Showing posts with label Year in Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Year in Review. Show all posts

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Yearly Goal Reflection (Year in Review: Part Three)


file folder I created at recent mini-retreat - "learn to hear what your inner voice is telling you and your whole world changes"


My 2011 goals that I listed last January:

• Attend Professional Development conference in Psychology: DONE

• Publish Yoga for Living Wellness CD (and have a party when I finally do - lol): Nope. Why do I have such a block when it comes to this project!

• Complete a first draft of Living Wellness book: Nope. Um, can we say overly ambitious goal?

• Clean out the basement: Nope.

• Read all of Martha Beck's books (I'm probably 25% there already): Nope.

• Continue to cultivate daily meditation practice: Sort of is probably a generous appraisal.

• Draft plan for new website & purchase domain name: DONE

• Rent newly renovated office suite to fabulous, like-minded health & wellness professionals: One down, two to go.

• Explore mixed media art: Nope.

• Attend additional yoga training: DONE

• Enjoy 12 weeks of maternity leave: DONE + 5 additional weeks

• Research starting a non-profit: Bought a few books but that was as far as it went.

• Host a retreat at Tree of Life Yoga Studio: Not this year.

• Begin publishing podcasts & vidcasts: Nope.

• Write more content on blog: DONE

• Daily physical activity: At times...

• Participate in 2 courses through Goddess Leonie's Goddess Circle: Define participate.....

• Save 40% of my income each month until baby is born: DONE

• Donate monthly to my favorite charities: This went well the first half of the year, but faltered after that.

• Continue to make self-care a priority after baby is born while also understanding it may look a lot different than it does now: I've done well with maintaining my monthly pedicure and massage appointments, but I'm definitely needing to work on ways to have more "me time" on a daily/weekly basis.

• Monthly dates with all the important people in my life (hubby, daughter, friends, and family): This has gone pretty well!


other side of file folder - "uncovering answers to your deepest questions"


2012 Dreams:

  • Try a green smoothie
  • Make kale chips
  • Take a Zumba class
  • Study Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
  • Design and lead yoga group for women affected by violence
  • Work with fabulous, tech savvy web designer to create new biz website
  • Create new business cards and brochures to better reflect the whole of my business
  • Regular dates with my art journal & yoga mat
  • Publish that darn yoga CD – even if I have to pay someone to do it for me!
  • Morning and evening rituals to bookend my day in mindfulness
  • Host 3 retreats at the studio
  • Take a minimum of 6 weeks vacation
  • Be present at home and at work. Single task like a champion.


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11 Lessons from 2011 (Year in Review: Part 2)



Dear 2011,

You taught me some intense lessons! Many I'm still learning over and over again, especially those about letting go of expectations and being gentle with myself. I thank you for all you taught me and the deep love, fear, joy, pain, and growth that was 2011.

1. Being pregnant and giving birth again reminded me that I can work as hard as I possibly can; read, study, and prepare; plan all I want; and still I really don't have any control. I dedicated months preparing for a natural childbirth experience that went out the window when I found myself 2 weeks overdue and staring in the face of (another) induction. The fact that Melaina's birth was nearly identical to Megan's felt so unfair to me and I struggled with sadness and anger about it for many months. Not to mention guilt. Huge, heavy guilt weighing me down. When Melaina was a week old I had a dream that my midwife told me I really should put her back in and birth her the right way. I also found myself angry at my body. What was wrong with me that I couldn't just go into labor naturally? Thankfully I've come to terms with it now and allowed myself to grieve for the natural birth I so desperately wanted. I'm grateful to my body for creating, carrying, and birthing two amazing babies. I accept that they came into this world in the manner that they needed to. Talking about it really helped me (thank you to everyone who repeatedly listened to me go on about this). So did reading this post.

2. Being a mom to a newborn again taught me some powerful lessons. Namely, how to ask for and graciously receive help. Sometimes I just want to do everything by myself! Um, okay, most of the time! These last seven months have really forced me out of my comfort zone when it comes to asking for what I need. It gets a little easier each time. If you struggle with this too please know that it is a beautiful gift to the people who love you to allow them to take care of you just as you take care of them.

3. I experienced a painful reminder that trusting my intuition is the most important parenting strategy. Now that I think about it this applies to life in general.

4. I struggled with basing my self-worth on something other than "getting stuff done." I'd actually like to remove the phrase Getting Stuff Done from my vocabulary. I want back all the time and energy I've spent worrying about Getting Stuff Done. There is more to life than Getting Stuff Done. If you hear me say, "I can't ever get anything done," please calmly remind me that raising children is some of the most important stuff one can do in a day.

5. Time is precious. Attention is the greatest gift you can give someone. Set down your phone and look people in the eye when you're having a conversation. Listen intently. Let yourself be where you are. Do what you have to do to calm your monkey mind and enjoy the moment.

6. Saying no is necessary and liberating. I said no to non-ideal work. I let go of my fear and scarcity mindset and trusted that there would be enough if I followed my heart. It's working out beautifully for me.

7. Focusing on my priorities is freeing and feels fabulous. I can't remember where I read this but someone said, "If it's not a HELL YEAH then it's a hell no!" This really stuck in my mind and I've used it as a guide when making decisions about how to spend my time and energy.

8. Trying to be perfectly on top of all the minute details of life is exhausting (and so not worth it). 2011 was the year I decided it was okay to take one or even two days to return phone calls and emails. It may sound super simple but this made a huge difference in my stress level and I highly recommend it.

