My 2016 New Year Resolutions/Goals

I actually don't have many this year. Having picked my word of the year in 2015 (I'll share my 2016 word with you very soon!) it's been works so well I can hardly think of other goals. I will admit that those very generalised resolutions I wrote last year really really seemed to work well alongside my 2015 word so here goes. Aside from remembering all of these This Year I Hope To:


Be A Writer
Write, edit, publish more of my work. If all goes well I am finishing school this year. This means a freed up my brain and my time to do more of the things I am most passionate about. This includes writing a poem, short as it may be everyday this year. This is an effort to grow as a writer and expand my vocabulary. Editing my novels in preparation for publication. Finalising the publishing of my anthologies. Performing poetry more.

Abide in Silence 
I kind of keep failing at this one. Well not failing in the true sense of the word. I always only get it a little right. I suppose I will just have to accept it's going to take years to master the kind of silence I want to have. It's a process after all. For me what this means continuing to cultivate positive community with like minded people. Accepting that there are things that do not feed me and leaving them alone means being a healthier happier version of my best self.

Do More of What Works and Less of What Doesn't
I actually saw this on twitter one time in 2015 and I thought that's brilliant!  I'm going to make an attempt to do just that this year. In 2015 planning helped me. Scheduling time to be creative helped me. Positive stationary helped me to keep motivated and achieve set goals. I will be doing those again this year.

Seek God
Prayer worked. Prayer Journalling worked. Studying the word worked. Surrounding myself with like minded people for Jesus worked. Surrendering and leaning into Faith threw me for a loop last year and I know that in 2016 God is going to have my heart singing the right song.

I also want to travel more and be more financially responsible so we'll see how that goes too. They are intertwined you see and will take a giant effort but hey...here we go!

Okay it's a little scary to realise that I actually have more resolutions than I thought I would. Feeling a tad intimidated here haha. I suppose though it's really more 2016 goals than 2016 resolutions. A reality with which I am okay. Most of all I want to remember to watch my word for 2016 and let it guide me towards my needs.



Do you have any resolutions/goals for 2016?

Peace. Love. A Very Good Year.

My Word of 2016

(art by Shellon)

Victory 

I am actually quite a bit intimidated by my word for 2016. I don't know what to do with it. It feels so much bigger than me like a whole sky expanding over an ocean; stretching as far horizontal as it does straight ahead. As deep as it is wide.

It makes me so feel smaller than it and makes me doubt if it really is my word.

I didn't even deliberate on it much. It just kind of came to me one night in either late October or early November and I felt so sure, so at peace in my heart about it as if it had floated right through my window on the waves of the dark night, slipped its shoes off, made itself cosy in my heart, turned the lights down low and whispered goodnight as my peaceful companion for the rest of the year.

I already love it. I feel a strange sense of familiarity with it. As if it were meant for my 2016.

I am trying to remind myself that as 2015 began I became afraid of my 2015 word too. It felt like it was asking so much of me, boxing me into a commitment I felt so pressured to sustain. However, ultimately, it made me better and was the perfect fit.

May Victory too be the perfect fit in 2016 it's going to be a journey!


What is your word for 2016?

Peace. Love. Claim the Victory.

2015 New Year Resolution Update :: My Prayer Journal Experiance

 At the beginning of the year I made resolutions. I purposefully made them general and simplistic, at least they seemed so to me, in order to better tackle them. It's past the half year mark now (can you BELIEVE THAT!?) so I really wanted to write an update on the process.

I'm not new to journalling, I've been doing it for half of my life now.  It's funny though that sometime along the way I stopped. Sometime around when I started a public blog I found myself journalling less and less. It's not this blog's fault honesty it was me.

Things got tough, a different kind of tough, the kind where coming to a conclusion about a question was not just difficult but it wasn't as satisfying. I didn't want to catalogue it any more, I didn't want honesty that didn't seem to amount to anything. I had enough of that around me it was too much to find it inside of my head too..for a while.

As I grew more intentional about prayer and scripture and a different side of my relationship with God however, I decided to try journalling again, only in a different way this time. What did I have to lose anyway? He already knew everything!

Turns out it was just what I needed. prayer journalling was honesty with ease. I was journalling without any pressure, self applied or otherwise. It's not chalked full of hurt and anger  nor doesn't make me embarrassed the thought of someone seeing it, believe it or not. It's glorious honesty without assessment and I love it!

I will likely continue for years, even though my intention was only to try it for a year.

Admittedly, I failed to keep it consistently as I had hoped. I was so embarrassed as I looked through it for the first time looking back, in relation to time. It goes JANUARY! Intentional! Full of potential and drive! Theeeeeen.......APRIL! haha Wut?!  I got so busy I skipped two months straight and even after! Leaving me with only about half as much as I should have by now but am I disappointed in myself? You know....no.

When I looked at the words, I was shocked. They told me things about my strength, beliefs, courage and tenacity I did not actively know. Look at all those positive adjectives!

Life is hard, life is daunting. Sometimes it's so overpowering that we get tired of thinking about or even looking at it. Yet, golden are we that have not given up. Golden are you who have retained the strength to be here today.

Prayer journalling helped me find the drive to journal again.

Oh and I also did the other prayer resolution I set for myself, let me know if you'd like to hear about that experience. That's half of my resolutions doing pretty well so far, I'm a little impressed and very pleased haha.


How are your new years resolutions going?

Peace. Love. You're Golden.