Over the weekend, we talked about some of our goals for 2012 as a family. Zoe wants to make more friends. Eden wants to help poor people and would like to do people's nails and do face-painting in order to raise money for them.
And me? My word for this year is "cherish" - and I'd like to spend more time consciously doing this. More on that in another post. One of my goals is to finish projects, which I talked about in a previous post. Another hope is moving to a new house - both Derek and I feel ready for this (we don't always agree on everything, but on this - we seem to have come to an understanding). Not sure what that will look like yet, but perhaps this is the year. Yet another goal: publish. I'd like to publish something outside of the Mennonite world this year. That was one of my goals last year, and it led to me starting this blog and taking a job mid-year as a web writer for an adoption agency. So who knows where it will lead this year.
Do you get into this goal-setting, or do the January blues kick in for you? Here are a couple of fun tools that friends have passed on to me. Perhaps they will help you too to ring in the new year. Click away!
2012 Declutter and Organize Calendar (with Sundays off!) Brilliant and doable. I've got one printed off already.
Unravelling the Year Ahead 2012: Susannah Conway leads a wonderful e-course (I've taken 2 of them so far!) and has this free downloadable to help chart your path in 2012, including choosing a word for the year. The geeky part of me just loves little exercises like this.
Setting goals with kids: Three Stars for 2012. If you happen to have a child who wants to save the world, and another who wants to make a friend, perhaps working through goals for the year could be of use. It helped in our household, anyway.
If one of your goals is more quiet, read this New York Times article: The Joy of Quiet by Pico Iyer. It's a keeper.
Read this New Year's prayer of hope written by Carol Penner.
Have you heard of Women's Christmas? I hadn't until a friend told me about it yesterday. It's an Irish custom, called Nollaig Na mBan, and it's celebrated on the day of epiphany - January 6th. The whole point of this day was for the weary women, who carried the weight of the household chores and responsibilities, to have a day off after the hustle and bustle of the holidays. The men would tend the hearth while the women retreated/partied.
If you're interested in learning more, Jan Richardson has developed Journey of a Traveling Heart: A Retreat for Women's Christmas. Here's the great part: you don't have to do it on January 6th! You can make time for this when it suits - and do it solo or in a group of women. Jan has some great questions - about journeying through this year and the unique gifts we can offer. She includes her poetry and artwork in it too - it's a treat to look through it. I'll be printing this one off soon too. And maybe next year I'll host a Women's Christmas.
One last thing: a beautiful song written by Bobby McFerrin to listen to as you take a quiet moment (although I guess technically music doesn't equal quiet). It's called "Psalm 23" and it is dedicated to his mother.
Wishing you strength for the journey...
