What you can try to do differently from now on.

While I am sure that there will be plenty of articles written about how to live better in the new year and many predictions about what will happen in the coming year, I felt the need to risk being drowned out by louder and more popular "voices" and share my observations and plans.

This reflection was inspired by a question I read in an online forum. The title of the thread was: "End of the world?" As one of my high school teachers would say: "What an inspiring thought!" It is certainly a discussion starter and it seems to be a popular, if not timely topic.

The author's opening questions were: "Is the world heading for complete disaster? With the threat of yet another war ever increasing, what then, are your predictions for 2012?"

Not surprisingly, many of the answers focused on such things as the Mayan prophecy and the biblical book of Revelation and the words of Jesus of Nazareth saying that no one knows when the end will be except God Himself.

Other people referred to other religious prophecy and still others pointed out obvious social realities that may be disturbing such as poverty, hunger debt, terrorism, political turmoil and nuclear weapons.

Most answered by pointing out obvious things such as what I just mentioned in the previous two paragraphs, and some had words of comfort, but I saw no one who offered advice on what to do to improve the situation. It seems like people were just ready to give up and say that nothing can be done.

Is the world heading for COMPLETE disaster? In my opinion, NO.

What are my predictions for 2012 (and beyond)? People will get tired of so many people moaning and groaning and predicting everything they can think of that may possibly go wrong that they will start to focus on more important things, like how can I make the world a better place and what can I do to make someone feel better or deal with their crosses? What can I do to help the environment or make sure people have enough to eat or have jobs? Some people have given up hope and believe that they can do nothing. Others see it as a summons to do something positive.

When someone has a serious illness, they can either give up all hope and not even seek proper medical care or they can make the most of the time they have left and thus improve the quality of their life and maybe even overcome the illness and extend their life.

In addition to people getting tired of hearing reports of doom and disaster and possibly changing their own attitude and maybe that of others, I will predict high sunspot activity and other celestial special events. I predict strange weather, the continuation of many problems and I predict an important election will take place in the United States in early November.

However, I will not be as one sided in my predictions as many people seem to be, because I also think there will be advances in health, science and technology. There will be cold, hot, and pleasant weather. There will be beautiful sunrises and sunsets. People will die and babies will be born. Some people will not get along and friends will be made. People will become heroes.

I predict that I will continue to produce more online content and read what others write. I will try to help others by what I write and will continue to learn and keep an open mind and open heart.

I will try to get the most out of life and will try to help other people enjoy theirs more.

I will do what I can to be a part of the solution and not add to the problem. I will not wait until January 1st to get started either. No matter what the calendar says, today can be the beginning of a new year and new way of thinking and way of life.

What are your predictions? What will you do?