Goals for a New Year

For many years now I have set personal and professional goals at the beginning of each year. I did so again this year but they look much different from years’ past. I have ALWAYS had something to prove, the result of a not-enoughness mindset. Thankfully much of my life’s inner work has been about seeing/understanding not-enoughness, the insideous ways it shows itself, and dismantling its ugly manifestations. I never would have had the courage to publish Love Letters for the Soul without doing so. I don’t have to be the best at anything. I only have to be myself.

So while I still think it’s important to set goals and work toward them, my stance has softened. To me, life has shifted from acheiving goals at some far-off date to paying greater attention to how I’m living today. My goals for this year are much more internal than external (well, except for a few … ) They may shift over time and that’s okay. As of today, here is my short list:

• Everyday presence, being fully connected to life, embodying it
• Everyday movement
• Spending time outside most days, even when it’s colder than I’d like
• Respecting and living within the seasons—of the year and my life!
• Deepening my contemplative practice
• Lessoning social media significantly, possibly eliminating it
• Reading every day (which is the topic of my next post because I’ve set a lofty goal here for 2021!)
• Continuing to write everyday; possibly working on another poetry book and a memoir (that I’ve started and stopped for a few years now)

What about you? Have you set goals for 2021 or do you prefer not to? Life moves along regardless and we are always on the way!