New Years Resolutions

As the sun sets here on the final hours of 2007 (only 6 more to go here in the Southern Plains) the news and articles around the Internet are buzzing about everyone’s New Year’s Resolutions. Let’s face it, we all know we almost never keep them. Except the one I made last year to stop dating so many hot supermodels. I did keep that one this year. I digress…

For 2008, I am not making any resolutions. It really doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do in years past. That’s the nice thing about a new year. It wipes out the old and gives a fresh start. 2007 is over and done. All of 2008 is ahead of you. That’s what is exciting! We have the power to make the changes we want!

You know what is wrong in your life and what you need to change. Why start the new year under tons of pressure from resolutions? Lose weight, stop smoking, be nicer, reduce debt, help out more, spend more time with family, make more money…HOLY COW! Is it any wonder people go out and get drunk on New Year’s Eve?

There is only one thing you need to do. Know you are powerful to make ANY change you want. Real changes take place gradually. This is known as the Law of Accumulation. Every single thing you do accumulates in one way or another. You didn’t get in debt, get overweight, or anything else overnight. You got their gradually. You worked at it. Now if you just realize you are powerful to make positive changes during 2008, you can make the changes you want. Cumulative and gradually and by this time next year either completed your goals or at least that much closer to them.

The New Year is an important time of the year if we use it right. Wipe the slate clean. The past is the past. You can’t change it no matter how much you dwell on it. Don’t make any BIG changes. Spend the first few days of the year making some reasonable plans to make the changes you want to achieve. Make small adjustments to your behavior that you can follow through all year. Not just tomorrow or next week. If you decide now that your are powerful and CAN make these changes, then 2008 will truly be the year of change for you. I believe in myself and all of you to do this!

Soon the air will warm and the signs of spring will arrive. The cold days will soon be replaced with that special early morning smell of a storm day brewing. Storm juice! Yes, the Gulf of Mexico will once again be open for business and that great conveyor belt of moisture will surge into the plains. We chasers will saddle up our mounts with our cameras and computers and radios and point them toward the dryline. Soon we will see those first puffy white cumulus clouds come to life. Yes, before we know it we will once again be pursuing that which does not wish to be caught. Condensed water vapor and swirling winds will drag us across the plains, hoping to catch that fleeting glimpse of beauty and power that only the skies can bring together in such a deceptively scenic, yet deadly combination.

Yes, we chasers will once again be there, capturing those fleeting moments forever in images for the world to see for themselves, that which those of us who are seemingly crazy enough to hunt down, are somehow allowed by mother nature to witness them in person time and again.

I sometimes wonder before the chase season just what the new year will bring. Will there be a drought with little storms? Will it be an incredibly active season? Will it stay out in the fields and not take lives and homes away, or will there be another Greensburg this year? I always hope for the best and not the latter. I always know there will be something awesome to see while storm chasing in the coming season.  There always is.

Here is to you and yours for a Great 2008!