Touring Colleges

Long day! Eliza and I left just after seven this morning, and didn't get home until after 7 this evening. We drove up to Haverford, PA to tour Haverford College, and then over to Swarthmore. Both are very small liberal arts colleges with a Quaker background, but no longer affiliated with the Quakers (except that Swarthmore library maintains a Friends Historical Library). I did go through four locked gates, deep into the library basement, to see how and where the records I will submit from my Monthly Meeting will be stored.

Eliza's prime consideration in looking at schools seems to be the strength of their study abroad programs. She doesn't seem to consider a year in Hungary enough of overseas living. Oh well.

I got home, expecting to run Samuel over to kung fu, but he is over at the community college with Tori. She seems to have convinced him to audition for the perceptive young man in "The Emperor's New Clothes". We'll see what comes of that. . .

A change in focus

I got stuck with trying to create meaningful posts for clients while trying to keep up with household projects. So now I am shifting my focus. Since most (all) of my readers at this point are family, I will just keep you up to date on family happenings. I think my business website is going to be more static!

Our news. . .
Tori is now the proud owner and possessor of a 1995 Mazda Protege. She has owned the car for over a week, but just got it yesterday. A friend had been giving it a thorough "going-over", to make sure it would run well and be reliable for her. She was really bouncy when she got home with it last night! James and I were already in bed (of course!) but still awake, so we got dressed and went out to "see the car"- - -in the dark! She had a bit of a challenge with the getting home part. The car has a manual transmission, and she had about an hour of experience with stick-shift prior to that.
Next on her agenda is getting another job. Suncoast is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and may or may not stay open. Regardless, she needs more hours and a better pay rate if she is going to make ends meet.
Tori enjoys the theater, and is in high demand at the community college (stage manager for the Spring production of "The Emperors New Clothes"-sorry, the apostrophe is not working) and out in the community theater scene. As a matter of fact, she is running lights as I write this.

Eliza is quite excited about her upcoming trip to Hungary. (I know I said the Czech Republic, but that opening was taken by someone else.) James is happier with the Hungarian option, since Hungary was the seedbed of the Velvet Revolution, and tends to be a bit more stable. Liza is just thrilled with going abroad, and has now switched her focus from learning Czech to learning Hungarian.
In the meantime, she has started classes at the community college so that she will meet all of her requirements for high school graduation, regardless of which credits transfer next year. Since her only definite requirement is another year of English, she is taking Honors Freshman English this semester, and will pick up a sophomore-level English Lit class this summer. She wanted to take "Organized Crime", but that had a prerequisite, so she is starting with Intro to Criminal Justice this semester-just for fun! (Have I mentioned my kids are wierd????)
We are really looking forward to meeting Eliza when she gets home from Hungary next year. We have no idea what changes are in store, but we are expecting wonderful things. At this point, it looks like she will likely head into the Foreign Service or international relations of some sort. Eliza definitely has a gift and an interest in the social science arena.
Another strong gift is her photography. She is taking 2-D Portfolio for college credit at the high school this year. We have a semi-permanent shooting table with black drape set up in a corner on the main level, and learning to change a tire became another opportunity to take pictures-of the wheel and suspension system! And she won second-place in a county-wide high school art competition for First Night Annapolis this year.

Samuel does not mind having the table set up. He uses it for the shooting he needs to do to earn his photography merit badge. Scouting is the current drive, since drumming and kung fu are settling in to "routine" schedules. Samuel had his first test to brown belt in kung fu yesterday, and did well. He should get promoted at testing next month. And then he will continue training for red belt (about six months, plus three tests) and then it will be on to black!
Samuel earned and saved $200 for his share of the cost of a trap set. That is a collection of cymbals, tom-toms, a snare drum and bass drum-for the uninitiated. Think of the drummer at the back of a rock band! And it has lived in our family room since the weekend before Christmas, until yesterday! (More on that in a moment.)
At the troop Court of Honor this month, Samuel earned his First Class rank, and was made Patrol Leader of his patrol. He is gung-ho to work for his Eagle, and we have integrated some of his merit badge activities into his homeschool program. (It is much easier to get him to write when there is another purpose to the writing assignment!) This week he added another goal. He wants to work for a Silver Hornaday medal, which recognizes Scouter service to the environment. He has a list of ten or so merit badges that he must complete, and then four projects on the scale of an Eagle Project (one of which will count for his Eagle Project)-but which must include a good bit of learning in addition to the service hours and organization. In support of Samuels interest, I have joined the troop committee, to help organize the merit badge counselors so that the boys have the resources they need to meet their goals.

