NEW YEAR

NEW BEGINNING!!

I love the New Year! It is a time of new beginnings, a new chapter, a new season – it is anything and everything I want it to be. It all depends on my perspective. 

In preparing my intentions for the New Year, I reviewed my Happiness Project. (Remember that?) I saw there were a few things on there that I just wasn’t doing and probably would not be doing anytime soon, (like exercising every day), so I removed them. Poof! Gone.

Then I added an overall intention that I think applies to everything I do:

INTENTION 2014

To be grounded in the present moment; savoring my life as it is, while remaining open to possibility and change.

This isn’t as easy as it sounds. I really want to be there for my life, exactly as it is, immerse myself in it, connect with it, let it touch me - - while at the same time embracing change and possibility. (Not always easy when the change isn’t my idea!)

I also developed an overall mission statement for my life. I prayed about it a lot, especially using the visioning technique I have learned from a wonderful religious science practitioner, Sheila Thomas. When practicing visioning, rather than praying for something specific that I want, I am learning to “catch” God’s vision for my life, trusting that whatever it is, it is so much better than I could ever come up with by myself!  

MISSION STATEMENT – God’s Vision for My Life

To spread enthusiasm and joy, grounded in healthy habits and savoring the freedom and fullness of life.

GRATITUDE is the spiritual foundation supporting all of this. Paying attention, taking in the good and practicing gratitude allows me to live in the splendor of the present moment, while remaining open to what God has in store for me. It allows me to savor the fullness of it all in an attitude of freedom. It helps ground me in healthy habits because I’m so darn grateful for my body and my good health, (especially on the other side of vertigo). I want to give back by sharing my enthusiasm and my joy.

I thought you might enjoy the reflection questions I shared with the women at our church. I would love to hear your ideas, inspirations and/or intentions for your new beginning.

I am also including my new, streamlined, revised Happiness Project resolutions at the end of this post.

I love you friends, and look forward to sharing our inspirations and intentions with each other as we live them throughout the year.

Signing out from the glorious Bishop's Ranch Episcopal retreat center outside of Healdsburg in Northern California wine country.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

CHANGE AND NEW BEGINNINGS

To keep our faces toward change

And behave like free spirits in the presence of fate

Is strength undefeatable. – Helen Keller

·      Reflect on the seasons of change in my life. Trees shed their leaves and are dormant before there is re-growth. What do I need to shed in order to grow?

§  What seems to be passing away in my life?

§  What seems to be entering my life?  Is there a new thing springing forth?  Is there a mustard seed ready to grow?

§  How am I afraid of change?  Can I find ease in risk?

§  Are there new ways of seeing, new ways of living God is calling me?  Am I open to God’s invitation to me? 

§  Are the changes to where I’m being called internal or external?  Or both?

§  What are the first steps in my new adventure?

HAPPINESS PROJECT RESOLUTIONS

Gretchen Rubin, in her book, The Happiness Project, suggests identifying concrete actions that will boost your happiness, followed by keeping your resolutions. She claimed that the single most effective step in her whole happiness project was her Resolutions Chart.

She developed her Resolutions Chart based on three simple questions:

·      What makes you feel good? What activities, do you find fun, satisfying, or energizing?

·      What makes you feel bad? What are sources of anger, irritation, boredom, frustration, or anxiety in your life?

·       “What makes you feel right?” Does your life reflect your values?

(Changes are in red.)

My Resolutions Chart

Choose the bigger life.

Resolutions on Time

·      I want to move with ease and grace through life and let go of being in a hurry or anticipating the next thing.  (I like this bigger picture resolution, followed by these specifics . . .)

·      Start getting ready 15 minutes earlier. For everything; work in the morning, going out to dinner, getting ready for a trip; everything.

·      Get in bed one half hour earlier. I get up at 5:30 am so that I have lots of unstructured morning time. This means I need to get in bed earlier. (9:30 – really?)

·      Do one thing at a time.

·      Do the next right thing.

