I have been busy with other things so blog posts are not ready to share.
Here is a little something to ponder.
It is almost the end of January. Did you make wild resolutions you have been unable (or unwilling) to keep? I think this is a really good reminder of what is important. How about you?
Also, a special warm welcome to anyone who may be visiting for the first time. Please say hello via the comments so I know you’re there. 🙂
Despite my best efforts, I was not feeling particularly positive about the new year as you can see from this post which I wrote on New Year’s Eve.
This comes from ‘The Story of Stuff’ and I really like the sentiment. It might be nearly 2 weeks into 2015 but I think I will make this mine.
It is now one week into 2015 and this morning I woke up to the shocking news of a targeted terrorist attack in Paris. Like many others around the world, I was both sad and angry to hear this news. However, I was heartened to see the defiance of ordinary citizens in major centres all over Europe. They took to the streets in their thousands to show their support for freedom of expression.
Like them, I have a life to live and am not going to be sucked into the cycle of reporting on this and no doubt future ‘bad news’ stories.
I looked back at this blog post from New Year’s Eve when I wrote, “Meanwhile, I tried to keep my focus on blogging but there were times when I just felt too overwhelmed by events in the world around me to write about simplifying our life.”
One my my resolutions, if you wish to call it that, was that while I would keep abreast of news events here in Australia and also globally, I would not let the news define me.
I tend to deal in reality and don’t lay much store by clairvoyants, horoscopes, tarot cards or any of the other multitude of ways to “see” the future. I did laugh though, when I read a horoscope (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) in our free Mx newspaper at the train station yesterday. Normally, this paper would be well in the recycling but I brought it home to finish the special holiday edition of the Sudoku puzzle. This is what my Aries prediction for 2015 was:
“Random events will continue to occur around you. There’s no order to the universe. Life is meaningless. Stop trying to find meaning where there is no meaning. You cannot control the uncontrollable, so stop imagining there are arbitrary rules for dividing up and understanding existence by indulging in horoscopes.”
I liked the phrase, “you cannot control the uncontrollable”. There is definitely some value in that.
Meanwhile, today I will do some paid work as well as ironing, preparing dinner and perhaps some more sewing.
Here we are, almost at the end of another year and as usual I try to take time to think about what I have done and my plans for the new year.
I was looking back at some of my posts from around 12 moths ago and although I have achieved a lot this year, some of my lofty ideals did not come to fruition. You can check out my goals here. The photo project was an epic failure but everything else (and much besides was done).
The organising for Christmas also fell by the wayside but it was all achieved before 25th December. My goal is to do better in 2013.
The important thing when you find that the achievement did not measure up to the goal you set is to simply pick yourself up, dust off and try again. That is what I love about a new year – it is a clean slate.
I have my 2013 diary and have resolved to use it properly this year instead of cluttering my brain with 1001 things I have to remember. An Excel spreadsheet is set up to record our spending so that we can see where the money goes. The emails are sorted/deleted/archived/actioned/unsubscribed as required and I will keep this up-to-date each week.
Our holiday in March is planned and booked.
How was your 2012? What do you plan to achieve or do differently next year?
organised castle 