Like many of you, I like to use the New Year to evaluate last year and focus on the next one. I have been geeking out with my new planner but have also paused to reflect. 2017 saw the realization of a goal of publishing my memoir Float On, something I’ve been working on for years. My daughters both now drive and have part-time jobs; we even got through their first (only, I hope) car accident without injury. Robert continues to grow our business interests in New Mexico and Palm Springs. I am healthy and grateful as I look to the future.

Strength and Flexibility in Mind and Body are my words for 2018. To focus on being strong in my mind helps me to be thoughtful and decisive, to be continually learning and engaged, and to use it in different ways like meditation. The idea of gaining strength in my body makes me snicker a bit; I’m forty-six now and realize that I am not going to be as physically strong as I have been in the past. So my definition now allows for me to not think of being stronger but to pursue strength, and in ways that doesn’t aggravate my arthritic big toe 🙂

Being flexible in my mind urges me to be more empathetic and to consider the other side of the story that I’m not hearing/experiencing. One thing I know for sure is that 2018 will bring events that I cannot imagine right now; being flexible in mind helps me hold the future loosely. Flexibility in body gets me to yoga or ballet class and reminds me that a healthy body is not just about muscle or numbers on a scale.

I’ll leave you with a quote that speaks to a lot of my feelings around this time of year – “Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” Gloria Steinem

Love, Molly