Whew! that's how the cram-packed insistently demanding days of January have left me - slightly wiped out. Thank goodness for this 3 day weekend, coming after all the January deadlines, to rest up and get my groove back.The past 3 weeks have held introductions, deadlines, trips and guests - all great opportunities to shove my New Years Resolutions to the back burner - not where they'd be forgotten, but where they could simmer gently till I was ready to serve them up. Of course, the operative word in New Year's Resolutions is New and since the are new, I'm not sure they're quite ready to lay out in print, but if I don't do this now, I may not do it at all and I know for sure, if I don't write them down, I'll feel bad all year. So. Here goes.
First off - the recap of 2012 and its 12 new habits. I loved doing these. I loved them so much I was tempted to say I will just do the same 12 in 12 in 13 and leave it at that. In fact - I will do that - with some tweaks and modifications. Another reason for addressing these on a daily basis is that they aren't firmly enough established to ignore them. I don't want to lose ground and I do want to forge ahead in each of those areas of my life. Those habits centered around 4 core areas:
1. MY PHYSICAL LIFE (food tracking, exercise and water)
I'm very pleased with the end results. These 3 actions are at least habitual enough to make me uncomfortable when i don't do them. I intend to keep on concentrating on these good habits. And though I'm not at my goal weight, I did lose 10 lbs last year and kept them off. I started lifting weights and am twice as strong now as I was a year ago. And in a whole year I did not once talk myself out of going to the gym! So Proud.
2. MY WORK LIFE (Charles Schwab list, 5-year plan, BigWorkGoals, Compliment Staff)
I'm pleased with how I incorporated these into my work life. I may not yet have them entrenched, but they are part of the work world. I also realized that reading the 5-year plan daily was overkill but I will do it twice a month and see that my staff does too. The BigWorkGoal and attention to my staff are not yet habits but they're on my horizon. The Charles Schwab list is an absolute essential and keeps me so focused and yet so much more relaxed about my job that when I forget to do it - or just don't bother - I get a Smack Upside The Head feeling. Love me that CSL!
3. MY HOME ENVIRONMENT (Clean the kitchen every night)
I started doing this right off the bat - even though I didn't "claim" it as a habit till late in 2012. I found it made a huge difference in how the house looked and felt the whole year. those few minutes of tidying up before going to bed prompted thoughts of what else I want in my living environment. It pushed me to act - and we actually got the bathroom renovated - something I've been talking about for years. I got the rugs cleaned, windows washed and kept the house much tidier all year. Most important of all, those daily moments of mindless kitchen cleaning helped me find the words to start a most difficult discussion with ThePrinceConsort about building out the rest of this house. I must have a space for myself before I retire - for my toys and supplies and clutter - a space I don't have to clean up in order to serve dinner. And we have to do this while he's still young enough to oversee it. We've had several good talks about this touchy subject and there hasn't been any ugliness. Who knew a clean kitchen would do all this?
4. MY SPIRITUIAL LIFE (Pray, Draw, Read, BigLifeGoals)
Yup. Prayed and found such expansion. Drew and got lots better. Didn't read as much as I thought I would - didn't want to read as much as I thought I would - and that was a surprise. And I found that some steps towards my BigLifeGoals were happening just by because I opened up and let them in. The bathroom was renovated. I took the beach vacation with my sister, I revisited a favorite spot from Long Ago, and explored new ones. This year was a wonderful spiritual journey.
I'd say the 12 in 12 were the most interesting and fun New Year's Resolutions I've ever made and ever kept. They were so much fun that, as I said, I want to keep on doing them. But tney are neither new nor resolutions so ... what's on tap for 2013?
Ahhh. It's much more ephemeral. Much harder to describe - to put into words - one reason I've been so long spitting it out. I'm not sure I can even now - but I am going to try. If I come off as Maudlin or blasphemous or just plain weird, so be it.
There is a power - a flow, a source, an energy - so vivid, so exciting and so magical that it can take me anywhere in a twinkling. I call it God. I do not subscribe to a particular religion but I am absolutely positively certain that God exists and God is the way. God is the source. God is the power, the energy the flow. God is the love. This is not a faith thing. This is a knowledge thing.
And nothing keeps me from this power except my own sloth, laziness and ego. I can tap into the magical flow any time I want to but I have to do the actually tapping and for 2013 I want to tap into that flow every day.
I could say I want to pray every day - but prayer can so easily turn into a Christmas Wish List. "Please God, make me thin. Please, God, help me keep my temper" that sort of thing. Instead, I just want to tap into the flow and let it take me wherever it wants to go. I'll admit it. I'd also like to use the flow now and then for my own egotistical purposes, but mostly - I just want to open up. Let it in. Participate in its exciting energy.
Unlike my 12 in 12, I won't have daily or weekly or monthly reports about concrete accomplishments. What I hope I'll have will be insights, revelations, ah-ha moments - some of which might be worth sharing. but that's not the point of this effort. the point is to live each day more within the flow of ... of God.
Of course - it would not be TheQueen if there weren't some Things To Do on a List so - for concrete accomplishments to be achieved in 2013 - there will be 4.
1. Reach my goal weight by March - and stay there the rest of the year.
2. Do something each week about my kitchen till it's finally more functional. (cabinet drawers? part with that old Wedgwood china?)
3. Carve a space for myself out of the Junk/Packing/Guest room upstairs - by Memorial Day
4. Have a conversation every month with ThePrinceConsort about the addition to the house - so that it does not drift into the realm of pipe dreams.
So. This is a different sort of New Year's Resolution list - in fact - the big thing is more of a New Year's Revelation. But here it is, spit out in all it's ungainliness.
I sure do love a New Year.
And I promise - there will be knitting in the next post. Here is a teaser:
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