Goal Setting 2012

The last time I set goals I narrowed it down to three:
Short term: Get organized to include balance: mental, spiritual, physical, social.
Mid range: Get healthy: eat right and exercise.
Long term: Have a book ready to go to publisher.

I would still like to achieve these goals, but I also think I need to simplify as I do not have all this time to spend tracking time, planning, and re-evaluating every few weeks.

Taking a leaf out of a friend's book: do something each day that will get you where you want to go and will have some meaning in your life.

So, looking at what brings meaning to my life: family and friends, being creative, living healthily, teaching and learning. If I were to spend time in each area of meaning, I should be balanced and happy, n'est ce pas? :-)

Spending Time Part 2

Last Sunday, I decided to track how I spend my time in hopes that I would be able to determine where I need to re-organize, if I need to re-organize to become more the person I want to be. This need to see how much time I spend on certain things came about as a result of a personal reflection on making New Year's resolutions. I decided that making New Year's resolutions is important, but only if it leads to a lasting change for the better.

So, in tracking my time for one week, I noticed that I do get about 7 hours sleep each night on the average; that I spend almost 10% of my waking hours either planning meals, cooking, and/or eating. I spend almost as much time getting ready for something, and driving.

My biggest areas of concern or the areas in which I feel I need to make changes are: TV watching, personal time, including exercise, and time I spend with parents. TV watching is what I consider my down time and this is the area in which I spend the biggest percentage of my awake time at once - 12%. I don't think I should spend this much time in front of the TV. I could use some of this time for exercising. Currently, I spend approximately .4% of my time exercising. I realize that this last week was one where I wasn't feeling that great and therefore didn't go to Zumba class or walk on my tread mill. Also, it was too icy outside to walk, etc. etc. Looking at all of the areas in which I spend my time, I do realize that I need some balance.

Therefore, I am going to plan for Zumba on Monday and walk on the treadmill two other days this week. Because of a parent meeting on Wednesday, I will miss that one. I am also going to try to use some of the TV watching time to spend reading for myself and talking to family and friends.

I will track my time again this week to see what works and what doesn't work. Hopefully, I will be able to work towards a more balanced week. Once I get closer to balance, I hope to have a plan that will keep me more in balance. Wish me luck!

Scott Hahn, author

I've read three of Hahn's books: Rome Sweet Home, Hail, Holy Queen, and now A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God's Covenant Love in Scripture. I find his writing to be illuminating, connected, challenging, and yet conversational.

The latest is the story of God's covenant with us, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Hahn takes us from the master plan in the first family to Jesus, all the while referring to Scripture and connecting us to Jesus. I found this book to be an easy read, yet challenging in thought. I highly recommend it to anyone. Such understanding of why God created us and how we got to now helps me to see my place in God's master plan. The Holy Bible continues to be Hahn's primary text and he would challenge anyone to use another. After reading this book, I promptly began re-reading the Holy Bible. I found myself wanting to read the whole book of Genesis (previously found I could not get much past the Creation story), Deuteronomy, and Kings, just to start with.

Hahn is interesting and his style is conversational, using every day language with a few explanations of a Greek word or two that he needs to use for authenticity's sake. His books are hard to put down just because of how he pulls you in by connecting what he is writing about to the individual and to real life. For example, he compares Israel in the wilderness to a toddler who learns the word "no" for the first time. He also shows how we can connect with this, speaking of his own son,

He wouldn't eat his food, and parental urgings fell upon deaf ears. The wrong words suddenly slipped out of my mouth. "Would you like some applesauce?" He didn't hesitate. Looking up, he bellowed his new favorite word. "NO!"

But this time I was ready. "Would you say No for Daddy?" In a split second his second "NO!" came back. "Good boy. Can you say No for Daddy again?" This time he hesitated, but said it again. His face told me that he knew something had changed. The tables were turned. After repeating the procedure five more times, he had mellowed. The thrill was gone.

Little did he know that this piece of paternal wisdom was brought to me by studying the fatherly ways of God with sinful Israel, and how he wrote straight with their crooked lines. This was particularly true after Moses' death, from the time of Joshua and the Judges until the establishment of the Davidic kingdom.

