today is another happy new year!  chinese new year is based on the lunar calendar and this year, year 4710, the first day of the chinese new year will be monday. but saturday is a good day to start celebrating with a traditional chinese new year’s eve family reunion dinner and to think about the coming year.  this year, for you i want good friendship–

the chinese symbol for friendship is two right hands facing each other. you will have a lot of people wish you long life, prosperity and health. don't get me wrong. i want those things for you too. but i especially appreciate and want your friendship!

legend has it that buddha invited twelve animals to dinner on the chinese new year’s eve.  he named a year for each one of the animals that showed up.  this coming year is the year of the dragon.  people born in the year of the dragon are supposed to be innovative, brave and passionate.  salvador dali was born in the year of the dragon.  so was john lennon.  i was born in the year of the rat which seems decidedly less glamorous.

if you’ve made a new year’s resolution — let’s say to lose five pounds or to visit every one of your facebook friends or whatever — you might have made that resolution on january one and now you might be feeling like you’re having a little trouble following through.  this is your chance to start again.  i have only a few words of advice:

aim high — if you aren’t scared of your new year’s resolution and your ability to do it, you’ve sold yourself short.  you should be scared of your resolution.

announce your resolution — to your friends, your family, to facebook, get the word out there so that you can have others hold you accountable the way you want to hold yourself accountable.

celebrate the small victories along the way and ask your friends to help you with making those small victories–if you don’t ask, you’re telling them you don’t need them.  

but i forgot that i have one other wish for you this year–

making any kind of change in your life requires courage. it takes courage to say that you need to and even more to follow through. i think courage is a good thing to put together with friendship.

this coming week, i will be visiting a young mom in coldwater michigan who will teach me about courage and friendship!