Living deliberately...

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." (Thoreau)

Well I doubt life is going to give me the opportunity to live in the woods in 2009 but I do hope that I can learn to live just a little more deliberately this year. Of course, when I say "life" what I really mean is the choices that I make & the priorities I create.

The problem is that I seem to keep two separate priority lists.

There is the 'official' list, kind of the written down list even if it isn't actually written down. This is the list I would rattle off to you if you asked me to 'list' my priorities.

Then of course there is the 'actual' list. This is the list that would be created if someone could watch me non-stop for a month & then wrote down what appeared to be my priorities. Unfortunately, on this list computer games, TV & doing nothing at all rate a lot more highly than they do on the official list and other things like family, God & the poor seem to slip somehow.

But my problem is not primarily that I don't genuinely value things like my family & my God but that, well, I am lazy! No surprise to some of you I am sure (Mum!) but it is true - I would rather sit than stand, lie down than sit, sleep than just lie down!! (Thanks Drew)

This is my greatest challenge - choosing what to do with my time in a way that reflects the things that really matter to me deep down inside. Happening to life instead of letting life happen to me.

So as 2009 kicks off I am not making any resolutions, after all I already know what is important to me, I am simply going to try to live more of the minutes in this year deliberately than any that has gone before!