want to be more intentional about how I spend my time. I've been "fasting" from facebook these past ten days and I think it has actually resulted in me doing more of the things that I want and need to do - reading, laundry, phone dates with faraway friends.

Be present. Don't worry about the past or future. Don't be so hard on yourself. One bad thing doesn't make for a bad day.

Get complete by meeting goals of writing..reaching my best capacities at work.. leading excellent Senior Projects.. then SERVE

I want to be happy. I want to be patient, loving and kind. I want to make decisions based on my values and not what I should do. I want to enjoy life. To laugh. To have fun and not regret the moments where I'm not taking life too seriously. I want to be wild and carefree and still be able to balance the enormous job that I have been tasked with. I want to live.

Move past the material plane. See it, know it's there, but know it's an illusion and you can put on the goggles of truth and realize it's not anything.

My intention is to create space in my life to be able to expand and grow and manifest my highest potential. My space feels intentioned, separate and distinct, full of support and energy and relationships that nurture me.

I would love to improve so much about myself and my life that I don't even know where to begin. One way that I would love to improve myself next year is by stopping being such a loser, becoming more independent....both in life and financially, becoming more self aware....getting to know myself better, becoming more disciplined, becoming more motivated and inspired, just becoming a better person in general....losing more weight, gaining more muscle mass to get that fit and toned muscular look I've always wanted, having more friends...maybe getting a beautiful girlfriend?? A piece of advice or counsel that I have recieved this past year is to just forget about other people and listen to my heart....some guy at a bar told me to leave all my friends behind and don't listen to what anyone else has to say because people will hold you back no matter how good their intentions are.

Actively employed in job I love and well paid and covered or back in school and independent. Keep going, don't look back.

I want to be able to improve mine and my family's life by starting to really make a dent in our credit card debt.

I need to control my diet. Less sweets, more vegetables. Portion control. Sounds easy, but everything changes when you change countries and it is difficult to maintain any consistency. Piece of advice that I learned: asking for help goes a long way.

I really need to use facebook to share something / anything with people in my sphere. I have been so resistant to posting anything, and I realize it is the primary way that people keep in touch these days. Maybe I need to do a class or get a coach? Or "just do it" this month! I also like the idea of following the Four Agreements of Don Miguel Ruiz: 1) Be impeccable with your word 2) Don't take anything personally 3) Don't make assumptions; 4) Always do your best

I would like to feel more connected to my food, my eating, and my body over the next year. It's a lifelong journey, and I'm already in a decent place: I have been doing a CSA, trying to cook more at home, trying to be more mindful of "real food", losing some weight, being sometimes/often accepting of my body despite wanting to be much thinner. It's a good place but I'd like to continue the path and feel that I've incorporated more of it next year. Advice and counsel probably ranges from Reverend Kim to Michael Pollan.

I want to improve my health even more than I have already. The advice of my doctor/healer is guiding me to take my health in my own hands to be medically free.

I want to be physically fit, and lose 15 pounds!

I want to be happy with myself. And do the things I want to. Not say one day I will. But today. I want to complain less so I can look at the beauty of now

I recently heard the words, "Be exciting, not excited," and I think that's how I have to abide my life by in order to improve myself.

I'd like to be healthier and excerise more consistently. I'd like to be part of an in-person spiritual community I feel like I fit without guilt. Be yourself, but also try to be more.

Follow my heart. Be kind. Learn to walk slow.

Let go just a little bit more. See what it feels like to contemplate not having everything together

Be more self aware. I've learned a lot in the past two years, but I need to be able to live in the present even more and enjoy the ride.

Accept the hand you have been dealt and then work to change it. Don't cry over what was, prepare for what will be. I have the power to change our condition, I have the connections, now do it.

I would like to just enjoy life and everything that it brings. People spend too much time working and worrying and not paying attention to the great things in life. I don't want to be like that. I want to take more time to relax and do things that I enjoy.

Dear 2013 Self: You have had a tough year in 2012, but that doesn't reflect badly upon who you really are, in essence. You have invested a lot of time guarding yourself from the world, removing yourself from your department, your peers, and many of your friends, but all of this is easily undone and doesn't necessarily reflect on who you want to be and the social connections you want to have. You're going to do something simple: you're going to invite people over, for dinner, or for coffee, or even for crafting. It doesn't have to be a big affair, and it doesn't have to be more than once a month, but you're going to invite people into your space, the nest you hole up in, and realise that people still care about you if you just let them in.

I want to start exercising regularly so that I can be fit and strong. Losing weight would be a nice aside. But I just enjoy exercising so much, it makes me happy and feel good about myself. Also, to study harder and put myself out there, into the art community, more than I currently do, which would be easier if I studied at cofa instead of NU. And to help Indi with her little baby. I want to be a good aunty.

I want to continue to work on listening-- to others and to myself. I want to make efforts to grow professionally and to feel more confidence about my right to be there ("Fraud Factor" be damned!). I want to work at being a better parent to my teenager. I want to work to improve my health and then get more active again. I want to try to make exercise a priority this year-- even if it is increased just a little bit, I think it will make a big difference to how I feel physically and emotionally.

Find inner peace. Practice structured meditation of some kind. Sleep more. Exercise more. Get it together.

I want to be able to work at work and leave it there at the end of the day and then enjoy my husband and friends and out of work life without feeling stressed that I didn't get "done" what I should have.

