12 for 12 for June

Every day, identify, articulate, and explore at least one of your heart's desires.

--Martha Beck, The Joy Diet

I'm letting my favorite life coach, Martha Beck, guide me this month. And in true TheQueenly fashion, I'm going to adapt my own goal to fit the reality of my life like short row bust darts make a sweater fit the reality of my body. 

In June I will: Select a big life goal - a big personal thing - and take one step towards it ... every day. 

I'd actually been wondering how I'll ever keep track of one more habit thingy already. The idea wasn't to try something for a month - but to add something permanent every month. Ambitious? Probably. Possible - well - in an 80/20 sort of way. If I can do it 80% of the time that's good enough ...

But even 80% is tough as the list grows longer - and last month's 12-4-12  was to compliment someone every day.  It was really hard - for two reasons: Sometimes I'd forget to compliment anybody and sometimes I'd forget that I'd complimented somebody. A simple compliment ... doesn't sound that hard does it? I'm not living in prison cell. I talk to people every day. I work in a public arena too - so I ought to be able to drag my self-centered consciousness out of my naval gazing long enough to say "good job" to somebody once a day. Truth? I am not sure I did. Sometimes I'd compliment several people in a day and forget most of them. Those were days when lots of people did things I noticed. But on Sundays when I stayed home and saw only BD ... I don't know if I complimented him or not. We are a long married couple and we're in the habit of saying nice things to each other. Is "I love you so much." a compliment? I'm not sure it is in the context of this habit I wanted to inculcate into my life ... not when the purpose was to really look at the person and see a good thing about them and ... compliment it. The whole point was to Pay Attention To Others. I tried to jot down each day the compliment I made and I did a pretty good job of that till this past week with its long weekend, spent mostly with family - whom I thanked, mind you, for the help they gave me, but is thanking someone actually complimenting them?

Anyway - the idea of the 12 for 12 was not to agonize about my failures but to try to add good things to my world. And I certainly complimented people more than I would have if I'd not made an effort. And I have this month - and the rest of my life -  to keep on doing it.

This month's 12-4-12 is another that requires tracking - but it's much more self indulgent. It can also be much more varied - more ... all over the place ... but it will also be pretty durn pro-active - because most of our daydreams and sighing wishes are static, placid, inactive things. There are 214 days left in 2012 - so if I am successful with June's habit - I should be 214 steps closer to my dreams by the end of the year. And if I miss a few days ... why - I'll still be closer to those dreams than if I had not taken ANY steps at all. 

As for the first 4 12-4-12? Well. I am tracking my food still, and drinking enough water without having to track it - I've gotten an exercise schedule that I really love without becoming obsessive about it and I pray almost every day. I think 2012 really has been a better, happier, more fun, and more productive year because of these little habits I've folded into my life. It's been ambitious, but some how - not as daunting as other ambitious NYR's. Yup. Mostly - I'd say this is a fun thing to do. After all - this is one girl who loves the journey. 

Happy June first to one and all.