We do it every year like taxes; make a resolution without resolve.

 I don't know about the rest of you, but I usually break mine within a few weeks. I remember once I made a resolution to stop yellng at the kids and I swear I broke that one minutes after I made it.

Why is it that we can't keep those things? I'm gonna lose weight - that's my annual. I'm still dragging around the same wagon I've been dragging for the last 10 years. I just can't bring myself to believe I'm stuck with this tuckus. I am gonna lose weight at some point, maybe even this year. But I'm not making that a resolution for the year.  Just face it folks, simply saying I'm gonna drop 10 pounds, ain't - gonna - make - it - happen. 

Then there are the other usuals we hear;  I'm gonna work harder, keep my house cleaner. I'm gonna stop dating knuckleheads, stop chasing woman, quit smoking, drinking, cussing whatever. Why do we make these empty promises to ourselves. We never keep them and then we are just mad at ourselves for messing it all up. At least I am. Then, the next year we make the same promises again. I have been guilty. 

This year, no more of those silly resolutions. I'm making real promises. Ones that really matter and ones that I intend to keep.

 I've been thinking about this for a few days now; what will my resolutions be this year?  At first I came up with a long list of bad habits I want to quit, like watching too much television, eating junk food, procrastinating, gossiping, shopping too much, stuff like that. Then, I stopped myself and thought resolutions should be things I want to do. I want to make my resolutions positive pushes forward, not challenges. I thought, this year I will pick things I love to do and just do more of them. That way, maybe for once I'll keep a resolution.

Part of my strategy is in the writing. It's like if I write them down, here for everyone to read, it kind of binds me to the promise; you know what I mean?

Of course my son says my whole premise  - writing a post about not making the same old resolutions and instead making real ones - is flawed because people always say their new resolutions are real and not like the old ones and this year they will be resolutions that they will keep. Which makes the new resolutions just like the old resolutions that they never kept. They don't keep the new ones either.

He may be right, and a lot of you probably agree with him.  A lot of you have probably long ago decided you were going to stop making resolutions. But I've decided I'm gonna give this resolution thing one more try.

So here we go., my resolutions for 2012 and always;

I PROMISE; to smile more, laugh harder, sing louder, pray more intently, pass more compliments, show more patience, be more generous, listen more closely, hug more, savor good food and good friends, play in the dirt, write shorter posts, and dance every chance I get.