TOP TEN NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS FOR 2018

 

New Year’s Resolutions to Ring in 2017

It is that time of year again.  We start off  the new year singing “Auld Lang Syne.”  One of my all time favorite movies, “When Harry Met Sally” has clever dialogue about the song.  Harry: What does this song mean? My whole life, I don’t know what this song means. I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot’? Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot?  Sally: Well, maybe it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something. Anyway, it’s about old friends.

Making New Year’s Resolutions are also quite popular at the stroke of midnight.  Some will last until the next New Year’s Eve while others don’t make it a day into the new year.  Some interesting statistics… A 2007 study by Richard Wisemen from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, despite the fact that 52% of the study’s participants were confident of success at the beginning. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, (a system where small measurable goals are being set; such as, a pound a week, instead of saying “lose weight”), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.

Here are the 10 most popular New Year’s Resolutions:

• Join a health club.
• Improve finances. Talk to a financial planner.
• Get a better job.
• Manage stress with a massage.
• Learn something new.
• Quit smoking.
• Take a vacation.
• Volunteer at a charity.
• Drink less alcohol.
• Get along better with others.
• WHAT IS YOURS?

Rise!

              

Ups and downs nurture life

 

Patience and endurance help you survive

 

Never know when life can supply or deprive

 

Jumping into despair is a futile dive

 

Why not refrain and derive?

 

Seek your potentials to contrive

 

Original ways to strive

 

Against balks all along your drive

 

Never lose hope, but thrive

 

Till life gives you five!

 

 

© Chaouki Mkaddem    

May 28^th, 2013

SALVE

 

A shriek from the realms of the heart
echoes within the veins
Swiping aside the sweet melody
breathing the saddened symphony….

Bruises unseen felt when touched
respire through the open wounds
The salve to soothen the lesion
Has vanished in the gloom…

Words of comfort ne’er
Calm the ache,
as a sojourn
can ne’er blossom flowers
on a dying barren state…

Soumya

A New Beginning – Promote Yourself

The anticipation has come to an end,
It’s almost time to meet our new friend,
It’s 2 in the morning, the pain kicks in,
Here he comes, his life will soon begin,
I am scared stiff, what lies ahead?
Screaming out in the hospital bed,
The pain is so bad just want him here,
I have never felt so much fear,
25 hours later he’s in my arms
Hoping and praying he comes to no harm,
His big blue eyes and cute little face
Look up at me to say,
How did I get to this place?
I promise him right there and then,
I will love him forever, until the end.

Abbe Cutforth

THE LITTLE THINGS

It is the little things in life which make the difference
When we are greeted by someone with a friendly smile
Who genuinely enquires about our well being
Or offers help in climbing over a stile

A stile is not just something we see in the country
It is any of the problems we meet on life’s way
To know that we have friends who will help us
Is something that brings happiness every day

For there is a lot of truth in the old saying
That a friend in need is a friend indeed
Someone who is willing to help us
And who is not afraid to intercede

Not one who always wants to interfere
Or to tell us things that we already know
Who can recognise the help that we are needing
And who will stay when all the others go

Who will do or say something that is helpful
It might only be a gesture or a friendly smile
But it can soothe or strengthen us for life’s battle
And make everything we do worthwhile

Ron Martin

Sea Fever – Your Favourite Poem

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking,

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

BY JOHN MASEFIELD

A PLACE WHERE LOVE BEGINS – Promote Yourself

Not in the past where your tempests raged;
Or in the future, when unknown forces could shatter dreams;
Not in your soul, skewered by hatred and resentment;
Only in the present, as an open heart awaits.

Not by running from what is given;
Or hiding in bitterness and acrid thoughts;
Not in your head, where too many goals are left unfulfilled;
Only in hope, not beyond your reach.

Not in innocence lost or violence found;
Or misguided battles, conflicts unresolved;
Not in your body, ravaged with time and pain;
Only in forgiveness of yourself.

Not in others’ perceptions of who you are;
Or finding reasons to run from promise;
Not in your losses, though hard to bear;
Only in taking her hand; reaching for the sun.