Miriam had her first semester exams this past week. She is taking Algebra for high school credit, and had the required exam during the high schoolers exam week. She continues in her musical interest, with Honors chorus getting her to school an hour and a half early on Thursday mornings. She will be auditioning for a summer chorus camp in early March, and we are looking at starting her with a voice coach in the near future.
We are proud of the efforts she made to clean up her room, and had a great laugh at the sign she posted on her door. ("Evil Clean-Do not Enter except to Messy it up!") Apparently, she believes we are inhibiting her self-expression by requiring a clear floor.
Miriam recently won a poetry contest for teenagers sponsored by our local library. Writing and reading are frequent activities. Poems even decorate her walls, written directly on the muslin we hung to allow her to splatter-paint her walls.

Besides running hither & yon to keep up with all the kid activities, James and I are busy making home improvements. My Christmas present this year was that James mudded the upstairs hallway to smooth the walls for painting. I finished that during this lapse in blogging, and then we started on Samuels (darn this apostrophe!) room. After basically two weeks of effort, we finished yesterday, and moved his bed and drums into his new room. We are eagerly awaiting the kids return from Pratts house, so that we can have the grand unveiling.
We are going to take this next week to clear clutter that was buried behind Samuels stuff while he waited for us to finish his room. We figure Kyle deserves a weekend without home improvement projects occupying our time, and requiring stuff to be stored in his room. So Sunday next week, we'll (now it decides to work!) start clearing our bedroom for the next big project! Can't wait, but I need this time to regroup, and catch up on paperwork, etc.

Aloha all!

so, they do listen occasionally. . .

Eliza has been bouncing around exuberantly since she got a call last night from the Rotary club. It looks like she'll be leaving sometime this summer to spend her senior year of high school in Croatia.

People have been asking me how I can handle this, or how I handled Tori's recent month alone in Spain. How do I send, or allow, my teenaged daughters to travel internationally?

How could I not? I have raised them with the motto that they could do or have or be anything they wanted if they were willing to work for it, pay the price, and believe it was theirs to be made real. I'm certainly not going to stand in their way now that they've taken me at my word!

I am so proud of the effort Eliza has put into making contact with the Rotary club, researching the countries, participating in the selection process, getting involved on the Rotary exchange message board, and keeping her grades up as she carries a heavy academic load in preparation for this trip. I am delighted with her enthusiasm and energy. I appreciate her delight!

What do you want to create in your life??? Dream big!

Aloha!

Teamwork for success

The trim is finished, and the work space cleaned up. It sure feels good, and looks clean and fresh.

James and I are getting quite a system going on this. I am able to, but don't enjoy, smoothing the walls with drywall mud. He doesn't enjoy painting. This provides a very logical split on home improvement projects, even if my mother thinks he's crazy. She taught me well to enjoy the painting process, especially if I'm doing it right. (In her book that means putting white paint on the walls, but off-white is acceptable. . .barely.)

This division of labor on a joint project is unusual for us. James and I generally enjoy spending our project time together, since work keeps us apart so much of the week. We look forward to the time when our financial independence plan comes together, and we are both able to do most of our work at or from home. Our different strengths and interests are part of what makes us such a strong team.

The synergy of different strengths is the essence of the mastermind concept. Harness the abilities, and perspectives, of a few trusted advisors/teammates, to enhance your progress toward your own goals. The others you will want to involve will vary, depending on your project/goals.