I want to be happy with myself. I am a very confident person, but lately i've just been feeling a little lost. I am currently trying my hardest to get back to where i was and get into a healthier lifestyle, so hopefully i will have achieved that.

I want to treat my body the way it is supposed to be treated. I have written a letter of apology to my body, and a love letter, and a promise letter. I am working on keeping that promise. Every day.

I would like to focus on being in the moment. My bicycle trip and the recent deaths in my family remind me that this moment is really all we have.

I've been trying to approach things with a beginner's mind lately. Having always succeeded by either being or pretending to be an expert I've realized that there is value in being a novice and taking time to learn and experience things. And I would like to become more organized. This has always been my achilles heel but it's something that I can no longer ignore if I want to move myself to the next level.

Watch what you say. Be more aware of people and their feelings.

I often repeat this, which I cannot remember whee I heard it: 1. Don't judge your life 2. No expectations for tomorrow 3. Be grateful for what you have.

I'd like to feel less restricted in going after what I want from life. I'd like to be happier. I'd like to feel less scattered and confused. Don't be afraid to go after what you want. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid of falling or disappointing others.

Exercise.

Yoga and patience! PATIENCE! Remember your strength (remember the trip to India).

I will work to publish in an academic journal, secure an online teaching position, and advance the practice of my collaborative nonprofit. Do what you are passionate about.

TO RUN GREAT DISTANCES YOU MUST BE ABLE TO LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND - continue my non-smoking - run a 1/2 marathon...continue running - have more than basic spanish skills, actually be able to have a conversation! on a continuous front: i want to keep evolving my attitude towards love. to continue shedding my expectations of what a relationship is or "should" be and keep thinking about what it could be. any other advice: please have faith that the pieces of the puzzle fit together perfectly.

I'd like be more confident with myself, and to follow my dreams. I want to make a difference in my community through politics. "You have one shot"

I suppose I could be more artistic and spend more time off the computer/watching tv/wasting time. I've often thought it would be interesting to try and live my life like it was when I was a teenager. I hardly spent any time looking at screens (tv, movie) and I obviously didn't have a computer, cellphone or videogames. What did I do? I read, I listened to music, I wrote, I played music, I took photos, I did watercolors and sketches, I explored nature. It was simpler and more expressive of myself, instead of just absorbing websites, tv shows and movies, games that others have created. Perhaps I need to balance my time better. As it is, I'm on the computer and tv in one way or another for most of my waking life. Only when I'm playing music, cooking or talking with someone, do I take my eyes off the screen. Crazy....

I would like to find a balance between my "real life" activities and my internet activities. I tend to favor one over the other in great quantities, which isn't very fair to the people I value in both of them. Primarily, I want to be able to spend my time in a way that will benefit both realms of people in my life without detracting from my own time and benefits. I'm not sure how to bring this about, though.

I would like to unthaw. I would like to reground in my most vulnerable and strong and spiritual parts. I would like to find a physical engagement plan that works for my life and my body, that fills me with energy and sustains me. Iam doing an okay job now with the yogaglo and feel very lucky. I would like to join a gym.

I want to be able to enjoy my life. Take a moment to breathe and appreciate what I've accomplished and be proud!

To get healthier. I'm healthy with vices. I need to let go of the vices.Yes my aunt had a scare of lung cancer.

I want to slow down. I want to be more aware of my own perceptions and how my thoughts, beliefs and judgments are coloring or clouding reality. I think meditation is a huge tool to help me do this. The best advice I heard this year was "A strength overextended is a weakness". This rings true for me because I often find myself overextended, overscheduled and consequently feel overburdened. I would like to be able to set limits and not put so much pressure on myself to do everything that people ask of me.

I would like to be freer from cravings and whimsical reflexes. I would like to be able to say that I have not smoked a single cigarette in a year, that I have lost 15 pounds, that I am exercising with at least some regularity, that I am continuing to eat meat only occasionally, that I am spiritually more fulfilled an I was a year before, and that I am otherwise staying true to myself and my family. If I can meet that tall order, I think I would generally be pretty happy. I've got some good advice from my wife, my family, friends, colleagues, and a Buddhist monk.

Less tired. Less napping. More reading. More doing around the house. More loving. More patience. More kindness. More balance. More physical activity. More desserts. Less judging. More friends. More family. Less complaining. More appreciation.

Believe that you can change your Habits. Reading the power of habit was a powerful experience for me. Written by a journalist from the New York Times, it's not a self-help book. It's a fascinating read. I believe that if I can figure out where my habit loops lie, make some changes in Key areas, then I will be able to do so much more than I ever have before

It was a conversation I had with a friend. I shared with him the realization that it had been a long time since I'd *felt* anything. And he said he understood, he said that it does pass. He said to push myself out of the box. Go beyond my boundaries, do things I wouldn't normally do. The feeling comes back.

Most of all, I'd like to focus on relationships- with my children and husband. I'd like to reduce my time spent online or simply on the computer/phone. And I'd like to try to get some more exercise.

My conversations with Bill about servant leadership have really been inspiring. I guess the essence of it is, help people (and yourself) to be the best they can be, with love, kindness and support.

To have more confidence in myself and the power of what I know. I tend to sell myself short, mainly because I never felt like I've ever had anyone supporting me. But my best friend has moved back to the USA (after living outside for 2 years) and she's behind me like always, but seeing her eye to eye is SO much better than on Skype. She's helped me regain some of my lost confidence.

