Update -- late 2008 -- part three (and last)
Final capture for the year:
Spiritual Practice
Turned in another Meditation Report just before departure. In the first 21 days of December I meditated more than 15 times. Several moments of meditation each day since, but no formal sitting. Today we resolved the chair situation, so tomorrow I'll sit again.
Keeping Commitments
I continue to notice, and sometimes feel ashamed about, the narrow window within which I can successfully make and keep commitments. If I reluctantly agree to do something I don't want to do, I can sometimes complete the task with ease if I start at once. I can usually complete the task with much gnashing of teeth if I start it late. I continue to struggle with my own procrastination and choking about starting 'right on time'. If I take on something I would really love to do but am uncertain how to do it, or doubt my own ability, then right away I begin to choke, sometimes snatching defeat right out of the jaws of victory. Only in the middle, when I am promising to do something I find easy and deeply enjoy, does the 'keeping' part come easy. Something to work on in 2009.
Physical Reality, Plans, Overbookedness
Much progress on my cluttered office before I left. Much progress on organization now that I've arrived. I continue to find that I need at least a little structure in order to stay in focus -- and that I enjoy staying in focus MUCH more than I enjoy 'drifting with the flow.' Not that I need to resist, mind; just that if I have one 15-minute task to do and all day to do it, I can postpone it indefinitely ... but as soon as there's enough in my plans to require planning, it can all get done.
So this week has been a little too open. I've got some things done, but there's been struggle required to start. And, as has become customary, I find myself taking on projects that will fit fine if I start right now, but will become a potentially serious time conflict in another month when the new term starts for both seminary and memoir class. It's fascinating to watch myself do this, over and over again, especially since I really do cherish the first week of downtime. But by the second, I'm eager to take on more work.
Round and round we go.
--
I want to close the year with some serious spellwork for 2009:
In the year ahead, in the month ahead, in the week ahead, in the day ahead, in the present moment
I find Love, Light, and Laughter wherever I seek them
I give my attention with conscious intention
I listen more to those who love than to those who hate or fear
I listen more to those who trust the planet than to those who believe they must rule her
I speak truth to power where necessary and useful, and make room for those less powerful to speak to me
I chose this incarnation for the experience and so
I experience my participation
I participate in my choices
I appreciate my experience
The Blessings are ever-growing
And the Blessings already are.
So mote it be.
---
And the Blessings of a Light-Filled, Be-you-to-Full Year to each of you!
Spiritual Practice
Turned in another Meditation Report just before departure. In the first 21 days of December I meditated more than 15 times. Several moments of meditation each day since, but no formal sitting. Today we resolved the chair situation, so tomorrow I'll sit again.
Keeping Commitments
I continue to notice, and sometimes feel ashamed about, the narrow window within which I can successfully make and keep commitments. If I reluctantly agree to do something I don't want to do, I can sometimes complete the task with ease if I start at once. I can usually complete the task with much gnashing of teeth if I start it late. I continue to struggle with my own procrastination and choking about starting 'right on time'. If I take on something I would really love to do but am uncertain how to do it, or doubt my own ability, then right away I begin to choke, sometimes snatching defeat right out of the jaws of victory. Only in the middle, when I am promising to do something I find easy and deeply enjoy, does the 'keeping' part come easy. Something to work on in 2009.
Physical Reality, Plans, Overbookedness
Much progress on my cluttered office before I left. Much progress on organization now that I've arrived. I continue to find that I need at least a little structure in order to stay in focus -- and that I enjoy staying in focus MUCH more than I enjoy 'drifting with the flow.' Not that I need to resist, mind; just that if I have one 15-minute task to do and all day to do it, I can postpone it indefinitely ... but as soon as there's enough in my plans to require planning, it can all get done.
So this week has been a little too open. I've got some things done, but there's been struggle required to start. And, as has become customary, I find myself taking on projects that will fit fine if I start right now, but will become a potentially serious time conflict in another month when the new term starts for both seminary and memoir class. It's fascinating to watch myself do this, over and over again, especially since I really do cherish the first week of downtime. But by the second, I'm eager to take on more work.
Round and round we go.
--
I want to close the year with some serious spellwork for 2009:
In the year ahead, in the month ahead, in the week ahead, in the day ahead, in the present moment
I find Love, Light, and Laughter wherever I seek them
I give my attention with conscious intention
I listen more to those who love than to those who hate or fear
I listen more to those who trust the planet than to those who believe they must rule her
I speak truth to power where necessary and useful, and make room for those less powerful to speak to me
I chose this incarnation for the experience and so
I experience my participation
I participate in my choices
I appreciate my experience
The Blessings are ever-growing
And the Blessings already are.
So mote it be.
---
And the Blessings of a Light-Filled, Be-you-to-Full Year to each of you!