·      Enjoy the process.

·      Remember that a lot can get done in 15 minutes. I may not ever have that luxurious span of time before me.

·      Take breaks when I’m really busy. Don’t grind. Turning from one chore to another makes me feel trapped and drained.

·      Spend it out. Time and money are resources. Use the good stuff now. Buy the better quality. Replace stuff that has never quite worked. Open the new package. Use the great idea now; don’t save it for later.

·      Fix stuff. Take the time and patience to just do it. (I glued the mirror back on my lipstick case).

·      Don’t always save the best for last. (Read the Datebook first; go out in the sunny day, clean later!)

·      Take the extra time to make it nicer. (I brought candles and a pretty scarf for my spiritual direction peer group).

Resolutions for the Body

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.

·      Exercise at least 20 minutes every day. (Even when I’m tired. Even when it’s cold and rainy. Even when I really don’t want to.)

·      Do my 5-minute yoga stretches for my back and shoulders every day.

·      Walk more, park farther away, take the stairs.

·      Wear comfortable shoes.

·      Dress warmly enough.

Resolutions on Things I Want To Do More Of

·  Listen to more music. Put Pandora on at home. Listen to music in the car instead of ruminating.

·      Keep learning new things. Push through the resistance. The big one this year is learning the Mac. It’s just a better product. (I’m doing it!!)

·      Send my daily gratitude E-mail to my buddy. (I already do this one).

·      Try new groups. I have a good start with the Threshold Choir, the book group at the library and Heart and Soul Center of Light. (I’m not really doing this one anymore.) Be fluid. Give it a fair trial but if it’s not working, try something else.

·      Do more of what I like; walking, reading, exploring, meditating and laughing.

·      Be comfortable with my preferences. Accept my likes and dislikes. You can choose what you do; you can’t choose what you like to do.

·      Try one new thing a week. New restaurant, café, route to work, hiking trail, new friend, all this counts. (How about once a month?!?)

·      Keep her suggested one-sentence journal. What happened today that I want to remember? When was I happiest today? (I bought a pretty little blue book that I keep by my nightstand).

·      Keep an interest log. When something I read, see, hear, etc. engages me, write it down. (never really caught on)

Resolutions on Reading and Writing

·      

Read even more! I love it, it is one of my very favorite parts about living, so why not do even more of it! Read at least one hour a day.

·      Reread stuff! Novels, sweet E-mails, inspirational books, Christmas cards, articles that engage me. I reread The Happiness Project cover to cover.

·      Finish psycho-spiritual/self help books that I like. I’m notorious for reading half of these kinds of books and starting another one. (This is hard, I have two or three half finished ones lying around, but I want to keep trying on this one).

·      Read more sweet books; Madeleine L’Engle, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Laura Ignalls Wilder, maybe even Nancy Drew! (good idea, but not happening)

·      Write for at least 15 minutes every day. This can include journaling and thoughtfully crafted E-mails.

Resolutions on How I Want to Act

·      Act the way I want to feel.

·      Identify the problem.

·      Reframe complaints. Focus on what I do like, rather than what I don’t like. Don’t nag or gossip. (a good idea, but I’m never going to do this one perfectly, but gossip stays on there.)

·      STOP when I start feeling, thinking or acting obsessively. Stop worrying. Think about something else. Do something else. Right then and there.

·      Let go; of my point, an argument, obsessing, picking lint off the carpet, feeling slighted. (I like a clean carpet.)

·      Push through resistance when I know the end result will be good for me. Remember that happiness may be the fruit from something I don’t want to do.

·      Let there be some disorder, inefficiency, frustration, even chaos. Go off the path. (I’ve decided it’s ok to be anal.)

·      Be polite and friendly – to everyone.

Resolutions on Relationships

·      Call my friends and family more often.

·      Be more generous; with my resources, with my heart. Let someone have a bad day. Listen more.

·      Focus on what I love about the people in my life.

·      Encourage, love, support.

·      Make new friends. Keep expanding the circle.