Each year at my birthday I review the previous year, celebrate my accomplishments, and set goals for the coming year. (Here’s my post from last year.) Sometimes I adjust those goals a bit at the witches’ new year (Samhain). Over the years I’ve learned to set fewer and smaller goals to allow for new opportunities to come to me.
Technically, I failed to meet any of my goals from last year. In reviewing the year, it felt like I spent a year marooned in a morass of “stuck.” But then I looked at my calendar, with all of its notes about places, people, and events, and the year took on a new look.
- ticked off a couple of “bucket list” items so huge I thought they were unattainable.
- spoke at several Conferences, officially making me an international speaker.
- visited several new countries.
- participated in a radical restructuring of the Art of Ritual curriculum.
- wrote 1000s of words (articles) for the Art of Ritual’s new curriculum.
- created and maintained a social media presence full of content rather than memes.
- started participating in a local occult group.
- began a series of informal teaching seminars with JaguarMoon.
- continued JaguarMoon’s structural evolution from hierarchy to wheel.
- continued oversight of JaguarMoon’s leadership
- renewed my residency in Portugal.
- assisted both of my parents (at different times) with life events in such a way that they are the better for my presence (vague, I know, they are not my stories to tell).
- fostered a mother cat and three of her kittens for almost two months, with two of the kittens adopted out.
- deepened my connections with others outside of my love and family relationships.
That’s a pretty good list. What isn’t in there is health(fitness) and (public)writing. It was quite the fallow year for writing for the public, and from this place in the midst of Mercury retrograde I can see how much of it was because of a bass-akwards collaboration that left me holding the metaphorical bag and a very bad taste in my mouth. It put a project of mine into a strange state and left me feeling as if writing is a waste of my time and energy. Unsurprisingly, that negative headspace manifested as a lack of physical care.
But a new year opens before me, and I can re-prioritize those things that make me feel good. Thus, my goals for the coming year are:
- Transcribe father’s family history.
- Continue to support JaguarMoon’s evolution (note: get out of the hub).
- Start regular Tai Chi/Yoga sessions.
- Incorporate daily strength work.
- Aim for a daily walk.
- Get 7+ hours of sleep every night.
- Strive for consistency in daily (physical) activities.
- Make art something you do nearly daily (and remember that working with your photos counts!)
- Try a “messy” art form.
- Write the next book.
- Learn to make English muffins.
- Pass the Portuguese language course.