It was fascinating to receive a number of messages from people about my intention to express fewer opinions. One friend inquired how I will implement it, short of a clothes pin on my lips. Another simply seemed confused, wondering what would be left to while away the hours. 

In truth I have been on the runway for this one long before the orange ball drops in Times Square, allowing me to build up at least a burst of momentum. To that end I can comment. 

My head is less cluttered. When I am able to slide a full stop in front of an escaping Attitude, it is like keeping the genie in the bottle. Rather than explore the nuances of speculation regarding how someone else's life is proceeding, I merely exhale.  

I ask fewer questions. At least less of those "tell me about your brother" variety, in which the only possibilities seem to be that the person feels the need to defend their sibling, or rail about them. I maintain my buoyant interest around the person in front of me, and their experience. But reporting to me about the state of someone else is only valuable if I am going to do something in response that does not involve a mental scale. 

Coincidentally, if such a condition actually exists, I am rereading a beloved book. Praying for Strangers by River Jordan is one that rebooted my conception of grace awhile back. In this the third go through I am reminded of the shift that can emerge in the absence of shoulding. Which may not technically be a word but you get the idea. 

River Jordan feels an inner groundswell carrying her to pray for a different stranger every day for a year. She knows not why at the outset, and yet the tide of compassion carries her out of egocentricity in a way that opinions never could. Homeless people, wealthy people, a little boy being berated by his mother in a public bathroom, an exhausted waitress at a diner, all people she could have ignored without the slightest compunction, are lifted to the status of deserving intercession. Which feels like a soft substitute for passing judgment. 

As resolutions go, this one does next to nothing to impact my weight, or wallet, or intellectual prowess. But some positives cannot be measured by such metrics.