Breathing Space for April

As we approach the month's half-way mark, here are some ideas to make the second half better than the first.

Find your New Year's resolutions and determine what progress you've made. Regardless of your progress, be honest with yourself and keep working on them.

As Easter and Passover dawn, spring cleaning follows closely. If you've been keeping up with Breathing Space throughout the year, you'll find that you've already done the majority of it. This time, dig a little deeper to clear room in your files, closets, and other spaces in your life.

This Easter, volunteer an afternoon or evening at a homeless shelter or food bank operation. You'll get a new perspective on your life while helping others.

Completing tax returns for the previous year offers an opportunity for paring down your holdings. Discard receipts for the tax year three years prior to the current one (retain your actual returns and mortgage, interest, and tax documents). Re-examine the canceled checks, review what you wrote to whom and why, and then chuck them all.

Get schedules of your favorite baseball teams, and mark on your calendar the appropriate dates to sit back and enjoy the games. If you can't attend a game or watch it on your TV, record it.

April 22 is Secretaries' Day. If you have any, show them you appreciate their daily efforts by giving them some remembrance, such as a card, flowers, gift certificate, or a half-day off.

April showers bring May flowers? Take advantage of those rainy weekend afternoons by finally visiting a nearby museum, catching a show at a planetarium, or having a get-together with old friends.

One night each week, skip watching the nightly news and other television shows. You won't miss anything.

Watch the sunrise one weekend morning while everyone else is sleeping.