2011/2012

For all of us it is a time of looking back and assessing where we are, where we have been, where we want to be. As I blogged back in September 2011 has been a time of upheaval and change through which I have grown and changed. At the beginning of 2011 I had a Grandma, a dog, three children living at home, a thriving worship band/music group called 'The Leap of faith', a busy home education life and absolutely no tie to myself.

In the course of 2011, once child has flown to build her own life at uni, the dog had to be put down, My Grandma passed away, the worship band is now a duo that has no church to play in. I still however have a very busy home ed life and I have managed to carve out some time for myself. 2011 has brought healing, deeper friendships and relationships, lots of things made (some of which I have managed to post on the blog). We now have a straw bale office in the back garden which is water tight (if not yet finished). I have had a song published at heartnotes ministries which is opening up some exciting possibilities for the year to come.

So what are the goals for this year?

Well I am 38 in March and I always promised myself I would get fit before I was 40, so I have begun to prioritise exercise. I also am finding it difficult to get out of bed and pray so I am committing to get to Mass during the week more often to give God some time. I am going to be able to read music by next new year.

Most importantly however I am going to practise mindfulness. For those who don't know mindfulness is a technique used by most of the worlds major religions. I came across it through the mystics of the catholic church all of whom practise mindfulness of one kind or another and from the book 'The naked now' by Richard Rohr (who is awesome and needs to be read by everybody. Most often however it is associated with Buddhism and essentially means living in the present moment, fully aware of what you are doing. Most of us live in the past or the future, bothering over past mistakes however small, or planning for a future we may never have.

To live in the present moment is extremely difficult and something I can only hope to begin to work towards. Just the other day I had gone to the shops and spent the whole trip bothering about how things were at home. My mundane trip to the bank could have been transformed into a different experience, I might have noticed the weather, a flower, an old friend, someone who needed a little help, something might have given me pause for thought but I missed all of those opportunities because I was bothering about what I could neither change nor control at that particular moment.

So hopefully a little less of that and some more... well I wonder...