Achieving balance in 2012
January 11th, 2012
Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful, festive and restful holiday season. I was lucky enough to be able to take a few weeks off and although I should feel rested, I don’t – I was dealing with a bit of a bad flare-up and it was kind of exhausting. Thankfully things are slowly turning back around but my main focus has been avoiding a lot of food (both the good and the bad) and trying to help my body work its way back to wellness (while I wait to see my doctor).
As a result I’ve had to subject myself to some rather inflexible rest-time. It’s been a bit of a challenge to justify it to myself – never mind that I’d be ramming that justification down the throat of anyone who was in the same boat as me. Over the past few days I’ve been slowly creeping back onto my computer but my inbox is still a little on the full side and our house is (more than) a little on the unruly side. Kind of a weird way to kick off the new year but you know what? Here’s the thing: there are endless opportunities to kick anything off. At any time of the year, on any day of the week and twice on Sundays whenever you damn want.
In that spirit, and since I have had a little more time than usual alone with my thoughts, I’ve come up with a variety of dreams and to-dos that I will be implementing gently and with purpose, as the year unfolds:
- Start drawing again.
- Make some artwork. Sell it.
- Revamp my almost non-existent skincare routine with natural products wherever possible.
- Replace more of our household cleaning products with natural products.
- Stretch more. Yoga, weights, all those good things.
- Download some meditation podcasts. Use them.
- Sleep more.
- Read more. Nothing work-related. Not on the internet. REAL BOOKS.
- Try to eat/sleep/rest as carefully when I am well as when I am sick.
A few tall orders in there, I know. But it feels good to write them down. Whether you will be slowly dipping your toe in, or have plunged into the new year with resolutions and witnesses/accountability to match, I hope this year brings you great joy, health and happiness!
12 Comments
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Hi Anile! I love your resolutions! I hope you fulfill them all! I hope I can offer some insight in terms of meditation, this is a great book I read on meditation: http://www.amazon.ca/Mental-Resilience-Clarity-Develop-Warrior/dp/1577316258/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326324169&sr=8-1 – I’m wary of going the podcast way of meditation as I find it usually implements extra expectations to meditations that shouldn’t be there. The best thing to do, imho, is download Insight Timer on your phone and meditate 10 minutes a day. Focus on your breathing and try to let thoughts go. If you go back to thinking, bring your attention, gently, back to your breathing. Also, look into Shinzen Young, he researched meditation from a scientific perspective and offers a lot of insight into that.
Also, the best book I’ve read on Art and the making of ART, is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield ( http://www.amazon.ca/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/0446691437/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326324395&sr=1-1 ) – it’s amazing.
Good luck and all the best!
A.
Oh my thank-you so much Anthony! This is so helpful. I took a meditation class once and it helped a lot, just needed a little extra something to help me keep going, so I will try your suggestions for sure. Much appreciated!! That art book has a ton of great reviews, thanks so much for recommending that too. Wishing you an amazing year, all the best right back at you too – I can’t wait to see what greatness you come up with this year!!
Such wonderful aspirations! And life is constantly changing so we can constantly be re-evaluating! I think I’m gonna steal some of your resolutions :)
Go for it, I’m sure you’ll think of a few more to add in there :) xo
Great resolutions. I support them all. Especially the reading of real books and the yoga-ing.
Yes!! And more nail polishing. Inspired by guess who.
Loving your resolutions, and the beautiful photo. I hope you’re feeling better and better… :)
Thanks so much Lizzie! Baby steps over here, working on it :)
Great personal resolutions! loved the book one, i just purchased 4 books to read 1 each month simply to get away from reading online articles :)
What a great idea! A book queue :) Enjoy your reading!