Hahn goes on to show how God gave the Israelites many chances to say "NO!" Finally, they realized that getting their own way was not what they really wanted - they finally developed Judaism, a strict regimen and code to live by, based on the laws of Abraham and Moses.

Where do I find these books? This one and the other I picked up, My Life with the Saints by James Martin, SJ, were at the entrance of the cathedral in McLennan. The parish was giving out these two books and two others for donations in an effort to get the parishioners to read more and learn more about the Catholic faith. What a great idea!

If you've read this book or any other on my list and want to comment or discuss any or part, I'd welcome the discourse! :-)

Spending Time

When reflecting in my Mothers' writing journal, I saw a poem by Julia Fletcher Carney,

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean,
And the pleasant land.
Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of Eternity.

When asking myself where to begin, I decided the following:
1) I need to categorize my time-spending according to the characteristics that I feel are important to me. In that way, I will find myself looking at the effectiveness and efficiency of how my time is spent. I will also be able to reflect on what is important and what is not and perhaps refine the list of characteristics I deem important to time-spending.
2) I will need to track my time-spending for a period of time in order to see where the time is spent, and if there are trends or motivations behind the time-spending.
3) After tracking for a period of time, I will then determine what to do next.

For now, I will begin tracking my time-spending in my notebook on my IPhone as it is something I carry with me most of the time. It also has a notebook feature that will allow me quickly to track my time.

I am counting on the categories to emerge as I track. For example, this morning I spent 2 hours now on my computer. During that time, I spent approximately an hour reading the tweets on my twitter (learning), and re-tweeting (sharing learning). The rest of the time, I spent on my own blogs (sharing),(reflecting) and (creating).

I realize that tracking is also time consuming, but I'm also hopeful that the tracking will also lead to a streamlining of categories and a motivation to waste less time.

Going Deep!

New Year's Resolutions, part 2.

I've been thinking about jumping in with both feet! And, I realize that I do that a lot. I do live in the moment for the most part, the rest of the time I spend either reflecting on the past or planning for the future. This got me thinking even further about how I spend my time.

Some of the questions I ask myself are: how do I spend my time? What do I spend my time on? Am I doing what fulfills me as a person and keeps me connected? Why am I here? What am I really supposed to do? You get the picture. I could come up with at least a dozen more questions about "time". But I think that would be wasting it. So, let's pick on one of the deeper questions -

Why am I here? Not just here in this space, but here on earth? Why was I created? And not just me, but the whole human race? Wow! That's deep.

In a nutshell, not to waste time, I believe that God created (hu)man because we were a delight to Him. (Gen 2) The Catholic Church teaches that God created us to love Him and love our neighbour. He created us to procreate and collaborate. He created us to look after ourselves and the Earth. He created us to make meaning for ourselves and others. God also created us to evangelize or teach others to do the same. God's covenant with (hu)man helps us to be at one with Him on earth and in the hereafter. So, if we do this, we will be fully human.

If I really believe this, then my goal also is to become fully human. I know it's definitely not as easy as it sounds and it is definitely not the material that New Year's Resolutions are made of. However, if one does not want to waste time, if one wants to make confident choices based on what really matters to you, and jump in with both feet, one must go deep!

New Year's Resolutions

I've been thinking. New Year's Resolutions - are they all they are made out to be? I just googled "New Year's Resolutions" and had 12,500,000 hits. Then I googled "New Year's Resolutions that fail" and had 78,600,000 hits. Wow!

It seems that making New Year's Resolutions is important to a lot of people, and that they more than not, often fail. Why is that? Are we not going deep enough? Are we setting goals that we have no hope of achieving? Are we setting goals without taking the time to really go deep into our souls, or psyche if you will, to discover what it is we really want or need? Are we afraid to achieve? Do we have the time? What is it exactly that keeps us from achieving our goals?

There are lots of people in the professional field and on a personal level that will tell you why New Year's resolutions don't work. One of my favorite's is my Steve Errey, his January 1 blog entry at http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/new-years-resolutions-dont-work-heres-why.html. He gives four reasons why they don't work and also hints at a solution -

Instead, make confident choices based on what really matters to you, and jump in with both feet.