Editor's Observation: Taking Stock

Perhaps the effects of the winter solstice creating shorter days and more darkness than the rest of the year has a pensive effect on us all. We make New Year’s resolutions, we reminisce over auld lang syne, literally old-long-since in Scottish, we slow down and stay in when it’s cold – if we can. And we think. We take stock of the good and the bad, the positive and the negative, the honey and the marmite (yin and yang, y'all).

STOCKADE: While thinking can be a healthy thing, if it’s not healthy it can lead to trouble. Goals keep thoughts flowing in a proactive direction, instead of getting mired in shoulda-woulda-coulda. Most of us do all too good of a job kicking ourselves around the block and dwelling on regrets. That only leads to depression, and depression is an emotional quicksand from which nothing good can come. If you feel yourself spiraling downward, run for your life, or get help from a trained professional if you’re stuck. There are 24-hour hotlines to call. Church pastors counsel many people for free, because of their compassion for those in need of a responsive human being. Many teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers and personal friends would take the time if you told them you need to talk. Don’t feel like you need to go it alone. Help is just a phone call away.

The end of one year and the beginning of the next is a time of introspection, of personal inventory and changing tack. A checkpoint to evaluate what’s not working, or what one is sick and tired of and ready to change.

STOCKPOT: Former Old Brooklyn neighbor Drew Carey dropped 60 pounds and became fit as a fiddle, stating that he was tired of being fat. Just like that. But that takes discipline and follow-through.

So take a new tack. Make a new plan. 2012 is brand-spanking-new, waiting for you to change it up. Time to get a fresh start.

Of course, you know that I’m saying these things to you because I’m the one who needs to hear them the most. I’ve been taking stock of goals I’ve had for way too long, and have decided it’s time to make them happen. Drop the weight. Get healthier. Get organized. Find a hobby (or allot time to enjoy a neglected hobby).

STOCKPILE: It's amazing what people choose to keep, feel the need to save, can't let go of. Time to purge all the stuff I keep holding onto that I don’t need. Stop saving stuff in storage that other people could put to good use right now. Really live my faith and be other-centered, instead of having a knot in my stomach whenever I want to share Jesus with someone and fear stops me. Let fear go. Except in extreme situations, fear is unnecessary baggage.

STOCK INVESTING: Time to take action, move through the fear and not let it stop me. Ahhh! Doesn't that feel better?On the other side, success awaits, where I envision accomplishing my hopes and dreams, being the person I am in that little tiny place inside called “the chamber of intentions.” But as a wise man once said, “Good intentions never got anybody to heaven.” We have to act on our intentions, with faith in our heart, hope in our mind and love in our actions, with an attitude of gratitude for the gift of each day. What a gift. Don’t waste it.