Recently my daughter reminded me of an excellent article by Martha Beck in Oprah’s latest magazine (the Jan. 2011 issue).  It’s about setting three goals for the year. At first I thought my three goals would be – Lose weight, finish my book and avoid having a repeat stroke this year.  After reading this article by Martha Beck I realized I needed to add adjatives to my goals, rather than just using noun-verb statements. I came up with three excellent words: Strong, Disciplined and Healthy. To me, this says it all. The STRONG refers to being emotionally strong in the face of adversity of any kind, with friends, family or life situations (and I could have used more strength this past year!!); DISCIPLINED refers to everything from finishing my novel, to writing each day, to putting my shoes away when I kick them off in the living room, the kitchen, my office … then have no idea where to look for them when I’m in a hurry; the word HEALTHY refers to staying healthy, being a regular at my yoga and exercise classes three days a week, and walking two other days a week with my ‘walking buddy’ at the mall (in the winter), as well as lowering the size of my dinner portions, eating less fat, staying away from foods I’m allergic to (Yes, there are some and I like to eat them anyway). It also refers to being spiritually & mentally healthy as well as physically healthy. Truly – it’s an incredible article. I highly recommend it. You might also want to check out Martha Beck’s books, as well. They’re all soothing and  insightful, and her suggestions work like magic! I’ve got my three ‘goal’ words printed out now. I won’t forget them in 2011. I envision them as little sail boats that will take me to where I want to be this year in this big ocean of life where we all live!