Make Your Mark

New Year's resolutions are quickly said, quickly forgotten, and often quite temporary. As we pass into the next year, I propose a single life-long resolution for you - Make Your Mark. Do something that will live outside of yourself in some fashion. Whatever fashion it takes, Make Your Mark. I'm even going to push one step farther and specify that you should Make a Positive Mark. There is no doubt that negative actions can also make a mark, but do you really want to be known and remembered because you caused pain or anguish? Those whom I know would not, and I suspect most of you reading also would not.

Make Your Mark sounds so easy, but how to do it? Here are some suggestions...

Carve a sculpture. Don't know how? Get a piece of stone, a chisel and a hammer and try. Down the line you'll need a few additional tools - a rasp, some sandpaper and a polishing cloth - but the basic way to accomplish this is really pretty easy. So give it a try. OR...

Paint a picture. You don't have to be Rembrandt or Picasso, just be willing to be yourself and play with colors and paper. Let it be a representation from life, or let it be abstract. Sit with your children and make memories by making a joint picture. Or make a collage from photographs you either took or cut from magazines, play with stamps, color and embossing powders, bring out the inks and color in. Play with line, shadow and hue. Let your inner light and beauty through onto paper, canvas or the sidewalk. OR...

Compose music. Sit down with your piano, keyboard, guitar or penny-whistle and begin playing music. Write it down, or put it into music composition programs on your computer, or have a friend translate the tune into something more glorious. Music is another language, and tunes - highly complex like 'Handel's Messiah', or easy to sing like 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' - well, tunes can move through the centuries and be vocalized or played by people throughout the world. Compose music - make it something happy, there is enough pain in the world. OR...

Write something. Write poetry, a short story, a novella or a novel. Express your feelings through words. OR...

Choreograph a dance. OR...
Plant a garden. OR...
Design a building. OR...

Have a family - raise children with your values, your joy, your positive view of the world. Those values will continue to be passed down. They are a ripple that will continue to intersect the lives of others.

On this New Year's Eve, make only a single life resolution - Make Your Mark.