Since I didn't take my own advice this year (to write 200 words a day), I doubt I'll do it next. Massive improvement needed to get through this writing block. How? That's the question.

I would like start actually finishing things. I've been making films now for three years and haven't pushed to get a single one screened at a festival. Before film school I fought to have the crappy little films I was making screened wherever possible and it worked. So I want to reconnect with the impulse that drove me to make these works in the first place and to push myself past inhibitions to get the work seen by audiences as was always the goal in the first place. And beyond that I'd like to write and direct more work this year that I'd be thrilled to have seen by audiences. So turning myself into an unmissable artist is a definite goal. And the best advice I heard was from Ira Glass saying that the best advice he has to creative people is to just embrace the fact you're gonna make a whole lot of shitty work before you make something good. That's just part of the process, and it's where most people stop. To commit to being creative means committing to failing repeatedly but also to continuing to try again and again, because there's no shortcut to you getting good. Embracing the ugly is the only way to ensure the beautiful will come.

During Yom Kippur services, there was a great deal of focus on the State of Israel, and on Jewish people's suffering, but no mention at all of the ongoing occupation of Palestinians' lives, starting in 1948 and continuing in 1967 and the present. I felt that this was a great shortfall. We as Jews need to be focused at Yom Kippur on what we're sorry for, and how we can change in the coming year. Our image is used here in the United States to justify hawkish policies, and for us to ignore our active responsibility to take a stand against those policies is unacceptable. Yet, at the same time, I found myself unable to think of how I would constructively bring these issues to the people around me. I have tried to comment on such issues to Rabbis in the past, and I have found that most often it is seen as out of place and inappropriate. Where I have found support, it has been in congregations that already overtly share my beliefs about the situation. I'm really not sure if putting myself in a homogeneous group helps, and I don't think that being silent in this one is good either. How to proceed? The big problem for me is that I don't know how to dialogue without raising people's ire. I feel it in my kishkas that I have to do something, but past experience with opposing injustice has often shut down conversations with people I want to influence. It's a real struggle that I hope to work towards resolving this year.

I want to try and be less obnoxious. I don't really know how to interact with some people and so I am very obnoxious to cover it up. I know it gets annoying, I just don't know any other way to interact with these people.

I would like to be easier on myself and easier on others. More compassionate all around and less self focused. And a year of less depression. The wisdom is, as always, in One Day at a Time.

OY I think I just answered this in the last question. But...I'd like to live and let live more. The Rabbi at Kol Nidre quoted a Talmudic proverb that said this better than I can, but I'm totally down with it. This is as it should be.

I would like to get my life organized and keep it organized - clean apartment, schoolwork done and turned in on time, taxes in order, etc.

Just relax. That is something I need to do. Not to take life too seriously, but also to take what I WANT to do seriously. Don't do something that I do not want to do. Yet, do what I NEED to do. I want to become more fit in body and learn to be more motivated.

Open my heart and accept my daughter for who she is. Allow her to feel loved and unconditionally accepted and trusted by me.

I would like to be more accepting of help and to trust God more with the decisions in my life. "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. " Matthew 6:26-34

I'd like to become a better active listener and put my own self aside when it comes to showing how i listen. "Understand, then be understood" is great piece of advice I heard to help people feel that they are being listened to.

Continue on the path to overall health - physical, spiritual - love and forgive myself as easily as I do others.

My answer here is similar to the previous one. We are all too busy and my focus is not for achievement or accomplishment, but just that, improvement. That will look like slowing down and not racing through my life at warp speed. Perhaps I will have more to say about this next year, but I do hope I can calm things down and slow them down and have more useful time to be present.

I would like to read from the Torah this year. I would to get my sciatica (spelling) checked out. get a shot if necessary.

I would like to be of a priority for myself in my life. I got in the habit of taking and making time for myself after accommodating around the schedules of others, even when that meant giving it up completely at times. I had assumed that was vital and valid for our family for many years, and now, the truth is, we have all outgrown the need for me to do that! I am well aware my outmoded way of being hasn’t quite made the shift. My thinking is on board but my habits of being are still more in charge and running the show. I feel like I am living in an old, outdated body-memory and I haven’t made the shift in my habits. I think it will be a wonderful improvement for me to cultivate the habits that will allow me to take deeper breaths, longer walks, and stretch my body and my mind.

I'm interviewing therapists this month. Of the things to make time for, therapy is near the top of the list -- feeling better about myself gives me the bandwidth to address all the other things I'm having trouble finding the energy to do.

Ride my bike more! Do errands and go places on my bike more. Saves time and ensures that I get the exercise that is so good for me.

I want to improve my physical fitness - I have been slowly taking steps in the direction of exercising more, eating better - I need to get to a place where I am happy with my body.

FOCUS. I need to step back and really think about what is important to me so that I can work on those. There are always so many things that I want to do that I end up paralyzed. Maybe if I have a plan, I can tackle them systematically. As far as specifics, I would like to improve my fitness, my finances, and my work situation. I would also like to make time for writing.

I want to be able to let loose a little bit more and do spontaneous things. I don't want to worry so much and always have to hold myself back from doing things because I'm afraid of getting hurt or heartbroken or in trouble or being wrong for doing something.

