Okay, it's only two weeks into the year, but anything after the first week can be a wobbly moment.
My resolution I summed up at the time as To Defuse the Resistance. And my plan of action was to meditate twice a day, ten minutes each. (explanation on earlier post.)
In short, meditation is to help me to get past the obstacles to where I want to be, on all fronts.
So far, I've been doing the meditating. That's big. And I actually got around to buying a kitchen timer last night. (I'd been peeking at the clock up til now.)
And I attribute to the meditating (and getting great feedback) the fact that I've had one significant breakthrough in revising my novel. I'm very happy about that.
On the other hand, I'm still deep into the sugar habit, Mickey D's Sweet Iced Tea and the birthday cakes in my freezer that I'm still methodically polishing off.
If I had to choose, I'd rather things go well with the novel, but the fact is, I could choose to well on both.
How's it going with any resolves or goals of yours?
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9 comments:
Peggy, that is quite an accomplishment to keep up with the meditating for the past two weeks! It sounds like it's serving you quite well.
My advice would be to allow yourself to settle in with one change at a time. You're doing well with the meditating so go slowly with the Sweet Tea. Sometimes putting too much pressure on ourselves to make too many changes at once, can make us give up on everything.
Congrats on the novel revision! I am looking forward to reading your next one. Sister India still resonates with me.
I still haven't really set any new goals for myself as I still feel so stuck in the muck that has carried over from last year. I'm trying my best to "rise above" but with a visitation case for my nieces coming up and a kitty who was just diagnosed with cancer, I don't feel that it would be fair to put any new pressure on myself right now. I have chosen the word "patience" as one that I want to focus on in 2009. So I suppose that one of my goals would be to get good at waiting.
Hugs,
Debbie
Two I'm doing, as of today:
I resolve to get more sleep by not watching TV alone past 11pm (sorry Letterman and Ferguson). If there is something I really want to watch I can find someone to watch it with.
I resolve to give myself ten minutes of exercise every day.
I want to do these two. They are not a burden. There is no downside, just remember to do them until they become habit.
I "should" loose weight by eating less, but it's not clear to me that I want to do that, and it can be a big burden.
So on the resolution front I'm going to take what I can get. The two I get for free can domino into good shifts in my state of mind.
Thanks for prompting me to write these down.
Hey, Peggy, since I didn't want to set myself up for failure there were no resolutions. Instead I took some advice from, oh, yeah, it was you last spring, to think in terms of intentions and I INTEND to (1)write every day, and (2)extend our already existing program of frugality to a program of austerity. So far, so good.
Greta
They say that it takes three to four weeks to set something new up as a habit. I've never found that to be true.
Habit, lifestyle change, "my new thing" -- it suddenly occurred to me that how we label whatever you want to call changes to our lives sometimes makes a difference in whether we actually make those changes permanent...
My favorite New Year's post so far: Crazy Aunt Purl's. Laurie started off as one of the funniest knitting blog writers I've ever read (oh, just pick some of the project posts at random) and then had a huge lifestyle change indeed: her husband left her and their four cats high and dry. She's since written a very funny book (haven't read it yet, plan to go find it soon) about her divorce, Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair.
Anyway, here's an excerpt:
"People are so funny about New Year's Resolutions. Some folks think they're laughable, some folks get really stressed out at the mention. Me, I just love goals and lists and thinking of changes to make. Goals aren't really what they used to be -- I used to check things off on a list and wonder why I was still so unfulfilled, so unhappy. Now my goals are just a way to move me through life, from here to there, and when I get "there" I already have new goals, new things to do and see and think about. Nothing ever really gets finished and thank God! Because it seems to be working -- I mean I'm still alive, still coming back for more, still making lists!"
Well, I think we're all doing impressively well. Debbie, I'm glad you're taking good care of yourself. And it makes sense to me, Ken, that you don't resolve to do what you haven't fully decided you want to do. I've taken the other route on that sometimes and it really doesn't work.
Greta, my neighbor, good to hear from you.
And thanks for the Aunt Purl link, K.B. I especially like "There's nothing sexier than a divorced woman with four cats."
Peggy, I haven't been writing long enough to get writer's block but you've made me curious. One article I read on line suggested Vipassana, describing it as one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation, attributed to Gautama Buddha. I'm betting, for obvious reasons, that you're using that method! Hope it's still working.
Greta
I did take a course once on mindfulness, Greta, that was based on vipassana. But right now, I'm probably using a patched together customized slapdash style: sometimes just concentrate on breathing and/or every sound I hear (that one sounds as if it might be jangly, but instead gives a sense of all the layers of the world at work around me, birds, distant cars, etc.
I think it's helping me; another good sign: I'm now four days totally sweet-tea free. Usually I drink about a quart a day of fast food sugar/caffeine. The second day didn't feel great, but the decision seemed to make itself. (A few years ago I cut back from about 2 quarts a day; I probably had to rest up from that.)
Are you meditating, Greta?
Thinking about it. My mind is even faster than my mouth, if you can believe that! I would no doubt benefit from slowing it down. Mind, that is. Okay. Mouth also.
Considering using meditation as a way of preparing to get into the heads of characters, particularly the male. Have you ever done that? (Is this the wrong place to ask questions about writing?) I have never meditated.
To be sure I'm blogfully correct, I will close by saying that writing a book is BOLD for me. It's become a positive addiction...the day doesn't seem complete if I haven't done any writing. (FYI to readers: I was lucky enough to participate in a 4 day workshop Peggy did last Spring called Write From Your Roots. I've been writing and reading about writing since then. She helped me realize that I want to be a writer when I grow up!
Greta
Well, thanks for the nice blurb, Greta. I'm delighted you're in the habit of writing now. And glad you let me know.
Your writing question is entirely appropriate here. I've never aimed meditation at getting into a male character's head. It's an interesting idea. Meditation may have helped me with that, though, without my realizing it. It's hard to track the cause and effect. But I'm certain that the overall effect is good.
Congratulations on your BOLD book writing. Yay!
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