22 things I will be mindful of in 2022

Many call them New Year’s resolutions. I call them reminders. Here are 22 things I will keep reminding myself this year.

1. I will remain positively charged. Not with the virus. But with positive disposition in life that will make me more productive, more useful, more beneficial. Given the situation now where almost everyone’s mental state is affected, it is almost always easy to be swayed by the dramas of life. I will remain a stalwart of positive energy.

2. I will continue to be a blessing hunter. Life taught me never to be lackadaisical in finding a miracle or two, big or small, wherever I am, whatever I do. At 50, I believe I have already the wisdom to believe that my day can either be bad or good depending on how I will handle what life will throw my way. But this early, I will revert to Reminder No. 1: I will remain positively charged. That’s in my DNA.

3. I will file a divorce from time-to-time procrastination. Yes, procrastination is the marriage between the self and the will of the self to move, to act, to gather inertia. Procrastination, which always finds a reason to be romanticized in the time of the pandemic, is a dormant energy, a useless, good-for-nothing lover. I will sever my ties with it by consciously putting more fire under my seat. It was not God who put man and procrastination together — let the man himself put the relationship asunder.

4. I will remain non-judgmental. I learned it early on never to judge when I am mad or angry or when my intelligence is insulted. Though it’s human nature to lose one’s cool, this can be addressed if not tempered. To handle frustration needs a certain degree of maturity, which is the mother of tact, of control, of diplomacy.

5. My heart will be a repository of awe and wonder. Perhaps that is the reason why I don’t join a biking group, why I ride solo every day. If I see a patch of colorful flowers along the way, I stop, park my bike on the safe side of the road and take photos. And if I see a scenic spot again, I will go off my saddle and reflect. I’m a weird biker in the eyes of some seasoned cyclists. But I’m never bothered by the opinion of others. Awe and wonder always makes me attuned to the child in me.

6. I will love life more. I said it many times — my COVID experience in July last year was dreadful. I survived it. I will love life more. To love one’s life is to love the divine. Life comes from God and it is man’s covenant with Him to love every single thing about life.

7. I will let love, love. I still get goosebumps when I fall in love. Funny how the golden guy in me still finds rhyme and reason — and time and energy — to fall in love. All we need is love. And I will sing to that.

8. I will earn better.

9. I will rekindle the Disneyland in me. The Disneyland elsewhere is not the happiest place on earth but the Disneyland within oneself. In my laughter is the laughter of Mickey Mouse. Inside my heart is the smile of Minnie Mouse when she is in love. I am both Cinderella and Prince Charming. I am my own version of truth and I am my own fairy tale. I make my own happy ending.

10. I will reach out more to my core. I will go astray from time to time. Lose my way. I will still commit mistakes. I’m not infallible. But I will know better when to straighten the path. Find my way. I will learn from my mistakes. All roads lead to the core of the self. However easy. However hard. Come what may.

11. I will reach out more to friends. My emotional progress and stability in the time of the unseen enemy will not be complete without my well-meaning friends. To keep a friend for life is a human trait as old as time.

12. I will venture into things I have never done before. Like becoming a certified diver. I had an intro dive in Palau a long time ago and the image of seven black-tipped sharks to my left and five white-tipped sharks to my right is indelible in my memory. But I never got certified as a diver. I will endeavor to be certified this year. Yes, I am also most comfortable underwater.

13. I will be more decisive in taking the wheel. But first, I need to learn to drive. I want freedom.

14. I will read more books that gather dust on the shelf. I will invest in biographical or autobiographical titles, too.

15. I will develop a better love affair with the boob tube. I’m not a TV person. Childhood stress caused it when a neighbor shut their jalousie windows while I was watching Voltes 5 from outside their house. This time, I want to watch more TV aside from the usual that I surf: local news, CNN, or BBC. Oh, I liked the now defunct The Buzz, too.

16. I will write poetry again. I have always liked poetry reading since I was a child. But this time, I will write more poems. Poetry is the love that is lost and found and lost again. And found again. It is the lilting voice in the head that says — move, shake it. And the voice emboldens the body to act according to the whim of the mind. The heart obliges. It is the strength of the weak; the weakness of the strong, ardent, zealous soul. Poetry talks to the self. To love the self is in itself a haiku and a sonnet. Love yourself. That’s the shortest poem I have ever said.

17. I will be a seeker of peace all the more. And I will experience it in many circumstances. Peace is the body, heart and soul sleeping soundly. It is that refreshing drink that quenches the thirst. It is the silence at the wharf pierced only by the crowing roosters at daybreak. It is the little ripples created by the gentle movement of a fisherman slowly coming back to shore. Peace is the radiant sunrise or the subdued sunset. It the raindrops wending down a windowpane.

18. I will try my hands at landscaping. Maybe I will start with the small parcel of land I bought a few years ago. I will beautify it with plants and vegetables.

19. I will laugh more.

20. I will bike more.

21. I will celebrate my family more. We know how to love because we first experienced love inside the home.

22. I will continue to have faith — more faith.

(For your new beginnings, e-mail me at [email protected]. I’m also on Twitter @bum_tenorio and Instagram @bumtenorio. Have a blessed weekend.)