QOTD:
This year I've made some pretty subtle but significant changes in the way I live, but hadn't been able to articulate the shift until I read a Blog earlier this week that spoke to the difference between "self improvement" and "self cultivation". The author's point of view was that "self improvement" is based on fixing something that is wrong with you and that the best you can do attaining your self improvement goals is to get to where you "should" have been all along. Whereas "self cultivation" isn't about trying to become more acceptable, its about doing and being in ways that bring you personal growth, and about becoming someone with depth and experience, someone with interesting stories to tell about themselves and their life... if you will, someone you'd enjoy talking to at a party. For me this insight has brought order and meaning to the seemingly random things I've done this year which were all exploration of things that interested me, with no perceivable end goal. So that's my big learning for the year... cultivation over improvement.
According to the author the key to self cultivation is desire, and she recommends that you ask yourself questions like "what do I desire, what am I drawn to, what do I want to learn and how do I want to be"... and be prepared for some strange answers to pop up, but know that those answers come from deep within you, so pay attention. When I asked myself these questions in relation to how I want 2018 to pan out, the answer that came to me was "I want to see beautiful things", things that are so amazing they send shivers down my spine and bring tears to my eyes. So this shows me how to plan out my year, and in particular my vacation and travel time - I really want to do a big hiking/knitting trip in Scotland, Iceland or Norway, so slowly moving thru beautiful amazing places, which in turn tells me I need to be fit and healthy to get the full experience.
As it turns out the author of the blog post is a life coach who specializes in healthful eating, so I've signed to get her emails and after I've heard more I may chose to work with her one-on-one. Her name is Max Daniels and she has a web site under her name and .com, if anyone else is interested... the post about self cultivation is on the Mason Dixon Knitting website, which interestingly enough I follow because I met one of the MDK founders at the natural dyeing class that I went to in Nashville.
Daily accountability:
Lose 5 pounds... was up a pound on the scale this morning, which wasn't a surprise since yesterday was the first day back to actual food. Over the weekend I will seek out a totally amazing hamburger and get some of the sweet and spicy glazed bacon that I've been craving and then I will sit down and plan out my healthful eating plan for next week.
Walk outdoors... will be happening tomorrow.
Daily gratitude... my juice-induced funky mood lifted last night and I found myself being happy for no particular reason, so the dam has cleared for getting back to daily gratitude for all the things.
Spread peace... I'm not so sure about spreading peace, but today I am successfully spreading joy. We have an office Elf on the Shelf, and there are four of us "managing" him: today was one of my days and this morning I, um, no he, gift wrapped the beverage vending machine, which has people very excited.
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