Heading to 2020

by Rain Trueax

sunrise December 18th from Casa Espiritu

The time between Christmas and New Years is a special time for me. Yes, the calendar is a manmade tool, but it can be used. The idea of moving into a new year, especially a new decade, feels important-- even more when it has such a neat sound to it-- 2020. 

This week used to be when I would write goals for the coming year. I did that for years. I was pretty much always having the same goals. I got more organized with them as I'd put them in three categories-- spirit, body, mind. I would think what did I want to do to move myself forward in each area.


It looked impressive to me; and since I was the only one who saw them, my opinion was the one that mattered. Before I'd start writing new ones for the next year, I'd look at last year's right after Christmas to evaluate how I'd done. 

For a period from I guess the mid-90s, I'd do them every year. Then I began to space them out. I had one for 2011 and then this, the last one with its header.

The journey in between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place. DeAngelis

GOALS for 2015

____________Worry less--Trust more--Cope better--Live with honor___

For writing this blog, I just read what I wrote the goals I had written for that year and thought that maybe the reason I lost interest is I wasn't actually doing what I said I wanted to do. In other cases the goals seemed like what I was already doing. Sometimes they were reaching-- like lose 30 pounds except, I didn't. Or I'd say find new groups of like-minded people. Didn't happen. I won't be writing goals for 2020, but I have some general ideas of what I want in this year. I don't need it in writing-- much as I enjoy writing and coming up with better ways to describe something.

Another thing I used to do was make dream boards. I made the first one in 2001. The next was in 2002 and the third in 2003-- before, yep, I quit doing them. The first one is in Oregon. The second one (this one) above my desk here in Tucson.

The way you do these boards is cut out pictures from magazines. They should be ones that appeal to you. Don't ask why they draw you as you collect them. Collect a lot. Remember, you are not trying to decide how you will use them. Then buy a poster or foam board. 

When the time is right, lay the board on a table or the floor and begin to sort through the images for things that attract you and that you'd like to have in your life. Place them on the board as they feel right, move them, remove and add a new one until it all feels right. Then glue them down. When I made the first one, I had no intention of framing it. After I had it, I knew it'd be good to be able to look at it off and on for how the images encouraged me. Ranch Boss framed all three. The only one not on a wall is the third one, which was a little more sensual than the other two. It's in the attic, I think.

From the one above, you can see the images and what they might mean to someone else. Like the two women on a sofa to me represented female friendships. They were of two sisters (Hollywood stars if I recall). The woman striding forward is from a poster we have in Oregon. Each of the images meant something to me for my life.

What I didn't realize when I made the boards is they weren't so much about my life but instead about my books-- the elements I wanted to have in them.  I'd written nine books by the time I made them. Today, I have over thirty with more on the way. In writing, I don't think what the market will want with these stories. They are what the muse gives me. I hope someday the market will want them, but I can't write to the market. It doesn't feel right for me. I know what currently sells. I just think someday readers will want something different, and my books will be waiting.

Another thing I liked to do with this space between Christmas and the new year was read a special book. Often they were nature-oriented books, but they could be about anything though almost all were non-fiction. In a way reading those books was part of setting me up for the new year.

It will be a bit different this year. I bought this book some months back after reading a review. I often buy books ahead of wanting to read them. I know there will come a time. This one is The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha. It's in short chapters with ideas for better ways to look at what happens. The first secret is called-- 'the first thing you must do before you can be happy.' It begins with 6 words that will forever change how you view happiness. 

There are so many short chapters that I decided to start out by reading one of these each day and try to incorporate its ideas-- unless I think they are wrong, of course ;). Because I bought this book used, it has underlines and some comments. I'll enjoy those as I go and the fact that the chapters are maybe two pages or so, it'll be easy to think of the suggestions during the day before the next one. (It turned out that I will read aloud one of the chapters each morning after breakfast for Ranch Boss and I to share the ideas-- agree or disagree. That's a win/win).

Another ritual for me this week has been a new calendar. In the fall, I pick out calendars for the coming year. I enjoy looking through the options and look forward to putting up the new one before the year begins. This year, mine by my desk will be The Lakota Way by Joseph M. Marshall III and art by Jim Yellowhawk. I like calendars with some philosophy and good illustrations. The one, along with 2019, that I am releasing has quotes by Thich Nhat Hanh and paintings by Nicholas Kirsten-Honshin. December's was: "Breathing in, my whole body is harmonized with the in-breath. Breathing out,  my whole body is calmed by the out-breath." Good wisdom for what can be a high pressure season. 

Do you have anything special you try to do during this space before a new year begins?

Diane will be back with her blogs for Wednesday, the 1st. I look forward to that :).