Wendy Shreve

Marry me that way – Promote Yourself

Come with me to my parents
Sit on an African stool
And stretch out your legs
Drink from a calabash
And refresh your soul
Marry me that way

Let the whole family see you
Let them ask you who you are
Tell them your intentions for me
Marry me that way

Set the drinks before my parents
Let them ask you why you are here
Let me watch your heart beat fast
Because you want to impress
Marry me that way

Watch as my family accepts your drinks
And welcome you to the family
Watch as they start calling you;
In-law, Son, uncle, brother and friend
Marry me that way

 By Sheila Chanase

I still miss you – promote Yourself

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are days,
When I miss you
With a sudden intensity
Which surprises me.

It aches, in a way I didn’t deem possible,
In a heart, I didn’t know I possessed.
And I lie in this room feigning sleep.
Pining away, struggling with my existence.
While I choke from these strange arms enveloping me.

Should I strive, in vain, for you, most divine?
Or should I instead, be miserably content with what’s mine?

– Sreshtha Sen
sreshthasen.wordpress.com

ALL FACETS – Promote Yourself

I’m trying to attach
Meaning to you like a door with no latch
Or me without you on my mind, how can I explain that

                                                                           I’ll

always love you no
matter your issues
I’ll hug & kiss you
comfort with soft tissues

What

Other words can I say or you to me
When you’re the epidemy
of where love should be
Cause there’s never any riddle to be solved
I know where my heart truly belongs

I

Smile out loud
How can that be…well you’ve shown me how
With all facets of your beauty that I want now
I write,you read as it all comes out
My pen turns us singular into a noun

One

picture & thought with no sound
With many years of internal feelings written down
just thinking about you on my sofa
typing away wishing that you were closer
written from my feelings for you in my mental folder
as i cater to your emotions till the night is over

Lino Robles

ART OF HUMAN NATURE – Promote Yourself

Smooth surface;

Water-chiseled

Stone with curves of

Henry Moore,

In a stream.

 

Girl stricken,

Taking her legs

But not her heart;

Andrew Wyeth,

In the field.

 

Black & white figures;

Modern day

Rockwell;

Banksy.

On concrete canvases.

Chiseled names

In blackness;

Sunlight &shade

Reveal lives past;

Maya Lin,

On the grass.

Women of texture;

Ordinary scenes,

Superlative color;

Romare Bearden,

By a tree.

 

Mother, child; boat;

Strokes of light & shadow;

Mary Cassatt,

On the water.

Murals of

Bracing colors;

Struggles for dignity;

Diego Rivera

Beyond the breadth.

Palette stream

In cataclysmic ash;

Framing“Scream;”

Edvard Munch,

In the sky.

 Wendy Shreve

I’m dreaming. – Promote Yourself

I’m dreaming.

My head knows I am

Lying in my bed

Yet

My heart

It believes

I am once again

Living with you.

I thought he took you

From me

He burned you out of my mind

But not my soul

Here you remain.

I came to this place

To escape you.

The pain of breathing alone

They took it away

And I paid my price.

I do not understand

Why are you here

I feel you

Our life

Our plans

Your hope

The touch of your breath

On my skin

It’s so alive

How can that be?

You’re gone

This place is the fortress

That eases the pain.

The dream

It’s almost over

The pain

I can feel it

Building as quickly as

Your image fades.

It scolds

And overflows me

The heart and the brain

Look to each other for reason

At your presence here……………………….

• Gabriel Denver

Runs

Never seen anything quite so free
Runs for fun
Runs because she can
Hair flowing
Legs going in every direction
My breath catches with every step
In case she falls
Nothing I can do though
I have to let her run
And for her to know
I’ll be there
To pick her up.

Gabriel Denver

I Stopped to Breathe

 

Such exhilarating presence,

Seeing the mile marker

And realizing I had made the run

With everyone that joined me

A beautiful moment

And then I looked

~

To see my arm laying before me

In disbelief

I reached a pinnacle moment

And discovered that my life

Laid helpless on the ground

In a sudden flash

~

Changed

And the chaos ensued

As like a timeless ocean

Of practical emotion

I glanced upon

My detached left arm

~

As disconnected as my body felt

Running in a zone

In this second I was now

Parted from my own world

My eyes watered as the pain

Moved quickly to shock

~

I am supposed to be drinking water

Or a protein shake

I ran a marathon this morning

And like hundreds of others

I anticipated this moment

Of silent realization, of recognition

~

I didn’t ask for this

I wanted to collapse with fatigue

And not with the reality

Of having my body torn

Apart by a C4 explosive

I want to cry

~

I want to believe that the world

As I might recall my childhood

Exists in my waking day

As much as it may today

Staring in disbelief

My arm has begun to hurt.

