Sunday, January 3, 2010

Happy New Year!

A dear friend of mine called me the other day after reading my blog. She knew that my heart was aching with Lauren getting ready to leave for college. She and her husband suggested that we just pack up too and come to their beach house near Port Townsend. I am not really good at being spontaneous a lot of the times, but this time I decided to try it. I asked the rest of the family and of course they said YES! So only an hour or so after Lauren and Jeff left, we packed up some things and headed for the water.

I was surprised how much it helped. Before we left,I went over to a dear friend's house and cried on her shoulder for a bit and then we had to get ready for our trip. It was the perfect solution to my problem. Keeping me busy, getting things packed and ready. Then when we arrived and everyone got settled in, I looked out my bedroom window at the water and realized how calming and peaceful the water is. The ocean seems to have some magical calming powers, just watching the waves come in and out.

That is why I did not blog yesterday, I was gone... I was taking a vacation from my problems and it was great. There were 8 of  us in total that went and that too helped my heart. We all were missing them and so it was fun to just get away together! Yes, I still missed Lauren and Jeff but I reminded myself over and over again, she is where she wants and needs to be. This is what I wished for her!

We arrived back home this afternoon, I have to admit it was a bit hard coming home and having it be a little more empty but.... how grateful I am for dear friend  who was kind enough to invite us to her home. It was the perfect two days and just what I needed to get everything back into perspective. I will close tonight with a part of a wonderful article I read about evaluating your past year. I hope we will learn from our past and look forward to the new year. Happy 2010!

Reflections:
A Top Ten List of Year-End Questions

Michael E. Angier


In order to embrace the new, we must release the old. A trapeze artist cannot swing from one bar to another without letting go. An important part of preparing for the New Year is to review the past year—to release it—and to learn from it.…

The following questions should stimulate your thinking for this process.

Reflect upon what you did, how you felt, what you liked, what you didn’t and what you learned. Try to look at yourself and your experience with as much objectivity as you can—much like a biographer would.

Here are some suggestions to get you started in mulling over the past year—perhaps the last decade.

  1. What did I learn? (skills, knowledge, awareness, etc.)

  2. What did I accomplish? A list of my wins and achievements.

  3. What would I have done differently? Why?

  4. What did I complete or release? What still feels incomplete to me?

  5. What were the most significant events of the year past? List the top three.

  6. What did I do right? What do I feel especially good about? What was my greatest contribution?

  7. What were the fun things I did? What were the not-so-fun?

  8. What were my biggest challenges/roadblocks/difficulties?

  9. How am I different this year than last?

  10. For what am I particularly grateful?

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