This is not a resolution

You may recall that I'm not one for resolutions... why set myself up for failure I say? However I do like to set goals. Goals seem friendlier than resolutions, something to aim for rather than something I resolve to do, then don't do, then beat myself up for not doing.

As always the year began with me leaping head first into 'what can I take on???' mode. I always do it. I get excited about a brand new year and start to plan all the things I'll do with it - courses, workshops, meditations, journaling groups, book groups... for me, those old 'hounds of more' are at their most enthusiastic at new year. Somewhere in the last couple of days, however, I stopped myself. I paused, examined my habit of over-committing and decided not to do it. Just like that.

It was also right about then I decided my 'word for 2011' is SIMPLIFY. Such a lovely word.

So I didn’t sign up for 365 project (ok I did sign up, but I then deleted my account) and the Artist's Way group and I didn’t join several other groups and forums that I was invited to. I just...didn't do it. Because I know that while my enthusiasm for these things doesn't diminish, my time and energy for them does. Of course being me I had moments of anxiety worrying that I might be ‘missing something’. But I’m not and experience tells me that all those ‘urgent’ things I need to do just because it’s the start of the year also seem to come up again later in the year.

I’m not alone in this apparently. I’m reading similar things from others…like here and here.

So in the interest of simplification here is my goal for Bridget's Flame this year.

• A couple of posts of week... if I can...more if I feel the need or have something to say.

Now I know you've heard it all before...but before I also made a lot of promises to other commitments. My sincere hope is that by keeping my extracurricular activities to an absolute minimum I can go back to basics and just enjoy my blog. I have even organised myself an editorial calendar...much less grand than it sounds...I've just put in a couple of recurring calendar reminders. Because as difficult as this may be to believe, these days a lot of the time I don't post because I'm out of the habit and I forget. How feeble is that?

So there we have it, one simple goal for the blog in 2011 – I expect you all to hold me accountable. And don’t forget my word for the year – SIMPLIFY (if I seem to be forgetting please remind me).

Kthxbye.

This is not a resolution

You may recall that I'm not one for resolutions...why set myself up for failure I say? However I do like to set goals. Goals seem friendlier than resolutions, something to aim for rather than something I resolve to do, then don't do, then beat myself up for not doing.

As always the year began with me leaping head first into 'what can I take on???' mode. I always do it. I get excited about a brand new year and start to plan all the things I'll do with it - courses, workshops, meditations, journalling groups, book groups... for me, those old 'hounds of more' are at their most enthusiastic at new year. Somewhere in the last couple of days, however, I've stopped myself. I paused, examined my habit of over-committing and decided not to do it. Just like that.

It was also right about then I decided my 'word for 2011' is SIMPLIFY. Such a lovely word. 365 project (ok I did sign up, but I then deleted my account) and the Artist's Way group and joining several other groups and forums I was invited to, I just...didn't. Because I know that while my enthusiasm for these things doesn't diminish, my time and energy for them does.

So in the interest of simplication here is my goal for Bridget's Flame this year.

• 
  
  A couple of posts of week... if I can...more if I feel the need or have something to say.

Now I know you've heard it all before...but before I also made a lot of promises to other commitments. My sincere hope is that by keeping my extracurricular activities to an absolute minimum I can go back to basics and just enjoy my blog. I have also organised myself an editorial calendar...much less grand than it sounds...I've just put in a couple of recurring calendar reminders. Because as difficult as this may be to believe, these days a lot of the time I don't post because I'm out of the habit and I forget. How feeble is that?

Happy New Year Dave!

Well my first (but hopefully not only) post of 2011 is dedicated to my friend Dave. 

Dave, I hope 2011 brings you health, happiness and your heart’s desire – may it be your greatest year yet. 

I also wish the happiest of new years to all of my other treasured blog friends!

Love to you all.

It’s probably a virus

So.  Those of you who know me from such social networking sites as Facebook and Twitter will know I have been struck down this week with the flux. I whined about it there, now I’ll whine about it here. (Ok it’s not actually dysentery, just a nasty gastro, but please allow me the small pleasure of my exaggerations). 

Consequently I haven’t eaten much since Tuesday, but last night I ate a bowl of rice and lived to tell of it, so just went for that again this morning.  It is phenomenally boring.  

