Very few people actually set New Year Resolutions. In fact, I’ll even go so far as to say that very few people have EVER set a New Year Resolution in their life. Sure, they set new Year Wishes and make New Year Dreams, but few can actually be called a resolution. Their New Year Resolutions are, in fact, missing this key ingredient.

We all have trash in our lives. We can let it pile up, rot and decay. Or we can turn it into something beautiful. There are parts of us that are not so pretty. Perhaps it’s a temper or an attitude. But we can change them. We can adapt them. They can become stepping stones by which we climb higher than ever before. They can inspire us to make something beautiful of them. They can inspire us to turn them into the music of our lives.

Not all Presidents of the United States are equally worthy of being quoted. Some have even been downright dreadful for the country. And yet we can confuse the issue with what historians call presentism, judging historical figures by contemporary standards. With this caution in mind, while our first three Presidents were certainly imperfect and products of their times, their words continue to inspire us today.

Happiness can be a difficult thing to attain. It requires living your life according to principles that create it. It requires uncovering the internal obstacles and overcoming them. It requires developing certain traits that are conducive to it. And it requires establishing some habits and attitudes of thought and perspective that can take some sustained effort over time to acquire. Bottom line, happiness is no wimpy trait. Come see what I mean!

Pain is Life’s great master-teacher. It is the refiner’s fire, the heat that destroys the bacteria of life. It can burn off impurities, or it can consume and destroy. Our attitude, however, determines the outcome. But what do the trials and adversities of life teach us? What lessons are we to learn? What impurities does the heat of trial and tribulation burn off?