Is there an area in your life you are ready to kick into high gear? I'd love to hear about it, and if a coach is part of your dream team, please give me a call/email. If it's not up my alley, I'll be glad to link you up with a colleague who might be a better fit.

Aloha!

One step at a time

Warning, if you're like me, before you get that list of incomplete projects and other irritants finished, you will be overtaken by this compulsion to finish some of them!

Today was one of those days. We got a slow start to the day because we had to wait for the sun to come up, since the power had been out since around five yesterday evening. Quite a blustery night, but at least we didn't have another thunderstorm like the night before! (In Maryland in January!) I held off on finishing the painting, but did pull down the masking tape from the ceiling since the walls have all the color they're going to get at this point. I pulled the paper and plastic off the steps before we carried the bookcase upstairs last night-by candlelight! The baseboard molding is finished, but I still need to finish doorframes and doors. It's looking much better already, and I'll finish it up in the morning.

Painting tip: When changing the color of molding or trim, if your new wall color is closer to the final trim color than the old trim color was, apply Kilz to block the old color (if necessary), and then use the wall color as the next layer. It generally takes a more than one coat to change the trim to a lighter color, and it goes faster when using a color that matches the walls, because you don't have to be so careful to avoid marring the walls. (Our old trim was painted teal by the previous owner. It's white now, or in the process of becoming white!)

James put up the trim around the doorway in the bathroom, so that remodeling project will finally be finished when I paint tomorrow!

I cut scarves out of fleece remnants for our family's "winter warmth" project, and will be taking them to a shelter this week. Then I tackled putting elastic in the waistbands and hemming three circle skirts that have been waiting patiently in my sewing basket-for months! That's two projects off my list!

After dinner, James and I put the shelves in the bookcase, and I put the books that have been stacked on the floor for the past couple of weeks away. We had to have a long day to get the bookcase painted, let it dry, set it in place, and then let the paint finish curing before we stuck the books to the shelves permanently. The schedule the last few weeks just hasn't had that space, and we weren't prepared to live with a bookcase laid out in the livingroom for a week. Warm as the winter has been this year, it still hasn't been warm enough for painting outside.

By bits & pieces, fits and spurts, we're really making progress in home improvements!

Aloha!

Excited about Life?

Just got back from an hour at the community college, supporting Eliza in registering for her first college classes. She's a junior in high school! I suppose I should appreciate she's waited this long. Samuel is planning on talking his way into architecture classes BEFORE his sixteenth birthday!

It really is delightful having children who are motivated and determined. And they express their appreciation for the support we give them.

Along those lines, I went to look up the requirements for the Environmental Science merit badge last night, but Samuel had grabbed all of his Scout stuff and taken it with him to his dad's house for the weekend. It's great to see him excited about taking on excellence. I think I've mentioned before that Samuel's work style requires intense involvement to trigger enthusiasm for projects. What delights me most is how he is beginning to take on creating that level of involvement for himself-in kung fu, drums, and now Scouts.

I tend to work that way myself. The trick is being able to structure my life as an adult to allow me to serially focus on my projects/responsibilities in meaningful chunks, so that I create momentum before I lose interest. I'll be writing more about this as I continue to develop those strategies. One thing I am working on now is clearing out the old projects, so that they're not holding me back.

Today's project-wander through your house, and make a list of those projects, tasks and "problem areas" that are holding you back or draining your energy. That's it. You don't have to do anything about them, just get the list going.

Aloha!

Structure = Manageability

Staying up late really threw off my system today. I've gotten to really enjoy getting up in the morning, but just wasn't functioning after staying up so late last night.

Samuel was a bit off himself, but really enjoyed the show last night. Today he worked industriously on his animal essays, but wasn't satisfied with what he was producing. Fatigue hit him with a susceptibility to frustration.

I pulled things together for his portfolio review of his home schooling program at the end of the month. Once that was done, I compiled the notes from our discussions this week, and laid out a schedule for his merit badges. Organizing them by month and subject area, it makes an impressive-looking structure for our plan for the next semester. It also has most of the merit badges required for Eagle Scout completed by the end of this school year. Samuel is delighted, and is really excited to see a major project looking so manageable.

