Tuesday, March 16, 2010

New Year's Goals Revisited: My Symphony

This year, I decided to set New Year's goals instead of New Year's Resolutions.  I have had practice in goal setting at work and thought that goals and objectives that I would track for the whole year, following the "SMART" format (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) would serve me better.  They are an improvement over the resolutions I've set in the past (such as lose 40 pounds or improve fitness, without any concrete plan about how to achieve the resolution.)

I still felt something was missing and this month's Oprah magazine provided what is, for me, the "mission statement" that I needed -- what is behind all the resolutions, goals, objectives -- the "big picture" of what I want to be.  Oprah's magazine published a part of "My Symphony" by William Henry Channing.  Actually, I have the poem in its entirety.  It's a book illustrated by Mary Engelbreit.  The information will follow at the bottom of this posting.  Here is the poem -- what you might call "my mission statement".

To live content with small means:
To seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy, not respectable;
and wealthy, not rich;
To study hard,
think quietly,
talk gently,
act frankly;
To listen to stars and birds,
To babes and sages, with open heart,
to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely,
await occasions,
hurry never.
..To let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.


3 comments:

Granny Sue said...

I love this! and it already sounds like you!

Annie Joy said...

Thank you! I'm still working on the "never hurry" part, but it's getting easier since I retired!

Needles Everywhere said...

I can't wait to read those two books. I, too, am an avid reader. I will read almost anything, and I have suffered through some real dogs!!! Have you read a book called, "In the Fall" - I can't remember who wrote it and I've given away all my copies. It's a saga based around the civil war. Am so glad to find another reader on blogland. Thank you for your kind words about my table.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Recently Read Fiction Favorites

  • A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
  • A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
  • Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
  • Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson
  • Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
  • Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
  • Confessions of a Former Rock Queen by Kirk Bjornsgaard
  • Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
  • Faithful Place by Tana French
  • Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
  • Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
  • Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
  • Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg
  • Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow
  • Innocent by Scott Turow
  • My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
  • Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler
  • Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
  • Private Life by Jane Smiley
  • Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
  • Roses by Leila Meacham
  • Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos
  • So Much For That by Lionel Shriver
  • South of Broad by Pat Conroy
  • That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
  • The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
  • The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson
  • The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
  • The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
  • The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard
  • The Help by Kathryn Stockett
  • The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg
  • The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
  • The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers
  • The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
  • The Sky Took Him by Donis Casey
  • The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
  • The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
  • The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw
  • The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
  • The Wind Comes Sweeping by Marcia Preston
  • Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom
  • Wolf Hall by Hillary Mandel
  • World Without End by Ken Follett
  • Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks

Favorite Nonfiction and Memoir

  • All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
  • Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
  • Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
  • Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason by Nancy Pearl
  • Getting Over Getting Older by Lettie Cottin Pogrebin
  • Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
  • Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
  • Sharing the Journey: Women Reflecting on Life's Passages by Katherine Ball Ross
  • Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy O. Frost
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
  • The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron
  • The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
  • The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin
  • The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
  • The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz
  • The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
  • The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dustbowl by Timothy Egan