All of the things that I said in the last question. Being thinner or more fit or looking better has been on my list every year I’ve done this. I would like to say I’ll be where I want to be next year at this time, but 4 years of 10Q has shown me that I know better. I’ll be fat and feeling like I look like shit next year and the year after that and probably until the day I die. I need to change something. This is no way to live. Every time I think about what’s stopping me—free time to read, money to spend on gadgets, double cheeseburgers—I realize that it’s all excuses. I want to be “put together” more than I want any of those things.

I would like to be more on top of my study. Next year is the final year of my degree, and I am hoping to get good enough grades to do a Masters. I know I can do it if I am healthy and really try, I have done it once before. My advice is: schedule everything, and then stick to it. Reward yourself suitably for all you achieve.

The main thing I want to remember is that positive change is possible through small, steady actions. I feel like I'm just now starting to understand that, and because there are so many areas of my life that I would like to improve, this one little nugget will be the most important thing to hold onto.

I want to get my house organized. I've been waiting for 5 years to have the time and mindset to do it. Now I've started, yet it's so daunting that i keep getting overwhelmed. The counsel I have had that I am persuing is to take it one step at a time. Still, everywhere i look there.s more more more.

I want to take better care of myself physically, eat and sleep more intelligently, exercise again. I want to keep my balance better when I feel pulled by the needs of others. I am reminded of Dorothy Satten's advice, "I am the only one I can count on being present at the moment of my death."

not freak out as easily. do yoga more exercise limit dairy and red meat

One of my favorite quotes I have heard recently is by Albert Einstein. He said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” I think that this is incredibly powerful and moving, and something I strive to remember and enact in my professional and personal capacities.

I would like to be more present when I interact with people. I would like to fully inhabit my life and show up better -- if not 100% , then closer to it. In the past year, I have been somewhat fractured in terms of my attention toward people, and sometimes toward my own goals too. I need to work on being present in every way possible. I sometimes think that not being that way saves me energy and is easier -- but in the long run, I know that it degrades the quality of my life, and lessens what I can offer to others and myself.

I want to lose more weight, give instead of take more, help move forward towards equality. I want to stop being so crazy also, haha. Calm down a bit, stop being so stubborn and stop assuming so much, be the women my boyfriend fell in love with again.

To be patient in acheiving my dreams. The advice that I recevied is to not pay to attention to anyones elses timelines.

Let myself off the hook for wanting my mom to be there for me. It's ok to want her and it's not helping to beat myself up for feeling that way. I hope to release my expectations of her. Reppy said it best.

I want to be able to come clean with myself and those in my life and trust who I really am. I want to be able to have an honest conversation about what holds me back from being courageous, loving and compassionate. I want to be able to wholeheartedly address issues that bother me instead of adversely reacting to them and leaving without working to resolve them. I want to be able to assert my own aspirations and trust the journey I am on by seeking out the roads I see will lead me on an ongoing, positive and wholehearted journey. I want to be able to love fully without doubting the outcome. I want to be able to fully say, this is me and I feel so grateful to have experienced a difficult journey and grew from the experience with a heightened sense of knowledge, comfort and empowerment. Advice: "life is an ongoing journey, not a destination so accept the process, enjoy it even. we will grow with trust and love".

I would like to get completely sober in my 12-step recovery program and to be sober each day, one day, for a year.

Health. Lose 40lbs. I have the knowledge. I need to just do it. PLUS balance...

I want and I like to be active like the past year, running, doing yoga and cross fit, biking, skating, longboarding, surfing any thing that gave me action.

Perhaps the best advice I received was to be gentle on myself, be patient, don't aim for perfection, spend a little time in prayer or mediation everyday, and plan one fun thing for yourself everyday.

I would like to play in my work more. The creative work I'm doing is fun, and when I recognize that, that's when I connect to it. I'd also like to be done with feeling superior and start feeling powerful.

i'd like to be able to forgive my mom and be back in touch with her. i'd like to feel less guarded and defended, stronger in myself. i think the way to do that is to be operating more instinctively from an emotional rather than cerebral place, and to become more fulfilled on my own so that i can withstand her.

Improve myself and my life: I'd like to have more of a community around me by doing things that I love to do and meeting people that like those things too. I need more of a professional community. I'd like to eat better - bake bread at home. A piece of advice or counsel: Little by little the bird builds his nest.

I would like to take more chances, and be less pre-occupied with "what if". Less 'safe' one could say. It struck me that while I plan for a better time to do x, y,z I waste opportunities. I guess in short, I'd like to be less of the saying 'life is what happens while you're busy making other plans' to be less applicable to me, and more 'carpe diem'.

I want to take more risks and trust my gut instincts instead of being so cautious all the time. I feel like I won't see amazing sights without stepping out onto a ledge once in a while.

Sasha, please just let go. There's no one who causes your misery except you. Be true to your self. It doesn't matter what that means, or if it's different than what you imagined. Just try.

Nothing springs to mind at the moment. I'm getting better with my sleeping patterns. I get tired and fall asleep earlier in the evening now, so I can't always stay up late (he writes at 01:15!). I think I'd like to feel fitter, tighter - particularly in my upper body. I'd feel better about myself if I ate better - stop eating crisps and sweets and chocolates - particularly at the weekends and after rugby. I'd like pecs and guns and six pack. I need to work for it, but I'm too tired, too lazy most of the time to make those habits. I'm fit for rugby - particularly after the European Touch Championships. I did my first game back last weekend and it felt easy. My match fitness felt great. But I feel and look a bit chubby sometimes, a bit soft. I'd like a harder body. I do like the look of A&F models...