I've noticed this myself in the past. Time spent laying out structure, and planning the progressive steps, pays off tremendously. With the structure in place, it's just a matter of following through and adjusting as necessary along the way.

Do you have a major project that could benefit from planning a bit of structure?

Aloha!

A Quick Note after the Theater

It's just past midnight, but I haven't been to sleep yet, so I'm still counting it as Thursday.

We just got in from seeing Les Miserables at the National Theater. James and I took Samuel, and the boy has been bouncing since we bought the tickets. We had a fabulous dinner at Chef Geoff's on 13th St, and walked around the block to the theater-enjoying the architectural contrasts!

The dinner and show were fabulous, but the best part of it all was Samuel's enthusiasm!

Until tomorrow,
Aloha!

Personal responsibility

Have I mentioned that this 100% commitment thing can be inconvenient at times? I was starting to drift off to sleep after a busy day of schooling, chauffeuring, scout uniform preparation and court of honor, painting the hallway, etc. Suddenly. . ."AHK! I haven't blogged yet today!" And I was wide awake!

James and I were chatting about tomorrow's trip to see Les Miserables with Samuel, at the National Theater. I was thinking about what I would wear, and how dressy I'll go, since I don't often dress up these days.

James asked, "Am I letting you down by not providing more opportunities to dress up?"

"If it's important to me, it's my responsibility to make it happen for myself!" was more than just reassurance for him. I realized that I feel very strongly about that. It's not that I would mind if he offered more trips to the symphony or theater. I do enjoy "high culture" activities, as well as international popular culture events (like the Chinese youth acrobatic team that will be here next weekend!). It's just that I do not feel or believe it is anyone else's responsibility to make such events happen.

If something is important to me, it is my responsibility to make it happen, attract it into my life, or invite it to become reality.

Fortunately, I am continually experiencing the abundance of a life lived in simplicity and gratitude. And I am definitely blessed!

In gratitude and aloha,
Mary

ho'oponopono: conflict resolution Hawaiian-style

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I was having some difficulties with my eldest daughter, and she mirrored my own early tendency to avoid conflict. We scheduled a conversation to clear the air Sunday afternoon, and found ourselves laughing together before very long at all. We are fortunate to have a solid foundation to our relationship that gives us a base to seek during these times when life is flowing quite as smoothly as we'd like.

It is wonderful to reach the place where, even if the challenges can't be eliminated completely, we're standing together with the ones we love to do the best we can.

The old Hawaiians had a tradition called ho'oponopono (to make right or set in order), which was a family gathering to resolve conflicts and set things right when there were ill feelings within the family unit, or when family members faced serious illness (believed to be connected to problems in the family and the local deities). Family members would gather together to make things right, through prayer, communication, listening, restitution and forgiveness. More information

What attracts me about this practice is gathering people together, focusing on the connections between us, and what we value in our relationships. Coming together with the perspective that whatever this is can and will be resolved creates a certain optimism. With the expectation that a solution will be created comes hope, and hope allows the love to take center stage very quickly.

Is there any relationship in your life that needs ho'oponopono?

Aloha!

Make a Difference Spotlight-Heifer International

It's Monday! And it's been a marvelous week. I'm not sure how to adjust this early morning routine, since I'm not getting eight hours of sleep with getting up at five. The kids don't get home from their various activities until almost nine three or four evenings a week. I am just not getting to sleep until almost ten. Fortunately, I am able to grab a quick nap most afternoons.

I am feeling much more coherent than I was last week, and I'm getting much more done than I was before, so I persist in the experiment.

As the Make-a-Difference spotlight tradition continues (okay, so it hardly qualifies as a tradition yet, but. . .), I bring this week's focus to Heifer International.

I first heard of HI when my sister bought me a chicken for our traditional family gift exchange in 2004. (I don't think she won the least-expensive category for our theme gift contest-see Christmas blogs.) It wasn't the best gift for our strict vegetarian household, but we loved the idea. So our reply was to buy bees and trees.

