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Thank you SO much for these words. You are right. We really have to look at "failure" differently, and stop beating ourselves up.

Is there a definition for "resolve" that says, "to effect a change in someone, or to inspire, via blog intoxication?"

By jimminy, you've gone and done it again.

Happy 2008!

Great post, Sara! I like the idea of a Failure Jar--moments of inspiration for when you need the extra pick me up. This will be fun to create!

I really am in love with this post more than I can say. It makes me sad to hear women berate themselves for such "failures." One particular pet peeve is women who have a little extra padding after having given birth, but go on as if they're obese. I would like to get back into the shape I was in before I had children, but until I get there, I'm not going to bemoan that padding, when what I did was brought life into this world, not something to sneeze at, indeed.

To be clear, I'm not criticizing women wanting to lose that padding, women who strive to take better care of themselves and get their bodies back into shape. I'm talking about the "O MY GAWD, I'M SO FAT!!!" women who only gained 15 or 20 lbs since pushing a human out into the world. What a beautiful thing it is to do, and if our bodies change as a result, embrace it.

At the risk of sounding psychobabbly, I do think our contemporary American culture is bad about not seeing the value in failure, what we can learn from it. "All the signs of life aren't clear and straight and always right/ Our ideas of perfect are so imperfect," a wise woman once wrote.

Jules

Thanks for the food for thought, Sara! And speaking of food....I'm off to hit up the Oreos.

I love the dissonance to consonance idea of resolve. When a chord resolves, something within your relaxes that you didn't know you were holding taut. How interesting a word is resolve.

One thing I just love about you is that you're so positive. To resolve to have a plan for failure -- but to have that plan include releasing the need to feel that you've failed and finding something fun and thoughtful to do is Classic Sara.

Thanks for sharing yourself.

This goes totally against my favorite activity of self-punishment for not living up to my own expectations. What planet are you from? Can I come live there? Right away?

Thanks for the post, Sara. Excellent for the old heart and mind.

As always Sara - you ARE right! Here's to failure! Hip hip HOORAY!!

My gosh-- I just realized how much extra time I'd have every day if I didn't beat myself up over the failures! Thank you for the inspirational post-- truly a gift.

This is wonderful! I love the music one, too, though it reminds me a little uncomfortably of a music class I took in college that involved writing chord progressions. (I did not do as well as I would have liked in said class...sigh.)

You guys are the best. I love hearing your thoughts when I throw something like this out there.

For the record, I did start out today by saying my Theme (dare I call it a Resolve?) to myself: "Once upon a time..." And I dreamed about a new idea for a novel last night.

But I'm sure I'll forget to start the day this creatively soon. And the day I do, my reward is going to be re-reading The Little Princess (Sara Crewe). Take that, failure!

Great thoughts, all. Thank you, Sara!

Now, I'm off to daydream for, oh, about 15 minutes. I've been a bad girl today!

I truly believe the most important conversations we have are with ourselves, so be positive and don't talk out loud.

Genius!

Thanks for these thoughts. Sara, do you write a daily or weekly column for a paper or commerical site or something...because if you don't, you should!

This post is reason (or example) #91728 why you're inspiring.

The next-to-last sentence of this post is very similar to the start of a story I wrote.

To me, believe is an important and powerful word and concept.

It IS once upon a time every day, upon waking, when infinite possibilities await.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow! I love the idea of life as story... I've come across that in the fairytales of Terry Pratchett; the idea that Story will take over and do what must be done. I love the idea of asking yourself if this is really part of your story, or a bit you'll want to edit out.

The Year of Once (Upon a Time). The year of "You Only Go Around Once." The year of learning not to waste time, but to spend it lavishly, on the things that matter.

Lovely.
Happy Stories to you, friend.

Smart & touching, Sara! Happy New Year ... once? (nah, many times!!!) And yes, New Year's in France is chilly cool!
;-D

Sara, I've admitted before that I don't like "beautiful" writing. But your posts manage to be gorgeous in both thoughts and words...always thoughtful, always provocative! I love them.

Happy New Year, and Happy New Day every single day.

Great post, Sara! A beautiful expression of the possibilities New Year's Day brings!

Thank you for the inspiration in the new year. So much better than "I'll stop eating chulupa's at Taco Bell."

Happy New Year!

Okay, so I have a little story in this life-as-a-story theme goin' on here.

I don't mean to go on about our harrowing interstate experience the other day, but -- as I was just telling Eisha -- here's something funny that happened: After getting to the restaurant which was our destination -- when we almost got bulldozed by an SUV and spun around in circles in the middle of the interstate yet MIRACULOUSLY did not get hit by a single vehicle -- the hostess who seated us was named Piper, and our waitress was named Miriam. My daughter's name is Miriam Piper. Two names we just never come across. And Miriam and Piper (the teenage waitresses) are best friends. We thought it was cute and funny, and Miriam (the teenager, not mine) was so pleased by the coincidence (she was more like tickled; she had that kind of wonderful personality). So, my husband tells me later that, still shaking after our near-death experience on the interstate, he actually thought at that moment that perhaps we were really dead and just didn't realize it, like some wild science fiction narrative.

Or maybe, if life is a story, that was some kind of sign, and my little Miriam Piper is meant to do something big one day. Once upon a time, Miriam Piper will discover cancer's cure or write a lovely novel. Or just "affect the quality of one's day," which, according to Thoreau, is the highest of the arts.

I don't normally believe in signs, as unromantic as that sounds, but it's fun to wonder, esp. since the results for what happened to us should have been very grim, yet we somehow didn't get a single scratch.

I *can* say that it's weird to suddenly wonder if you're really dead and just don't realize yet (which I wondered for a few days myself), but it seems to be the case that I'm alive and can still read great posts like this. And more Sara Poetry.

(In fact, I wanted to write a poem about this fabulous, happy, friendly, teenage Miriam waitress, all full of life and promise, and a poem about the whole moment, as the WHOLE WORLD at that point was full of life and promise to me, just being alive after all. But I might have a great idea, yet it comes out very clunky in poetry for me).

My, I have just gone on and on. Sorry.

-- Jules

Jules,
There's a lovely word for those people who "go on and on" and have amazing stories to tell: novelists. Not that I wouldn't like to see your poem, but go with your strengths, dude. I would love to hear the story of Miriam, the teenaged waitress who helps you know if you're dead or alive. Just saying.

Love this, Sara!

Don't forget about "Happily Ever Afters..." Dare to dream! Thanks for the sunshine!

So beautiful and inspirational!