I was just looking back over last year’s blog posts about the year behind and the resolutions for the year ahead, and I see that I said that my major intention for 2012 was to practice (and to create and maintain practices). I think I totally did live that intention, and I want to continue it into 2013. But the specific intention I want to set for this coming year is Stretch. In the coming year, I want to keep reminding (and convincing) myself to stretch: beyond the expected, beyond my comfort zone, beyond what I know or have known, even if just the tiniest amount. I do and I have done a lot, but if I stretch, I will find out whether or not I can do more, in a healthy challenge sort of way.

The key thing to remember about Stretch (hey self, I’m talking to you), is that by its very nature, Stretch is an elastic concept. It requires me staying flexible enough to push just a little farther whenever something new or different starts to make me feel scared or uncertain. I don’t have to go too far; just far enough to feel the stretch. And the deeper and more often I stretch, the farther I’ll be able to go the next time. (So in a way this fits very nicely into last year’s resolution to Practice.) 

All right, I have declared my intention; we shall see how it plays out over this next year. With all this practice and all this stretching, I should be winning a gold medal in the Happiness marathon by 2014!