I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

As a positive parent I look forward to this time of year because it gives me the opportunity to review what went on in my life during this time.  It gives me the chance to put behind me all the things that did not go well and to highlight all the things that did go well. This may sound a little self serving but, I feel it is important to be able to bring closure to things.  Closure, for me, means to shut the door on those events. The door is not shut tightly because I feel it is equally important for me to have the ability to glimpse at what I did and did not do well.

As with everyone there were many things I did last year that I would like to do over. I could act as if I never did it. This is not realistic. Once it is out there, it is out there.  So the best I can do is to put closure to the event and make notes so that I will not go that way again or so I could repeat the successes.

I believe that when failure or success happens, it is not necessarily life ending. If we look at the lives of many successful people, some of their lives were full of failures. The difference between them and everyone else is that they didn’t let those events stop them from moving forward.  We will also see that those same people didn’t stop to rest on their laurels. They keep on moving to see how far they could go.

All points of our life should be used as areas of growth.  I have to learn from everything. Every event in my life, both positive and negative, can be a stepping stone that could move me in a positive direction.

This is why I find it is so important to highlight those things that I did well. As human beings most of us are very critical of who we are and what we do. By highlighting those good things at the end of the year, it can give us hope and encouragement that we are not so bad after all.

As an example, one of the things that went well for me is my card and tee shirt business. This is the first year in three years that I made a profit. It wasn’t a large profit but, I feel it was a step in the right direction. For the past three years, at the end of each year, I looked at what I did. The thing that was holding me back was my misuse of my materials. I use a great deal of ink and card stock. What I learned from last year is that I must get better control over these materials.  So, I created a chart to show how much I spent on materials and another chart to show what I sold. The comparison of the two let me know how I was doing. This is not rocket science. What I want to show is if I had only looked at the losses in those previous years, I may have given up. I may have come to the conclusion that this business is a loser, therefore I’m a loser, so let me close up shop and go home.

The lesson I want my kids to learn is that the quality of their lives exists in between their ears. I want them to know that they can have positives lives despite what is going on around them. All the choices are theirs. If they can practice evaluating what went on the year before, they can make the necessary changes and live positively. There is nothing that could stop them.

Next year, they don’t have to be anxious over New Year’s resolutions.  They can rest assured that their lives can have meaning and their glasses will always be ½ full.

I LOVE BEING A DAD!!