Based in Little Rock, Arkansas, Heifer International goes into developing/struggling communities, teaches a group of villagers how to care for the Heifer animals, and then provides them with animals. As the animals multiply, the villagers teach their neighbors and "share the wealth" by passing on the young in a ceremony/celebration. In this way they build self-sufficiency and hope among the world's poorest citizens.

If you are interested in more information, I invite you to visit their website, and check out the article about Heifer International in Reader's Digest (December 2005, I think).

Gratitudes. . .

I'm taking advantage of a few minutes to blog, before I get to painting the upstairs hallway. I just wrenched Kyle away from the computer to take his shower and get his things out of his room before I booby-trap the hallway with wet paint.

James is out splitting wood from the trees that fell across the road a couple of weeks ago. The wood from those two trees (less the wood that a neighbor has already collected) will just about fill our need for next winter. It has to season a bit before we can use it, since both trees were still alive when the winds pulled them down.

James has a good stack of wood already collected, split and stacked for this year. He got most of an oak tree from a guy on freecycle.com, and then a dead tree next door dropped the top several feet, and that got cut up and stacked as well. He has permission to fell the remaining truck and cut that up when he finishes with the cherry tree across the street.

It's wonderful to see how abundantly we are provided for when we have such simple needs.

A phone call this morning reminded us how lucky we are to have our health. A "nephew" (extended family-by-choice) was taken to the ER this morning, but is home now, with quite a collection of meds.

We are so grateful for our own health, and the health of our children. It is also a blessing to have ready access to excellent medical care at an affordable price.

My project for the day is priming the walls in the upstairs hallway. My Christmas present from James was mudding the walls to repair dents and smooth the wall surfaces. I can do the drywall mudding and sanding, but it requires quite a bit of upper body strength, so I really appreciate his efforts! Especially as I still haven't rebuilt by shoulder strength after having the cyst reoved from my shoulder. (There's that medical care gratitude again!) It works out well, because I don't much enjoy the mudding. It just seems like "hard work" to me. Then I LOVE painting, especially once I get started on it, and James doesn't. So we divide the primary responsibility for wall improvements according to our interests. (And he gets to go split wood while I paint.)

We figure we'll be ready for this part of building our next house by the time we finish redoing the walls here!

(This house will probably go on the market in Spring of 2011, if you know anyone moving to the DC/Maryland area then. )

What do you enjoy doing to make your world more beautiful? What blessings are you enjoying today?

Who is your mirror?

One of the things about parenting teenagers is that anything I might be trying to hide from in myself is certain to be manifested by one or the other of them. Any issues I have only partially completed are certain to be brought forward by one of the kids who has learned from my example through the years.

I remember the first time I heard my mother's line, with her intonation!, coming from my five-year-olds mouth while she was playing with her sister. There was no way for direct transmission, since they hadn't spent much time with their grandmother in situations that would have occasioned them hearing that particular line. It had to have come through me!

So now, a decade later, I face my own tendencies to put forth less than 100% effort as I notice my frustration with trying to get a teenager off the computer games to help me with a painting project. And I notice that I've taught my kids that I will back off if they raise their voices, or we'll just plain avoid conflict all together, until that elephant in the livingroom has gotten too big to manage with anything less than major conflict. Not a good example for a mediator to set!

So I have scheduled a conversation with Tori (age 18) for tomorrow afternoon. We're going to talk through the various concerns related to her indefinite move-out date, and disrespect of the boundaries/standards we've set for the good of the whole family.

My questions for you:
Who are the mirrors in your life? Who sets you off?
Can you see how that person might be a mirror for something you might want to consider working on?
What example do you want to set for others (particularly your children, if you have any!)? What would you rather see reflected back to you?

Life is a continual process of refinement

After a couple of episodes of "frustration" from Samuel this week, including today when he couldn't figure out what he wanted to write about, that I need to implement more structure for both of our sakes. Most of this semester's writing projects have been following Samuel's interests.