Be myself, but be what I must at the same time... if that makes any sense.

I need to find some other ways to discipline my son other than yelling louder and louder. I can't believe I used to be a child therapist, and I would help other families to do this, and now I can't even remember my own advice. We used to set up a lot of star charts. I have used start charts with my son. I'm already burnt out on star charts. I resent that I have to work so hard to get basic things to happen (e.g. getting dressed). I need some new methods. I need to dig up an old article I read - it was cool, it applied animal training methods to dealing with people - it helped me when my son was younger. And I think I have a book called "when your child drives you crazy," and maybe i will have to get some new books.

From therapy I haved learned to listen to what I want and feel and feel confident that is good because it is true. At that maybe I have to draw lines with Tom about things are very important to me. Like getting married (the fact that I want to do that someday). From Suzie Husted I learned to take time to grow new friendships. From Becca's wedding in June, I learned to put time into maintaining old ones (Becca, Jo Peterson, Molly). From Jeff and his terrible bike accident I learned to always wear a helmut.

I would like to have a health & wellness / self-care routine that I adhere to. Knowing that it will result in optimal beingness. Writing the goals isn't enough, we've got to take action. It helps to have constant reminders. So give your goals & intentions (literally or symbolically) high-visibility. I know that this improvement is far-reaching and multi-dimensional.

I would like to be serious about my nutrition. I spiraled ot of control this last year with unlimited food access at Google. I need to practice self-restraint. A piece of advice I'd like to heed: listen to your body- be mindful.

Yeah-- instead of mourning and harping over a missed train, get planning for a new train...the next train.

Contentedness. Living in the now. Not letting myself be so preoccupied with "what ifs." My husband and I have had to put some plans on hold -- things we thought we'd start this year or in the next year -- and I need to learn to let that go. To know that everything happens in its time.

There's only one thing that I know how to do well And I've often been told that you only can do what you know how to do well And that's be you Be what you're like Be like yourself. -They Might Be Giants

EXERCISE + SLEEP I want to be doing regular exercise - preferably where someone relies on me so I do it. Sleep. I need it. It's healthy. It'll help me think clearly. My conversations with people will be more energetic. And who knows what other benefits it will reap (health, cognition etc.). Bloody go to sleep. Bloody do some exercise.

I'm doing everything for myself first. Loving myself, educating myself, feeding myself healthily. I want to be a better person FOR ME.

I need to weigh less than this 240 I currently weigh. I'd like to get down to 200 if that's feasible. Maybe create a standing regiment. I am somewhat lacking in adviceful friends. I'm mostly lacking in friends. Of the three I have one, has been sheltered a showered with love his whole life and has no reasonable advice to give. Another has similarly been trapped in her ivory tower and is able to deal readily with any situation that may arise, but has been rather shy about talking things out. And the third, usually says 'I don't know man' and then usually gives some kind of inciteful brilliant thing that if it isn't advice is usually inspiration or at least motivation. I think the thing I need to do, as evidenced by this diatribe is to hang onto the great people I have and get more.

I know God is watching over me, that everything happens for a reason. I want to improve by starting to go therapy and to work on stuff, like anger issues, the fear of the future. I want to keep going to the gym, learning to cook, trying to get better about money, and just starting to figure out what I want to do in my 30s. I wish I could wake up in the morning excited to do stuff, to go to work, to do whatever.

Start something, implement it,anything,finish it and be able to say that I did it... Have no fear...

Risk big. Today is the day. Don't fear falling. Find the release. I hope to lose weight and gain muscle this year, to feel healthier. I need to stop binge eating too.

I feel empowered when I an learn something new. Learning keeps your mind younger

My friend Alysa and her friend Becca have a way of going about life where they meet people and honestly look at what is on the inside. I feel bad about it but I feel like I look at people and make judgemnts right away instead of waiting and trying to see the good in someone. I have already made a conscious effort to change it and it makes meeting people a lot more fun. I also learned a story about two friends who were walking in the dessert while arguing so one of them hit the other and the other wrote in the sand "my friend hurt me today" later that day he was drowning and his friend saved him so he engraved in a rock "my friend save me today" the friend asked why he wrote one in sand and one in a rock. He replied by saying sand blows away and that is the negative but the positive is what we should remember just like the engraving in the rock will last forever.

love myself and love others; don't be self-righteous - take a page out of the activist's book: 'listening campaign'

I would like to connect more with my intuition.

I would like to have my own business & work for my husband. Even though I love where I work by looking after people's needs & enjoying the place itself, I don't need to be 'married' to the job anymore. It no longer fulfils my purpose. I don't need the long hours & sleep overs as they steel some of the life that I would rather be doing other things with. I'm grateful I have a job & an income & will always have a 'soft spot' for somewhere I've worked for 17years of my life. Coniston was the best move I have ever made in my life. My job & my life & the wonderful man I met here 'were' & 'is' my destiny & I am able to allow that to fit into my life now by creating & not waiting for fate to happen. Thankyou fate for what you have given me so far x :)

I don't want to be reactive to old prompts. I want to see myself as others see me as being exceptional and to finally allow myself to flower as a creative and loving woman.

