“People committing themselves to a New Year’s resolution generally plan to do so for the whole following year. This lifestyle change is generally interpreted as advantageous.”

~ Wikipedia’s definition for ‘New Year’s resolution’

While on Wikipedia researching the above definition, I decided, since I was already there, to casually drop by the hypertext link to lifestyle, which led me directly to modernist art, which, of course, included a hyperlink to cubism leading to Picasso and then France (in general—what a can of worms I opened there),  reminding me that I hadn’t spoken to an old friend with whom I’d traveled to Paris in 1998.  I then Googled  her name, found it, emailed her, and am currently refilling my coffee cup while awaiting a reply.

 Four hours passed between the quote at the top of the page and now.  I check myself (before I wreck myself).

Resolution number one:  Stop going down rabbit holes. This includes, but is not limited to, all screen time. This does not include looking down actual rabbit holes, since that would imply that I am, impressively, both out-of-doors and active.

I’m now back after Googling (just this once) ‘rabbit holes,’ to make sure that’s a real term. Turns out, it is.  But it’s also a play written by one David Lindsay-Abaire, which, incidentally, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  I digress.

And that’s the point, isn’t it?  With more knowledge and information at our fingertips than ever before in human history, it is easy to become distracted.  Our lives can simply devolve into minutes, hours and days of numbing, unproductive information-watching.  Not even gathering, but watching.  Check out your friend in the neighboring cubicle, who’s been surfing the web for two hours now.  Does she seem a heck of a lot brighter or happier than she did, say, two hours ago?  Or are the only noticeable differences her bloodshot eyes, doughnut-powder-smudged pants leg, and carpal tunnel exercises (resembling those Olympic diver hand stretches) that she performs every ten minutes or so?

Yes, it’s a miracle that I can learn about art history, Honey Boo Boo and plate tectonics without moving my arse an inch.  But do you know what else I consider miracles?  My family. The out-of-doors.  Friendships. Good conversation. Wine.   Reading a poem that affects my spirit.  All that the human body—that intricate machine–can do if I eat well and work out.

 And yes, all of those little miracles are covered by everyone else’s New Year’s resolutions.  You can Google them to find out more.