So here we are – at the start of 2011. January is often the time we make New Year’s resolutions, and that for sure, we are going to do better with those promises than we did last year.

Instead of making those useless resolutions, I will do something different this time. Lots of good things have happened to me this past year, as they have in everyone’s life. We just seem to forget about the good – the happy moments. Somehow, the sad things, the upsets, the worries, take over in our recollection, and we miss the nice occasions which happen and then flee from our consciousness.

This January, I will devote some time to being grateful for the good things in my life – the things I cherish and the people I love. I am grateful for the fact that I live in a country where citizens are free to live the way they choose, and where people who are in need of help and support can receive it. I am grateful for the natural beauty of this vast country, which changes from one end to another, showing different views, different appearances, delighting us when we take the time to admire them. I am grateful for the people in my life, my grown children who find time for me in their busy lives, my siblings, living thousands of miles away, but staying in constant touch, my friends, old and new, who enrich my life with their friendship and their affection, and all the people I meet every day, who often brighten my day with a smile, a friendly gesture, a few words. And I’m grateful for the memories of days gone by, the memories of the people I loved, who have gone on to a different life, but who are still alive in my heart and mind.

I’m glad that I decided to forgo New Year’s resolutions this year. Gratitude for the good things that are mine is so much more satisfying and lasting than any resolution made on January 1 and abandoned by January 15.

– Joyce Slobogian writes from Brandon, Manitoba and is the author

of To Die For, available at Pennywise Books in Brandon, and online at Amazon.com.