Reverb10: Day 13

Day #13: Action. When it comes to aspirations, it’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step? (Author: Scott Belsky)

There are a couple of areas in my life that I feel will need action in the year to come to bring things to fruition.

Career: There are fews things for this one. I need to decide where I am going to grad school (probably UBC). Then I need to work on getting there. I am taking a year off from school, so I will have time to write the GRE and apply. I plan on working most of the next year. Save up some money to pay off some debt.
Creativity: Commitment. I have decided that it is time to put some commitment into my creativity. One way I am going to do this is by doing 365. This is a project where I take a self portrait every day for a whole year. The act of taking self portraits will not be challenging, but doing it for a whole year will be. I have a hard time doing anything beyond peeing every single day for a extended period of time.
I also want to do more knitting (both for others and myself) and to continue with my current obsession of sewing. I want to keep making my plush creatures, but it might be nice to make some clothes as well in the year to come.
Clear Out: I need some action to help clear out my life. I need to get ride off a bunch of stuff, which involves organization and probably lots of work. Clothes and paper are probably the biggest jobs...

Reverb10: Day 12

Day #12: Body Integration This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present? (Author: Patrick Reynolds)

I think I often feel a cohesive me in this way. I spend a lot of time in my body (literally). I think it is pretty cool to be a physically manifested being and experience all the sensations that come with this. I think this was why I was born a Taurus. I also happen to think that is why I came to Earth in the first place.

This year I think I have felt most present in my body...
When doing physical exercise that has a purpose (like I am going somewhere) and where I have to push myself beyond some internal limit
While meditating or doing yoga (with my eyes closed)
When indulging myself on really good sweets and lounging around in bed with flannel sheets and hot water bottles

Seeing that written out feels really balanced to me :) I know people who are only able to find happiness with their physical self in one of those things; crazy over-exercisers (adrenaline much?), over-indulgers (dopamine!!! yipeee), or people who meditate so much they wouldn't know a embodied experience if it hit them on the ass (I sometimes wonder why these people came to Earth at all).

Side note; Decartes was an ass.

Reverb10: Day 11

Day #10: 11 Things What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? (Author: Sam Davidson)

Gosh, eleven things...

1. Stress (haha)
2. An empty house on Pender. Rented by February=Less financial stress.
3. A legal husband. I need to have a legal ex-husband. Goal; official divorce before my 31st birthday. Last stings cut!!
4.That many clothes. Some of them need to leave my house.
5. Paper. Speaking of overburdened with stuff, I need to go through every single box of paper in this house and sort it all (15 years worth, ouch)
6. The merry-go-round repetitive negative thought parade.
7. Internal boy drama
8. Constraints and limitations (imposed by myself or others)
9. Drunken conversations with other scientists about anything other than science.
10. A messy house (I've noticed that I am calmer when the house is clean)
11. Stress (no, really, I mean this one)

This one was hard, and it made me realize that I actually don't often think about things that I need to get ride of. It is much more common for me to things that I want to bring into my life. This makes me happy. Perhaps I am less pessimistic about life than I thought...

December Views

Awkward Moments

Reverb10: Day 10

Day #10: Wisdom Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out? (Author: Susannah Conway)

To not go after that boy. Enough said.

Reverb10: Day 9

Day #9: Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans. (Author: Shauna Reid)

This one is a tie.

Jenna & Jamies Wedding OR Firemaker.

I've talked about both of these events in previous posts (obviously they were both awesome). Firemaker is a primitive skills retreat that I attend and help organize every summer. It is one of the best weeks of my year, every year. An amazing community forms in the week we are in the woods together and I come away being rejuvenated and deeply inspired to live my life in a better way (granola was the lasting result from this year's gathering). I also get to spend a week living with my most favorite small people in the world (my 2 nieces, 2 nephews, and my pseudo little brother). This year was particularly fantastic. The group of people who gathered this year just jelled really well. There was lots of spontaneity this year, which always makes a community thrive. The food was outstanding (yay Anne, best cook ever), and most everything went off without a hitch (a feat for organizing a week long gathering for a group of 100 people).
Jenna & Jamie's wedding involved 36 people hiking up a crazy trail to an alpine lake above the clouds. It was beautiful, stunning, and everything the joining of two people should be. There was so much love and friendship bouncing around that weekend. It rained like hell after we hiked up, but it kept us all cuddled together. Amazing and unforgettable.

Reverb10: Day 8

Day #8: Beautifully Different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful. (Author: Karen Walrond)

Well...I really have only one response to this question...

I am a goof ball!