A theme that strikes a chord

I like the idea of replacing New Year’s resolutions with a central theme – a mantra to help synchronize our spirits with our daily activities, an internal compass to help us find our center when the world seems to be spinning out of control. I’ve chosen a single word to set the tone for 2008: Harmony.

 

This year, I’m striving for a four-part harmony between what I say, what I think, what I feel and what I do. Where there’s dissonance, I’ll work for peace; when I hit a false note, I’ll ask for forgiveness and resolve to do better. Every day, I get to add fresh music to the symphony of my life. In 2008, I want to play the clear, pure notes of authenticity, courage, wisdom and grace. 

The Chinese ideogram for Harmony includes two characters: the character for rice, on the left, and the character for mouth, on the right.  To have rice to eat is to be in harmony, a metaphor as beautiful as the characters themselves. I’ve added this image to my desktop as a daily reminder of my theme. I’m going to post these quotations on my filing cabinet, as well:

 

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well. Mahatma Gandhi

 

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen. Leonardo da Vinci

 

Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; from discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. Albert Einstein

 

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. Rabindranath Tagore

 

Grant that I may become beautiful in my soul within, and that all my external possessions may be in harmony with my inner self. Plato

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. I Peter 3:8 (NIV)

People use music as a utensil to better themselves. Jessica Simpson (Okay, so I threw that one in to see if you were still paying attention.)

Here’s to a happy, harmonious New Year for all of us!

58 Comments

  1. “Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; from discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Albert Einstein

    This is totally awesome.

    Happy New Year, Melodye–here’s to a New Year filled with harmony for you. (((HUGS)))

  2. Harmony – a fabulous theme! Have a truly harmonious 2008! And yes, I was still paying attention. And yes, you definitely put a smile on my face with that last quote.

  4. Wonderful theme.
    I can use harmony with all the changes I’ll experience this year–like moving.
    I appreciate your quotes.

    Hm.
    I think I need to memorize the three words you gave me!
    I need to write them over and over again so I don’t forget. I only need to learn a couple thousand words… I think I can, I think I can…

    • Harmony’s a good mantra when everything around you seems chaotic.

      When we forget the words, which sometimes happens, we’ll rely on each other for prompts — and encouragement. 🙂

      • I still remember what the symbols for rice, mouth and harmony look like. 🙂 2 basic symbols memorized, 5998 to go if I want to be able to read well for the next 4 years. *laughing too hard*
        I’ll settle for prompts–and encouragement. And use Harmony as a mantra.

        Now if someone can just teach me how to pronounce these 3 words in Cantonese…

  8. Happy New Year, Melodye! What a wonderful theme! I love the Gandhi and Einstein quotes.

    With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.
    ~William Wordsworth~

    (((HUGS)))

    • Thank you for such a beautiful quotation. It’s achingly obvious, but we sometimes need to remind ourselves, don’t we? I’m glad we can count on each other for that!

      ((Happy New Year HUGS!!))

    • Einstein seems to be the winner by a landslide, if you can draw conclusions from the comments. 🙂

      I’m glad you liked it, and I’m glad we’ll be getting to know more about each other in 2008! YAY!

  10. What a beautiful metaphor, and lovely quotes. Thank you!

    Were you able to follow that link to the nonfiction class site? I think you have so much to offer young readers with your flair for readable, engaging nonfiction!

    Happy, Harmonious New Year to you and your family!

  12. Yes…I’m still paying attention! ~laughs~

    Actually, I’d chosen “Balance” as my theme for 2008, without realizing themes were the replacement for resolutions.

    The time spent over Christmas with my grand daughters (yes…watch my blog for upcoming pictures!!!) and a lengthy conversation with my wonderful daughter-in-law served to re-align some of my thinking about balancing ‘the woman on a mission’ with the other important roles I’ve been granted in life.

    This will be a year, not of lip-service, but of doing…

    • Yay for balance and harmony, two interconnected themes.

      I’m looking forward to seeing pics of your granddaughters (!!) and to learning from your experiences.

      Yes, tp being “Doers of the Word…” xo

    • I know very little about music theory, so I worried when I wrote this that I’d offend the wisdom and sensibilities of my musician friends — ahem, including you. I’m very glad (relieved, too, ha!) that you liked it. xoxo

          • I don’t know much about music theory either. Learned it as a kid (I was mostly reminded of Charlie Brown’s Wah, wa, wa wa whaaaaa…. adultspeak)
            I think I’ve understood more of how music works since I started playing fiddle(play entirely by ear). I was never good at reading music– pretty much played by ear and used the written stuff to cue me on details when I was doing classical cello. Problem is, that meant I was spending all my time trying to make sure I got the details right, so I couldn’t pay attention to the overall structure and trends. Now I think I’m starting to get it…

    • I’m admittedly not very knowledgeable about Ghandi, so I’d love to learn what you know and are willing to share.

      “Thanks for most of the quotes.” HA! 🙂

      Happy New Year to you, as well!

  15. I’m putting that Einstein quote on my desk. I love it.

    And I like your theme for the year. May I say that harmony fits you (and your name) perfectly. 🙂

    • I loved that quotation, too. It resonated with me as soon as I saw it. Seems to me from the comments that it’s the hands-down favorite.

      You may have been the only one to notice that my theme riffs off of my given name. *winks*

  19. I love your theme and the quotes, Melodye ~ especially the Leonardo da Vinci and Einstein ones.

    Wishing you peace, harmony, excitement and grand adventures in 2008!!

    • I’d have probably guessed you’d select da Vinci and Einstein’s quotes. 🙂

      I’m sending similar New Year’s wishes your way, along with a 128-pack of Crayola crayons so you can color your year however you want.

  21. I had a good time poking around the internets to learn more about this subject. Harmony is a deeper and broader topic than I thought it was, which makes it perfectly suited for a theme.

    I’d love to learn more about the Feng-Shui concepts you’ve tried. I’ve read a little on the topic, but I’ve not (yet) put any of the techniques into practice.

    YES to harmony and balance!

  25. This is beautiful, Melodye. I really like this idea. I wish you all the best in achieving harmony in 2008. You really do deserve it. 🙂

    I think my theme for ’08 is going to have to be “Balance.” Oh do I need some of that.

  26. Harmony sounds like a good thing for 2008 – I’m hoping for health as well. And right now I’m trying to work on one of the quotes you listed: Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; from discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. Albert Einstein

    Happy Harmonious New Year to you!

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