Happy Friday.  Happy Holidays.  Merry Christmas.  Feliz Navidad.  And so on.

I considered making one of those “best of” lists for today’s entry.  You know…..my favorite books of 2013.  My favorite music of 2013.  Etc.  But, I considered that you might not truly care and most likely have your own favorites.  Plus, since I’ve shared Flapjack Friday Faves for a while, someone could simply look back at previous entries and figure out what I think has been great, interesting, and important during 2013.

So, on another note, I will move on and report on some items I feel will be helpful for ME as I move out of 2013 and into 2014.

happiness

Yesterday I picked up Gretchen Rubin’s book, Happier at Home at the library.

I’ve been a Gretchen fan for quite some time.  I read The Happiness Project and found it helpful.  While Happier at Home is more of the same type stuff, I especially wanted to read her chapter on marriage.  I read it last night, along with The Eight Splendid Truths, which she lists towards the back of the book.  I encourage you to look them over.  The sixth truth is the one that resonates with me the most today.

The only person I can change is myself.

Oh, and the eighth also hits hard.

Now is now.

Sure, nothing terribly profound.  Yet what I need to hear and concentrate on.  Sometimes it’s the simple things, right?

not just another journal

I’ve decided to create yet another journal.  If you follow my posts, you know I currently have three journals going.  So maybe this one will not be a journal.  Maybe I’ll just call it a notebook.  What I call it honestly does not matter one iota.  What is the purpose of the notebook?  I do not fully know.  But my intent is to utilize it to strengthen my relationship with my husband.  While a full description of my thoughts or reasons for this endeavor are not what I deem necessary to report today, I will say this:  I believe this will be a helpful tool and a place where I can collect thoughts and ideas that will help me focus on what’s the most important to me.  So far, I have two items to insert.

peace

My word for 2014 is peace.  I recently came across this:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sonsof God. ~ Matthew 5:9

THE PEACE intended is not merely that of political and economic stability, as in the Greco-Roman world, but peace in the Old Testament inclusive sense of wholeness, all that constitutes well-being. … The “peacemakers,” therefore, are not simply those who bring peace between two conflicting parties, but those actively at work making peace, bringing about wholeness and well-being among the alienated.
Robert A. Guelich, Sermon on the Mount: A Foundation for Understanding

Working to bring about wholeness and well-being……  Those sound like good things to focus on in 2014.