At one stage I had to take myself off to the quack for a sick certificate for work.  He told me I had the flux gastro, not to eat anything and gave me a list of things to buy from the chemist to ease the symptoms and lighten my bank balance.  Then he told me what he uses for his hay fever (eh?).  And he checked my pulse (it was fast) and blood pressure (it was low) for good measure.  I think he did this just so I wouldn’t be too outraged at the $94 bill the receptionist handed me when I came out of my 6 minute quackery consultation. 

I was still outraged.

Anyway, I’m on the mend…not quite ready for a 3 course meal but optimistic that lunch will be something other than rice.  A Jacob’s cream cracker perhaps?

Every cloud…

 One of the few benefits of being home from work sick is that there is little to do but rest and read blogs (and Kindles).  And eventually, when feeling up to it, write a long overdue blog post.

So here it is.  In my last post I mentioned ‘change’.  You may be wondering if there has been any change, and if so, what was the nature of that change. You’ll be thinking it obviously wasn’t a change to the regularity of my posts that’s for sure.

Well, there has been some change but so far it’s been pretty subtle.  I feel like I’m starting to settle into myself a bit.  I’m not feeling so angsty and a lot of the questions I’ve been asking over the past couple of years I’m finally managing to answer.  I’ve always known that I had the answers, but for a while now I’ve had a lot of trouble accessing that inner wisdom.  More on all that another time.

Other changes have been obvious, we’ve actually managed to find some time to move forward with some of the home renovations and painting etc.  That’s been good and I’ve been gratified at how much something as simple as a coat of paint can change the energy in a place.  I have a few furniture projects I’m working on and we have new flooring going down, hopefully before Christmas.  There will be photos.

I’m doing some things for myself which is nice including a couple of online courses, one is a Soulcollage® course through ‘Daily Om ‘.   I’ve only just started so haven’t created anything yet, but I’ll post a picture when I do.

So I feel as if I’m gradually  moving into a much saner headspace than I‘ve been in for a while.  I hope it continues.

Change

I can’t decide whether it’s just the thought of spring coming or whether it’s real. I feel a change coming. Something is stirring, little whispers of ideas and plans. Nothing substantial and often the thoughts slip away, the way dreams do, before I can fully grasp them. But somewhere inside I have a ‘feeling’. It’s a vague ‘feeling’ but it’s definitely a feeling.

Once upon a time this would have driven me to distraction. I would have been frantically scanning the recesses of my mind, feeling frustrated and annoyed that I couldn’t get to work on whatever it is. These days I have been learning a new way to deal with this. I just sit with it. I don’t force it. I take the little bits that come to me and examine them and put them away until some other piece comes and I look at that, maybe add it to the other piece like a mental jigsaw puzzle, maybe discard it, maybe start a new puzzle. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with it. And that’s ok too.

I don’t really know what this is about. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t even know if it is anything at all. Strange thing is…I don’t mind not knowing all that because what I DO know that it will all unfold exactly as it should with or without any help from me.

Kindle

After initially feeling some resistance to the whole idea of ‘e-readers’ I was eventually convinced by my sisters to get a Kindle. Like most of you I love books, I have several large bookcases throughout the house bursting at their seams and groaning under the weight of the books therein. I love the smell of books and the feel of their pages, but most of all I love the words. And that is what finally convinced me.

I do buy books for the whole experience but mostly it’s what’s IN them that I want. The stories, the information, the ‘facts’ and the questions they answer and also the questions they prompt. When my sisters starting tell me about the books they were downloading to their Kindles my interest was aroused. Then they sent me an Amazon voucher towards my very own Kindle so I could share in the Kindle conversations.

So I ordered one.

It arrived yesterday and I downloaded a few classics to begin my Kindle reading experience. I’m impressed. The screen is cleverly designed to look like a book, it’s small and light (and having recently read a 1,000 page tome which was absolute hell to read in bed - SO heavy! - I’m a bit sold on ‘light’). I’m currently reading Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ (which was free to download, lots of out-of-copyright classic books are free).

I’m enjoying the experience. I like that I can carrying 3,500 books around in my handbag…I’ve no idea why I like that. Perhaps it’s because I’m often reading more than one book – a fiction, a non-fiction, maybe a textbook etc - I’ll pick up one depending on my mood but can’t possibly carry them all everywhere with me. Now I can. It could be that, or maybe I’m just crazy.

This certainly doesn’t mean I won’t ever buy another book, there are some books that are just too beautiful and special to be owned in any other way. But it does mean that I can have an even wider reading experience, particularly with books I don’t necessarily want to have on the shelves but just want the enjoyment of reading.

Summary. I like it.

All images www.amazon.com