I'd like to become somewhere approaching fluency in French, and I'd like to keep working on being a better cook. I've got all the time in the world to work on being extraordinary, I just want to make the small changes that will make me happy now.

a) ask, don't assume b) ask, don't assume people know c) kindness, not snappiness d) i can't keep running from job to job e) not everything is SERIOUS

I would tell myself that for next year, try to relax a little more. Don't be so nervous, don't try to control time and go with the flow better. In the end, your life (and those around you) will be easier.

This time next year I'd like to be working as a therapist or counselor and I'd like to be 30 pounds lighter and feel good about my long-term health prospects. Advice - don't give up. As long as you keep trying you're in the game.

More creation. More face-to-face interaction with friends. More meditation. More interaction with and visibilty within my new community. Advice: turn off the computer more often, or block the Internet. Easy to say, harder to do.

Stop stressing and ignoring problems. Putting problems aside and ignoring them until the shit hits the fan won't be a better choice. Have the intestinal fortitude to deal with the problem and talk it out. Waiting only causes more problems and puts a divide in between you and those who love you the most.

Ripped abs and a draft of that novel or bust, man. Let's get closer to mental/physical perfection. Old advice to myself: "If you wanna do something, all you have to do is do it."

Exercise, fitness, a healthy diet, and EXERCISE! I need to get in shape. I want to feel and look healthy.

I would like to have more balance in my life. I would like to exercise regularly. Yoga, tennis, hiking, and such. Cooking, reading, biking and writing.

I would like to take more action, follow my own heart and inclinations more and more, and have faith in the goodness of today, every day. Be supportive of myself and others, show compassion, and love all the good in my life. Lovingkindness meditation. The importance of practice (e.g, writing, yoga, exercise). System.

I would like to have more patience and more energy in parenting my boys. Sometimes, I think everyone would be better served if I just got up off my butt and took them outside to run around. And, it would be much better if I could be more patient with them and discipline with an even, calm manner.

I would like to be in a relationship (or attempted one). It's time to move forward from my loss. I need/want to be free of the overarching glumness.

I would like to move samadhi consciousness to the center of my moment-to-moment experience, no matter where I am or what I am doing. I encourage you to renew your efforts in this direction, as remembering and exerting right effort is the key to great progress. Your mind is amazingly adaptable to there practices, but if you don't practice them, the benefit will not occur!

I want to be more open to the things that the universe delivers my way. In the past, I have painted myself in a career corner, thinking I can only do one thing at a time. I can improve by allowing those new thoughts and opportunities that come my way to be explored. The best advice I've received this year is to be myself. I am capable of great things. Other people see that in me. I will begin to see that in myself.

Be more "in the moment," rushing ahead less.

I would like to appreciate myself and everyone around me more and be thankful for my blessings.

I want to learn how to live my life as a cantor. Whatever improvements I have to make I want to accomplish.

Keep listening, and trust that errors will be corrected. The work we do, we do for all, when we make that intention and connect....

As I said on Day 6, I would like to achieve accreditation in my field of work. I have received advice and encouragement from my colleagues and leadership.

Less me. More active. Laugh more. Love unconditionally. Negative emotions trigger my eating. Stay aware.

Something I heard this year that I liked: "Do as much good For as many people For as long as you can." I'd like to start living to that mantra.

Experience Gratitude... every day.

I would like to be more responsible with money next year and save up for a down payment on a house and save for other necessities and emergencies.

I would like to be myself, be creative, and not care what others think of me.

I want to continue on becoming healthier with the foods I eat and keep up with exercising regularly! I want it to become even more of a second nature to me.

I want to continue to grow emotionally while I shrink physically in the next year. It may not solve all my problems but I know it will make the unsolved ones easier to bear and eventually conquer. The best piece of advice I've received to guide me in this path is to stop beating myself up constantly. I've come to understand that when I don't think much of myself, I won't do much for myself (at least not in a healthy way).

I want to communicate better with my fiance! Stay patient with him and most especially WITH MYSELF when talking to him. Know that imperfect responses are not failures. Probably do some therapy. Be an inspiration. Keep listening to my inner Ner Tamid, who loves and guides me. Keep being grateful for what I've got. Listen to my advice of last year: Every day, be able to ask myself "What did you do today that you are proud of?" and have a good answer.

1. Work harder 2. Let myself recognize what the important stabilizing forces in my life are, but being able to then make changes where necessary (professional or personal) that enable me to grow and keep me from getting into ruts.

The improvement I'd like to make with myself is to start picking up that stupid phone and calling the people I care about!!! Other than that, I don't know of any changes I want in my life. I adore living where I'm living, love, love, love my husband, 5 dogs, cat, son, daughter-in-law and grandson! I read "I may not have everything I want in life but I'm blessed to have all I need. For this I am grateful." AMEN!

Undercommit but overachieve.

Don't stop believing.

Keep listening to your inner voice - it protects you and guides you. It is God, and it is wise.

I would like to be more in control of my diabetes, it means a lot to my parents to know that i can look after myself and by doing this i think they would worry a lot less than they already do about me.

I remember learning the phrase 'What can I do today that I will feel good about tomorrow?' and I hope that I can work to incorporate that into my every day life.

I am learning that that we don't need to respond to every input, electronic or otherwise. I would like to exercise more self control of my time and space. I would really like to be better at modelling the behavior I want to see my our children. I feel like I set a poor example too often.

my mum keeps telling me to 'give yourself more credit' . i think that's something i could work on. i'm juggling an awful lot and i should give myself credit for how well things are going instead of always focusing on what i've not done.