Samuel bought himself the new Fire Emblem game yesterday, and was anxious to play/didn't want to focus on his studies. I'm tired of accepting the responsibility for keeping him focused, so. . .new policy!

Harnessing his interest in Scouts, today he selected the eight elective merit badges he still needs to complete his Eagle Scout award. Written and oral assignments have been selected and scheduled from the selected and required merit badges. One example, Samuel picked two animal reports to take through the research and writing process, and then use those both for his writing portfolio for the county home school evaluation and for the Nature merit badge. That'll keep him busy for the next several days/a week, and selecting books for the research will start on his Reading merit badge.

And the structure will continue with a daily/weekly checklist to be completed before recreational activities. And if I have to deal with high-energy expressions of frustration, he will lose some of his recreational options.

Hopefully this structure will be what we both need to have this project work better for both of us.

Shared excitement

Last night my son, Samuel, passed his board of review for First Class Scout in his boy scout troop, and was made patrol leader. His interest has fluctuated in the almost two years he has been involved in scouts, generally depending on his leader's enthusiasm and organization.

Samuel doesn't like being involved in anything that is going to "waste his time". Get him highly involved, learning new things and refining skills, and that boy is unstoppable! Put him under too much pressure, or let things get erratic, and he melts down.

Yesterday afternoon approached the meltdown phase, as he worked out some issues with his last project for his Scoutmaster conference before the board of review. And he got it done. Then there's the mystery of the missing uniform shirt. . .seen by four witnesses, hanging in the closet, just last week.

He was also made Patrol Leader for his patrol, the Black Hawks. There are four boys now, with a fifth to join them in a couple of months, when he turns twelve. The troop has gotten casual about uniforms and some of the "trappings" of scouting, but Samuel and his Scoutmaster are teaming up to raise enthusiasm for going "all-out". We picked up a few pieces he needed to finish off his uniform, and we're considering making the boys all matching black neckerchiefs with hawk outlines in silver on them.

Today we spent a good bit of time looking at what he wants to work on next, and where it might fit into his home school curriculum.

So, what lessons am I drawing from these experiences?

I really appreciate the adults who give so much of their time, and themselves, to making Scouting work for our children. I see the value in structure and direction, as well as challenge at appropriate levels. And most of all, I enjoy the positive energy of enthusiasm!

It's useful to harness that energy, when enthusiasm is high, to create momentum and structure for the times when it ebbs a bit.

Then there's the self-awareness aspect of needing to know your own learning/working styles. How involved do you need to be to optimize your involvement in activities? How many different directions can you go, how many activities can you be involved in before you end up distracted and drained? How far ahead do you enjoy planning your schedule?

Onward & upward!
Aloha!

It gets easier with persistance

Aloha kakahiaka! (Good morning!)

Day three of my early-riser/morning routine experiment, and I'm feeling great. It's not even nine-thirty, I've completed my entire morning routine (exercise, shower, etc.), eaten first breakfast and getting ready for a snack of fresh fruits, straightened the dining room, taught a student for an hour, written notes to two of my girls, and I'm blogging!

At five this morning I "tried" to go back to sleep while James took his shower, but my more determined self kept me awake, so I meditated and stretched before I did my weights and yoga. This is the first day I've felt really alert for four hours, and I've got my translation project out to work on right after this blog.

I'll blog more later, but wanted to share my bubbling energy!

100% Commitment

Okay, day 2, and I almost forgot to blog. I have managed the getting up early and exercising. The challenge is that my body thinks I should be sleeping more, and I'm feeling less than fully alert throughout the day. It makes me realize just how much I have gotten into the habit of sleeping. I'm not quite sure how much sleep my body really needs, since I'm sure that it's less than the 12-15 hours per day that I genuinely needed two years ago in my healing time. It's more than the five & a half that I got night before last, between the late nights on the weekend and starting my early rising habit/experiment.

I used to love to get up early. As the eldest of five, I would get up before five AM just to get some quiet time.

