New Goals (But not necessarily New Year’s Resolutions)
In the past 10 days I have had a series of introspective realizations. These thoughts very naturally to the formation of new goals. The little non-conformist voice in my brain says “We can’t make new goals now. It’s New Year’s Eve. Everyone is making new goals.” But I have the goals, and they are exactly what I need at this point in my life. It would be foolish to squelch or delay them out of an impulse to be different. These goals are not things that I will be putting on my To Do list or pushing myself to complete. I can’t complete them, not in the sense that they’ll be done forever. This makes them a very different sort of goal than I am used to making. There will be no progress to track, no self-applied pressure. These goals are merely a little mental sanity check of five things that I will perform each day in an effort to be conscious of the good and enjoyable things in my life.
My five daily things:
1. Read Scriptures/say prayers. I am specifying no particular amount nor am I requiring myself to always ponder deeply. But for at least a few minutes each day I will be present to and address my sources of spiritual direction.
2. Small happy conversations/thoughts. Included in this goal is my plan to have at least one non-business related, happy conversation with Howard each day. It can be very short. Also included is the effort I blogged about recently where I consciously find things currently present in my life which are opposite to my worries.
3. Do something each day to improve my health and physical fitness. I have a format for this which seems to be working. My slide into stress was accompanied by a weight gain. It isn’t much of one, but the reversal of this will do much to help me feel in control of my life.
4. Spend some time each day being a writer. This might be only five minutes where I consciously ponder a plot point. The purpose is to create a space during which I at least glance into my cupboard of writing thoughts.
5. Spend a couple of hours each week working on a project which makes me happy and can not possibly earn us money. Hobbies exist to make life joyful. I haven’t made space for mine in over a year.
If I miss something on the list on an individual day, that’s fine. I have no intention of keeping score. I probably only need the daily mental review of the list long enough to make space for happiness part of my daily life.