Listen to myself and the signals from my body and in life. SOO many ideas for self improvement +170 Yoga body ~ deeper yoga mastery + Pineal gland cleanse /detox for clearer visions + continue eating raw /juicing and learning more about supplements/vitamins + live in an environment which is energetically zen place for further rooting and expansive learning + discover a way for passive income / using my skills of transformation/empowerment to receive financial abundance.

from Elsie: Stop over-thinking it.

I'm still trying to live up to last year's piece of advice (but it does still inspire me even if fear still does get the better of me sometimes)! But honestly, I think I simply want to be more content and happier day to day, to take pleasure from the simple things and not be so stressed out by the little things. Make more time for artistic endeavours, paint again, learn patchwork, learn to make jewellery. Spend more time with friends. I'd like to to invent the time machine, also. But maybe I'll tackle that ambition the year after.

I'd really like more peaceful time around me. Though I don't get angry often, I'd certainly like to not get angry even as often as I do especially with the Mrs.

This depends on which career path I'm in. If I'm a cop, I need to be working on further physical development, which means serious learning of a martial art. Of course, learning how to plot a career course on the police department. If I'm an accountant, because I didn't get on the force, I need to have my CPA. For a few months, this is a wait and see.

I want to appreciate the beauty of "enough". I am healthy enough. I am happy enough. I am funny enough. The house & car are clean enough. I am enough.

Same as I have said previous years - and not really made it! This year - lose weight, great shape, and make that business a financial and helpful success!

Clear the clutter. What is the best use of my time in this moment?

I would like to go easier on myself. I would like to finally accept the fact that not only is being perfect not possible, it's not advisable either.

I would really like to spot gossiping and stuff like that. It is important to not talk about people bad behind their back, I always feel bad for doing that. I would also like to be waaayyyy more active. I need to be active just because its important to be active and spend less time online.

I need to completely quit all tobacco products, lose twenty pounds and take a more disciplined approach to finances. The best advice I've ever received came from a shoebox - "Just do it!"

I would like to respond better to my adult children and their issues. I think Marcia's advice (say, "Gee, how do you plan to deal with that?" ) is really good, and I hope I can remember it.

I would like to be (including act, think, and feel) based on who I am, not based on others or who others expect me to be). Also, specifically I'd like to be even more healthy and fit, finding a way to achieve this by integrating it as a natural part of my normal routine rather than a temporary extraneous addition.

I can't do it all in this life. Live this life and my blessings as deeply and with as much joy as I can.

I've had several people tell me I need to have more faith in my abilities and not allow my fear of failure to cripple my ambition. I would like to be more confident and be able to enjoy my work and work crazy hours even, I want to matter. I want my daily contribution to a relationship, office, or community to matter.

What counsel have I received? I so rarely seek others' counsel. I try to do everything on my own. As outreachy and collaborative as I present myself, at heart I'm all willful independence, just like my father. That said, Jonathan Safran Foer's book "Eating Animals" keeps calling me to finish it. It's not an advice book per se but it is a story that offers counsel, a way to think about issues that move in and out of troubling us (over years or an entire lifetime) and come to a conclusion.

I want to continue to hone in on my spiritual practice. I want to learn Bible and deepen my connection to Judaism. I want to strive to be more honest and more empathetic. I want to cultivate strong, trusting relationships with people. I just want to be more authentic, overall, and less sarcastic and less jaded. I'm not sure that there's specific advice I've gotten that guides me. I know what I need to do. I just have to be disciplined enough to do it.

The advice I'd like to follow is: Let go or be dragged. I also want to focus on being impeccable with my word. Considering what archetype I'm in as I'm about to speak.

I would like to have more time to do what I want/have to do.. In order to do that, I need to learn how to manage my time. I've been struggling with this little problem since forever.

Don't sacrifice pretty good for perfect. Too often I can sacrifice the good for not achieving the perfect - and use the lack of perfection as a rationalization to tear down the current progress. This is something that I need to change in myself and live out in the current year.

I have adequate self esteem but surprisingly low confidence. I battle between proclaiming my awesomeness and being afraid of not appearing humble. I need to find a balance such that I can be comfortable with all that I have accomplished and my multifaceted identity, but also be able to express it in a way that does not come off as boasting or condescending.

I'd like to continue to grow, to open, to be more honest, give more, and discover more strength. I've received numerous wise and kind words encouraging greater self-acceptance, gentleness with myself, and that engaging with the world with integrity and openness can have profound impact on others and the universe.

Let's get healthier and smarter.

Have more time to do the things I like the most and that make me happy and realized

I want to find BALANCE in all aspects of my life (work, volunteering, friends, and family). I tend to prioritize work/volunteering before family/friends and I know that needs to change if I want to stay connected to the people I love. Tracy told me not too long ago during a car ride, that to be imbalanced in one area of your life, brings imbalance to other areas - so unless you find balance between your many different involvements, you won't be bringing your "best self" to the table. Without a balance of friends and family in my week, I won't perform as well during work/volunteering.Where there is balance, there is presence and mindfulness. Tracy also brought to my attention the importance in taking time for yourself, to re-group, re-collect, and relax! She shared with me, that sometimes you just have to say no to other things, in order to take care of yourself: "When you say No to something, you're really saying Yes to you."