~

I want my — freedom

 

Thom Amundsen 2013

thinkingoutloudagain.wordpress.com

Better Days

I think of the times in which we live
All the conveniences we have in our day
And maybe I get too thoughtful of things
Remembering how we did things the old way.

How many can say they took fresh cream
Shaken in a jar to race to make fresh butter
Children laughing at each other without fear
No thoughts of hitting or injuring each other.

Times when families had a set schedule to eat
Sitting around a table together with friends
Sharing thoughts of the day or discussing issues
Not demanding new electronics or contact lens.

Driving across country to see family or friend
No worry that we don’t have GPS or each a cell
We didn’t have to stay online through each mile
It wasn’t something to tweat to the world as well.

It wasn’t a time when everything needed a plug
We weren’t too busy to take entertainment outside
Simple pleasures of life with a blanket and ball
Playing catch or everyone having a bike to ride.

Today we are so busy with all the things we have
Always busy working, connected, on the Go Go Go
We make more and spend more and worry about things
But take a moment, what do we really have to show.

Broken or distant families are the standard today
Too many things, we need a computer to keep track
Maybe just that occasional thought of better days
I know it’s too late, there is no way to go back.

  Charles Townsend

THE DEPARTED RETURN

A Little Poetry to Start the New Year

What is distance to the heart?
No mile, nor hour elapsed,
that ever bore the weight of the departed,
lightened the soul.

For in the gathering time,
pushed down into the womb of the world,
the heavy burden unfurled, grows fat,
gorged upon the marrow and the cost.
The tumid bloated crush of loss.
Bedraggled steps, upon a mountains jagged edge.
The shifting shale of despair,
straining out the seconds into years.
The thousand yard stare,
stretching out the inches into tears.

What does love know of time?
When your heart beat in mine,
did the clock count the ticks, and the tocks of your feet,
as they stepped across the street,
in the steady downbeat of the salty rain.

No… It is the mind that forgets.
Memories purged in a sea of regrets,
awash in a currency of debt.
Mountains, heaped upon the heart, moments passed.
In the quiet space,
a thousand years, and a million miles from grace;

The first twinkle of your soft eyes,
splashed in the luminescence of your smile,
your heart beats within my chest,
and all the mountains,
and the worlds that passed between us,
cannot stop the thundering flood of love.
For you are here again;
Not a second has past,
nor a stray breath, parted from these lips.
All absence, filled in the heartbeat,
of your trembling fingertips.

© Richard Michael Parker 2012

This Slimming Lark

I am wanting to look good.
It is high time that I should
The mirror in the wardrobe told me so
I am now no longer fit
Just an old decrepit git
Who lost his youthful figure long ago

My hair is going grey
Doesn’t look like it will stay 
My teeth are on the sideboard in a glass
I’ve somehow lost my zip
and put inches on my hip
I spend too much time sitting on my arse

If I’m not consuming grub
I’ll be boozing down the pub
At keeping fit I am an abject failure
And when I’m in the nude
My belly does protrude
So much so that I cant see my genitalia 

I must go on a diet 
I know that I should try it
No more Pork Pies, Sausage Rolls or Steak and Chips
No more will I take on
A sandwich of bacon
For I wish to reclaim those snake like hips

I think I’ll make a pledge 
To eat only fruit and veg
I will cut out beer and wine and stuff like that
If I tell the truth
My cholesterol’s through the roof
Yet I’ve never been unhappy being fat

I was reared on bread and lard 
So I sometimes find it hard
To take on board the things my Doctor said
I tell you I’m not joking
I enjoy food, beer and smoking 
And as for my old Doctor, well he’s dead.

So should I reduce my food? 
I’m not really in the mood
As I sit here watching Masters Chefs on telly
And when I’m no longer here
There’s no need to shed a tear
Just be happy that I went with a full belly.

Bugger the diet! ! ! ! ! ! ! 

roy may