That hasn't been my pattern lately, but I'm looking forward to getting back into that habit. It's amazing how productive I feel/can be when all the self-care things are taken care of before 9 AM!

So, tomorrow, I'll include blogging in my MORNING activities.

Aloha!

New Tradition---Make-A-Difference Mondays!

Aloha!

In appreciation for the abundance in my life, and I hope in yours, I am instituting a weekly spotlight on a charitable organization making a difference in our world. I'll shift the focus from local groups to those working on a national or international level. I will contribute the first ten percent of all earnings from this blog, and related activities, to the spotlighted organization on the following Monday, and invite you to contribute as well.

This week I'd like to spotlight a group I heard about on the radio as we drove through Charlottesville, VA last month. The Santa Fund provides children in the Charlottesville, Virginia area with necessities such as shoes, school supplies and winter coats. All contributions go directly to meeting the needs of these students, so that they are able to learn comfortably in school. Operational expenses are covered by corporate sponsors The Daily Progress, and WINA radio. The Daily Progress.com even had an article on the group in today's edition! Read article

If you'd like to contribute, the following information is provided in that article:

Santa Fund envelopes are available at most area bank branches and at the offices of The Daily Progress, at 685 W. Rio Road in Albemarle County, and WINA, at 1140 Rose Hill Drive in Charlottesville.

Please mail all contributions to Santa Fund, 806 E. High St., Charlottesville, VA 22902.

I invite you to contribute to the lives of these Appalachian children, or others closer to where you live. Let's light up their lives with just a small portion of our abundant wealth!

I'll be back with another post tomorrow. I welcome your suggestions for other organizations to spotlight on future Mondays.

Go Gratitude!

New Year's Resolutions-or not

Hauoli Makahiki Hou!

In old Hawaii, makahiki was celebrated with a festival of community-a day of sports/competitions, music & dance, and luau- a big dinner that had cooked all day. It was a celebration of life, and expression of joy, health and gratitude.

Have you brought in your new year with gratitude for the year past? Or are you busy beating yourself up for what is yet to be done? I've spent the last week in intense introspection & journaling. I was looking for direction for the next year, and considering "resolutions"/goals for the coming year.

And along the way, I've moved back to my "no resolutions" perspective, but further down the path. It seems to me that our culture puts in an expectation that a long list of resolutions will be made on January 1st, and they'll all be broken by January 31st.

In his book, The Success Principles, Jack Canfield suggests focusing on one new success habit each quarter of the year. Within five years, you will have developed twenty new success habits. And three months is generally enough to set that as a habit for life.

Steve Pavlina blogs about 30-day experiments-try a new habit every day for thirty days, and then evaluate how it works for you. Thirty days gets you through the initial adjustment reactions, and far enough into the actual practice to see how it will affect your life and well-being. Then choose whether or not to continue it on for another 30 days, or out to 100 days. (By one hundred days, it's habit.)

I have found some direction in going through the goals process, in setting a general direction for the year. After a couple of years focused on regaining my health, and fitting in whatever other learning and projects sparked my fancy, I feel a need for a bit more focus on productivity.

At the same time, I'm clear that I don't know all the opportunites that will appear this year. I don't want to set myself up for "failure"-either by scheduling my goals so intently that I don't see/have time for the new opportunities, or by "failing" to achieve my goals because I set them aside to pursue the new opportunities.

All these perspectives combined, I choose this approach for 2006:
I seek optimal physical health, professional development, and greater involvement in my community. These support my values: Sparkle (physical well-being)-Creativity (business development)-Connection (community involvement).

In the area of creativity, I will be learning about web design this year, and I have a couple of interlocking websites in the planning stages. Stay tuned for the first one later this month. . . ReDesigning Relationships.

My first 30-day experiment is to establish a morning routine of getting up early enough to exercise, shower, dress and eat before 7 AM. I will also be blogging at least once every day for the next thirty days. (Public accountability strengthens resolve!)

Today I'll actually be blogging twice. I have a few "chores" to take care of, and then I'll be introducing a new tradition to this blog. Stay tuned!

Aloha!