(journal page, Cat Charissage, 2014) 

Dear One,

Last week when you wrote, arted, or thought about your longings, did a few themes come up?  Are there certain areas of life that are pulling at your attention?  Are there certain life opportunities or life commitments that need significant attention from you this year?

When I’m talking about this year, for me, I’m really talking about the next few months.  I’ve done yearly planning or yearly dreaming for a whole lot of years, but the reality is that I don’t think I’ve ever followed my January plans in December — life for me has never been quite that predictable.  Usually only a few months are visible in front of me.  YET, if I’m intentional about these next few weeks or even these next few months, I’ll find myself in situations where new possibilities arise that I never could have known about now.  So, I’m setting direction!  Join me?

My themes or focuses for this year are Hearth and Home Tending, Study, Painting, Blog and Teaching, Red Thread Sessions, Nurturing Liberty (in my son and in others), Silence, and then a later addition that screamed to be included, my Body.  Other years included very different themes, such as “Research Home Education”, “Explore and practice Freezer Cooking”, or “Study Joseph Campbell”.  One year the whole theme was basically “Survive Toddlerhood”.

Once you discern what your themes might be for the coming year (or next 3 months. . . . ), write down a few action steps to move you forward in each area.  For me, under “Silence”, I’ve included “poetry and journaling, daily”, and “weekly Depth Dimension Day”.  Under “Body” I’ve written “Really listen”, and “When I hurt, stop.”  As you can see, most of these actions are actually practices or habits, not exactly things you can check off as “done”.  But under “Red Thread Sessions”, I do have some check off the list items, such as “make art cards, make business cards.”

What are some of your next action steps?  What are some of the habits you’d like to cultivate?  Steven Covey reminded me many years ago to ask, “What is one thing, that if you did it repeatedly, would make the largest positive impact on your life?”

You, too!

With love,

Cat