Q07

How would you like to improve yourself and your life next year? Is there a piece of advice or counsel you received in the past year that could guide you?

I would like to "improve myself" by establishing, honoring, and utilizing safe/sacred/holy spaces in my life where I can reconnect, restore and renew the current of Life which passes through this particular instance of incarnation that is my life. Advice I've been given is "Less Screen. More Green". I plan to place myself more in nature and the stream of life rather than numbing my days with news, social media, and online distractions.

I would like to continue on a path of believing in myself and not being swayed unnecessarily by others. I received some negative feedback and had to work hard to realize and accept that most of it was not true. I’m learning to discern.

I would like to learn to only commit to what I feel sure I can do, and keep my word. So that my word is holy. I tend to overcommit, or say I'll do something and then not do it. I want to be more thoughtful about that. And I want to be more thoughtful of others and make time for small gestures, more writing of cards, more wishing of happy birthdays. The little things that in the end mean a lot.

I would like to be more involved in my community. I have started to work on this, inspired by the parent groups I'm in, and I see now that I get more out of it by giving more. I am guided to an extent by an essay I read about weekly "family suppers" among a group of friends ("Spaghetti Fridays" maybe?)

Trust yourself. If I regret anything it’s things I knew to do and didn’t make it happen.