May you have a Good New Year! (Forget the Happy!)

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

This year I am going to withdraw my usual, “Happy New Year!” It will replaced with, “May you have a Good Year!” Happiness seems void, for some reason it just seems like so much less than a good year. It seems to me that if we focus on our own happiness, it is unlikely to occur, yet if we concentrate on doing good in the New Year, we just might find ourselves to be happier people. What do you think?

It is worth repeating . . .
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

For some reason this quote does not seem overwhelming, it actually seems possible. It does not say do more good, it simply says do all the good you can. That simple word “can” makes this phrase possible to me.

So . . . May you have a good, good year in 2011 and may you do all the good you can and in that simple reorientation of life may you discover a new joy and great happiness

Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as ever you can.
(John Wesley)