By Brian Cavanaugh, ATM

My wishes are for you and your family to have a blessed and healthy 1997, but I can guarantee that this new year will not be 365 days of bliss. There will be days; of frustration, days of sadness, and days of deep disappointment - they are an integral part of life. As a mere human being, I cannot always control what happens to me, but I can control how I react and respond to what happens to me.

I resolve this year to once again strive to "accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, and don't mess with Mr. In-Between."

I resolve to make a conscious effort to try and see hope in despair, light in darkness, truth in deception, and life in death. One way I plan to accomplish this New Year's pledge is to choose my words carefully. At work, at home, and at play, I will essay to communicate using only affirming and hope-filled words and I will endeavor to eliminate contrary and discouraging words from my vocabulary. In addition:

I resolve to put on WAIT.
"A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains."
- Dutch Proverb
"He that can have patience can have what he will."
- Ben Franklin
"All things come round to him who will but wait."
- H. W. Longfellow
This year I will try to be more patient with my wife, my children, my family, my friends, my co-workers, my supervisors and especially with myself.

I resolve to start SMOKIN'.
"Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm; it moves stones, it charms brutes. Enthusiasm is the genius of sincerity and truth accomplishes no victories without it."
- Edward Bulwer-Lytton
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
- Emerson
"Enthusiasm signifies God in us."
- Madame De Stael
"A man can be short and dumpy and getting bald, but if he has fire, women like him." - Mae West

I resolve to start DRINKING.
"Wake up with a smile and go after life ... Live it, enjoy it, taste it, smell it, feel it." - Joe Knapp
"This is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it."
- Psalm 118
The present contains all that there is. It is holy ground: for it is the past, and it is the future.
- Alfred North Whitehead
Savor Life's flavor. Relish the bitter and the sweet. The wine of Life is on the house-drink and always be full. Stop and not just smell the roses, but consume - petals, thorns and all.

I resolve to start CHEWIN'.
I resolve to carefully consider and contemplate the things that people tell me. I will make a conscious effort to look beyond the words and struggle to discern the meaning. To meditate on the message in order to discover truth.

I resolve to VEGETATE.
I resolve to become a vegetable garden:
5 rows of Peas: Preparedness, Promptness, Perseverance, Politeness, Prayer.
3 rows of Squash: Squash gossip. Squash criticism. Squash indifference.
7 rows of Lettuce: Let us be faithful. Let us be loyal. Let us be truthful.
Let us-be unselfish. Let us love one another. Let us find humor in everything we do. Let us be humorous unto others as we would have them be humorous unto us.
And a vegetable garden is not complete without
Turnips: Turn up happy. Turn up with a smile. Turn up with a new idea. Turn up with real determination.

I resolve to start ACTING LIKE A CHILD.
"The great mm is he who does not lose his childlike heart."
- Mencius
"Children have neither past nor future; . . .they rejoice in the present."
- La Bruyere
"Oh grown-ups cannot understand, And grown-ups never will,
How short the way to island Across the purple hill."
- Alfred Neyes

I resolve to recapture and embrace the
childlike virtues of- innocence, amazement, wonder, imagination, creativity, uninhibited-laughter, playfulness, acceptance, carefreeness, trust, and naivete.