Hopefully always get jobs. Do my attachment properly. Also, my health definitely needs to get better. I would like to be off at least one of my medication. I will try to eat better and go to the gym when I have the time.

To get my life back together. I can and I will. That I will accomplish something with my life, its just a matter of finding myself.

I'm going to go with what I wrote in Day 5 that God told me: "He is here to teach you how to let someone make you happy" and "If you want him, you will have to learn how to die to yourself." These have become my mantras. They work. P.S. If I'm still with Jesse and feeling confused, Google search Aquarius and Cancer. It should clear some things up.

I'd like to continue my education somehow. I had a wonderful meeting with a colleague and mentor recently that had me complaining a bit about my current work situation and desiring more. She soundly advised me to stay where I am as I have it really good and still have work to do here, but also suggested I do whatever I can to continue learning in the field--so any kind of professional development opportunities, executive leadership trainings, even a business class or something of the sort. So I'd like to spend some time finding a good fit and then going for it.

I want to have more confidence in myself and my abilities. My boss has always told me to take the small wins when I start to feel completely overwhelmed by the task at hand.

I would like to take the next step and start seeing a therapist to work on everything, but especially my recent realization that I am transgendered. I would like to find my motivation again, and start my journey to becoming true to how I feel inside.

Don't worry so much about what other people think. You only think you think you know what they think!

I would like to achieve total self mastery. I would like to work on living a fearless, doubtless and divinely connected life that is in service to others. I would also like to be making a living and feeling like I am working in a job that enables me to be at peace and take care of myself. This all ultimately requires that I be right on top of time managing.... I would like to feel like I am always receiving abundance in blessings and that I deserve it. That takes some faith and some re-believing on my part. I think if there is any advice I want to give myself again that I have received other the last year.. its to let go. Be forgiving. Be patient, loving and forgiving with myself. I am not perfect... God is compassionate and I can connect to that. I can be happy and loving with myself as I learn from my mistakes along the way. Dont forget that Eva. Big lesson for you this year: live without guilt. Mistakes are made and thats ok. One step at a time.

I want to improve my physical fitness, my knowledge of photography and the natural world. And I would like to grow as a writer and researcher. Counsel: When striving to complete your most meaningful goals, take notice of what blocks you, distracts you, or holds you back. Study those problems - in them one can find the remedy to fear and suffering - they lead to the growth we seek.

Do what others won't . Be you. I have to do the things that keep me up at night. The ideas that never fade. The boy inside of me is wailing and I know exactly what will shut him the fuck up. I need to become a real boy not just a ghost not just the personification of another's idea of me.

I'd like to depend less on technology and more on human contact for my primary form of interaction. I've gotten so hung up on texting and chatting and using social media that I've become a bit of a hermit. Reminds me of the start of the movie "Tunnelvision" when the fictional TV network was accused of creating a "nation of shut-ins". Sometimes I think the Internet has done the same thing.

I would like to develop a real sitting practice and yoga practice. I can be fine on my own and know what it is that I want and can tap into my awareness and intuition to live a full daily life without depending on other to fulfill it. Some great advice is to not over think and realize the willfulness supersedes flow and freedom. I am a turtle. Playful, inventive and fun.

Currently, I'm in the 6th step of the AA program. I would like to have completed all 12-steps in the Alcoholics Anonymous program and start sponsoring other women. I would like to have all of my debt paid off, including my student loans. I would like to be working toward my passion in a career, and hope that my passion gets more clear to me. I want to show up in the world that way that my Higher Power wants me to be - to be the woman that I now know I am capable of being. I want to be a better mom, girlfriend, friend, confidant, lover, and active member in my community. Advice and counsel that I've received in the last year that I believe can help me would be the following: Trust God. Let Go and Let God. Keep Coming Back (to the rooms of AA) Know that you're right where you're supposed to be. Pray for God to help you show up in a way where you can reveal yourself to God. How would God want you to show up in the world?

I would like to become more motivated and diligent, be confident in myself and who I am, and not let my insecurities get in the way of everything I know I can do. I like the quote: "Look closely at the present you are constructing. It should look like the future you are dreaming."

I will have a regular exercise routine to improve my Rugby fitness. I will have a job that I feel good about. I will be finishing my education. Just do it. No excuses. Don't wait for tomorrow, or someonelse to say it's okay.

Work toward a balance between family and outside life, yet have patience with myself -- it's going to be challenging to find that balance as the pregnancy continues and then life with TWO KIDS! (I'm still a little giddy -- and shellshocked -- that we'll have two kids!)

i would like to shed more of my possessions and attachments. a friend made "shed" his playa name to deepen his commitment to lightening his load and i'm inspired that i'm not the only one struggling with this. a therapist taught me the concept of managing contingencies to my actions. in particular, rewards. i suck at it, but it's closest i've come to being able to control or limit my procrastination. all i can do is keep trying this year too.

I would like to exercise daily because it feels good, and because it will keep me healthy. I would like to engage in one or more spiritual practices daily, because it will awaken me to what is actually important in this life.

I'd like to be more balanced. There are still times when I get overwhelmed or overloaded and I'm not able to bring the grace and joy into my life that I would like to.

I must remember to see my childrens successes and renewed independence as positives rather than loss.

I want to get better at organization and time management so that I can get through CTEP and get my teaching license. I also want to get married and figure out my living situation. This too, shall pass.

I would like to be more calm.