The new year is coming, are you ready?

I never want to be one of those old codgers who sits around in a coffee shop and loudly dispenses advice and then gets mad about it if the advice is ignored or not well taken. Advice is not a one size fits all kind of thing. Folks love to dispense advice. Look at Dear Abby. She and her ilk have made a killing telling folks how to live. Self-help books and the gurus who write them are a dime a dozen. 

Doesn’t matter what you are into there is someone out there who is ready, willing and able to direct you down a path that will lead you to your own version of success, fame, wealth and happiness. Need a book to help you find yourself, get laid, be a better sweetheart or be the best son of a bitch businessman on the planet? Well, go down to your local library and raid their shelves, there is bound to be something there for you. Coming into the new year and wanting someone else to guide you towards some sort of truly great set of resolutions? Need to lose some weight? Got too many bills coming in from too much holiday spending? Well, Barnes and Noble or Amazon must have something you can use and personally mark up and then throw away or donate around mid-spring 2017. If you are patient and can just wait a bit to set yourself up with resolutions for the new year you can do that with the help of all those discarded and helpful tomes that others sought out and paid top dollar for. Second hand shelves are filled with books that other’s unloaded when the desire to help themselves passed. Get those second hand ideas on the cheap. There’s a resolution for you.

Better yet, make up some of your own. Who knows you better than you?  Your mom or your partner or even your dog might think that they do but you are the one who is going to make those resolutions, plans and grand ideas stick because they’ll only work if they come forth out of your own precious noggin. I suppose all this ranting came out of an article I read this morning in the Cannabist about all the things that a stoner can do to improve his or her life. While I was reading it I became a bit incensed, not because of the good advice that was shared but because it trotted out the names of all these wealthy and successful people who just happen to smoke pot.

Now, I believe you are going to be successful, or not successful, just because you are you. Sure, there are those magnificent hands of fate that are hovering over all of us. One little flick of the flying finger of fate and you will either be toast or the toast of the town. Luck, karma, the gods, what have you. Things happen. Or, they don’t. Whether or not you smoke dope is not going to make you a better 

artist, rapper, writer, cook or CEO of a massive international concern. It’s all up to you and how you handle yourself, what you do with your time, how you approach your education, or, even more, it all depends on what your God given talents are. We’re not all created equal. Some of us truly rock and some of us are dumb as rocks. It’s just what the gods decree. Whether you like mota or McRibs or merlot doesn’t matter much in the end. It’s how you play the game that matters. Or, how you are played. Sometimes we just don’t have a choice in the matter. And that part, well, is fine with me. Let the dice roll, baby.

It’s almost December 31^st. It’s about time for reflection and for getting those New Year resolutions in line. I am going to get ahead of it and trot out ten things that I want to focus on in 2017. Maybe you can use them, who knows. They might work for you. Apply them and MAYBE you COULD  be a better person, a bigger success story, a better partner, a stand up kind of guy here in the coming year. But don’t take my advice. Make up some of your own. Whether you are a stoner or not these things are golden and will make your life all so much better.

Maybe. Here you go:

Senior Mota Man’s Ten Seriously Bitchen Things to Focus on in 2017:

1: Breathe: this one is a natural. Take a walk, do some yoga, stretch, have wild sex, do what you need to do to get air into your lungs. But breathe. When things get too tense, step outside, take a good few deep breaths and things will be better. Believe it, this works.

2: Broaden your horizons: travel, read, talk to folks who have been around. Get past the borders of your mind and take in some different viewpoints, vistas and values. Yes, you have your views and values, I get it, but so do other people. Find out about them and then maybe mix and match a few. Your mind and your feet might feel a bit different, especially if you go walking around in someone else’s shoes.

3: Be willing to move: Grousing about where you work or where you live? Move. Go away. Get on down the road. That’s what U-Haul is made for. Take that faunchy attitude and take it someplace else. You never know, a move might be just what you need. Or it could end up being like my mom always said, no matter where you go there you are.

4: Stay informed: this last election told us one thing very clearly: there is a shit load of bad news out there. Go to the source, read a good daily and then, if you don’t like what you read, then seek out even more authoritative tomes to verify what you just read. Don’t take the words of the talking heads as gospel. Read, listen, talk to folks who know, who matter and then, only then, make an informed decision. You, your community, your country, deserve the best. Start out first with real information.

5: Practice the Golden Rule: this never goes out of style and is practiced by all major religions all over the world. Good sense. Treat me as you wish to be treated. ‘Nuff said.

6: Be curious; Use your imagination. Color outside the lines. Turn over rocks. Take some paint to canvas, sing a song, make a meal that you have never made before. Be bold, have fun and if it didn’t quite turn out the way that you expected, well, then, do it again. Or not. No sense being a damn fool about it. But no matter what, laugh.

7: “Keep Calm and Carry On”: yeah, and don’t forget to breathe.

8: Be good to yourself: Rest, eat well, exercise, love, be considerate, be kind, be real, be positive. Now, do all that and watch all sort of good things come back into your life.

9: Be respectful of history, be aware of where you are going but more than anything be here now.

10: Moderation in all things. And yes, that applies to your mota, too.

Happy holidays, peeps. And a righteously delightful new year.

Salud!