Amazingly, we’ve already passed the six week mark into 2012. Just as amazingly, there are people who actually believe that once you’ve blown your New Year’s Resolutions, you get a reprieve from any thought of self-improvement until next January.

Let me say this about that: You have the power to start your year over any time you want. For instance, I often choose to create my list of life-affirming resolutions on my birthdate in June, but there’s no reason not to pick out several special days during the calendar year on which you get to wipe the slate clean and start fresh.

And fresh starts give us such … hope! Hope that this time, we’ll get it right. This time, we’ll quit smoking for good, stick to our diets, clean the clutter from our lives, get our budgets under control, or save enough for that longed-for trip to Italy.

I’m a firm believer that eventually raw gumption will prevail, and if we take enough running starts toward our goals, sooner or later, we’ll be able to check something off our lists.

At this time, though, I don’t have to start over. I’m doing fine on my “get fit” resolution, and I’m headed for Italy later this spring. And those are the only two things I wrote on my 2012 list so far… but there’s still time!