When President Franklin D. Roosevelt died there was a funeral procession. A working class man was asked by a reporter, “Did you know President Roosevelt?” He responded, “No, but President Roosevelt knew me.”

Sometimes it takes a life-changing event to look inward for what most matters. But it doesn’t have to. Rather than focusing on what you don’t want, turn your heart and head towards what you do want next. Become you. Specificity leads to clarity. So crystalize your approach to 2008 in a single sentiment or theme. Create the next chapter of the adventure story you want for your life with others in 2008 and on.

Thank you, Patricia Digh for teaching me more from this saying, in true Me2We fashion. Here’s to becoming a greater co-author (along with God, the fates, our collective unconscious) of the story you want for next year.

Here’s the quotations I will use to reinforce my saying to live by for 2008:

“Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.”
– Albert Schweitzer

“If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.”
– Rabbi Harold Kushner

“In him was vindicated the greatness of real goodness and the goodness of real greatness.”
– Phillips Brooks’ eulogy for Abraham Lincoln

What saying do you choose to guide your life in 2008? A values-based saying can be the solid ground, the source of inspiration for creating meaningful goals – and finding accountability buddies to keep us on our path.