9. Life is happening right now! Worrying about the future or rehashing the past robs us of enjoying our lives.

10. To feel healthy and balanced I need time to myself every day. This doesn't mean something is wrong with me. It's just what is true for me.

11. Self-care is not selfish! This is not a new lesson. It's actually something I say to women I work with all the time but this past year I struggled with some guilt over taking time out for me. And feeling bad during your self-care time kind of defeats the purpose! So for 2012 I'm all about releasing guilt and being easy on myself. (More on that in my word of the year post coming soon.)

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Monday, January 9, 2012

Au Revoir 2011, Bonjour 2012 (year in review: part 1)

Time to say goodbye to 2011 and plan for 2012!

There are endless ways to approach a year end review. Personally, I like to begin by listing highlights of the year and lessons learned. Next, I review my progress on the goals I set last January and sketch out goals for the upcoming year. Finally, I choose a word or phrase for the year to guide my daily decisions and remind me of my intention for the year. This year in the spirit of ease and truly allowing myself time and space to reflect I'm breaking my review up into multiple posts. Let's begin with the highlights!

2011 Highlights:

  • Mama to a teenager and a newborn!


  • Reunited with my love of swimming courtesy of belly-too-big-to-run + above-mentioned sciatica
  • Painted BIG!
  • Amazing workshop on yoga + trauma reignited my dream of starting a non-profit to bring yoga to girls + women affected by violence
  • Traveled for yoga workshop on Anatomy + Alignment
  • Tears of amazement + pride during Meg's solo performance of Popular at her Chorus concert
  • Family trip to Shea's to see Wicked
  • Traveled to visit my hubby's family while 35 weeks pregnant
  • Had my belly cast by the amazing Justine
  • Baby celebrations for friends and family (showers, diaper showers, baptisms - lots of babies this year!)
  • Welcomed another niece and nephew into the world
  • First encounter with chiropractics thanks to baby in full breech position
  • Flipped that baby!
  • Big year for Meg: She was inducted into Junior National Honor Society & later voted in as President, successfully auditioned for All County Chorus, and had her first dance recital
  • Turned 33!
  • Hired yoga teacher substitutes
  • Infant massage class with Melaina
  • Baby & Me yoga class with Melaina
  • Spoke my truth (in writing, for the whole world to read)
  • La Leche League meetings & adventures in breastfeeding
  • Weekly lunch dates with my sister
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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

2010 Year in Review


2010 was an amazing year! As I sat back to reflect on the year's highlights I was surprised and delighted at how long the list was. Here is a sample of my 2010 highlights:

Here are what I listed as my 2010 goals back in January:

  • Cultivate a meditation practice: Work in progress!
  • Get more regular exercise, specifically walk outside a 2-3 times every week: Varied throughout the year. There were several months where I did great with this, especially the warmer months.
  • Write a book proposal & send it out into the world: No, but I did start writing my book and I even read an excerpt to my writing group which felt like a BIG step.
  • Spiff up blog & websites: No, never made this a priority...
  • Attend a retreat of some sort: Yes, I retreated with SARK!
  • Learn to knit: No, I'm not sure where this goal even came from since I have awful hand-eye coordination :-)
  • Cultivate unconditional self-acceptance (do you like how I just threw that one in there): Work in progress!
  • Create a beautiful backyard garden: I did create some beautiful pots of flowers for the backyard, but no garden.
  • Eliminate clutter, especially from my bedroom & closet: Yes, I definitely did this although the clutter seems to magically regenerate!
  • Open a specialty boutique within the wellness center: No, I did start researching this but again it wasn't a priority.
  • Complete Level 4 & 5 yoga trainings: Yes!
  • Publish yoga practice CD: If you read this blog regularly you know this has been hanging over my head for months! Transfer to 2011 to-do list...
  • Record & publish meditation CD: No, I figured I better publish the first CD before I go and record another one :-)
  • Organize a yoga retreat: Yes and no. I held two retreats at the studio, but I intended to organize a retreat off-site. Putting this on hold for now because I am guessing I won't be up for any travel for a bit once the baby arrives.
  • Expand the Do Yoga. Do Good. Initiative - I am so excited for the book club coming in February!!!! Yes, the book club was fun! I am definitely dreaming of a more formal non-profit in the near future.

It is funny how when reflecting on 2010 I felt like I accomplished quite a bit, but it didn't necessarily match up with the goals I created at the beginning of the year. I guess this is the nature of goals; they change just as everything else does! That is why I enjoy Monthly Goal Reflections so much! However, I am still setting some goals for 2011 now.


Here goes:

  • Attend Professional Development conference in Psychology
  • Publish Yoga for Living Wellness CD (and have a party when I finally do - lol)
  • Complete a first draft of Living Wellness book
  • Clean out the basement
  • Read all of Martha Beck's books (I'm probably 25% there already)
  • Continue to cultivate daily meditation practice
  • Draft plan for new website & purchase domain name
  • Rent newly renovated office suite to fabulous, like-minded health & wellness professionals
  • Explore mixed media art
  • Attend additional yoga training
  • Enjoy 12 weeks of maternity leave
  • Research starting a non-profit
  • Host a retreat at Tree of Life Yoga Studio
  • Begin publishing podcasts & vidcasts
  • Write more content on blog
  • Daily physical activity
  • Participate in 2 courses through Goddess Leonie's Goddess Circle
  • Save 40% of my income each month until baby is born
  • Donate monthly to my favorite charities
  • Continue to make self-care a priority after baby is born while also understanding it may look a lot different than it does now
  • Monthly dates with all the important people in my life (hubby, daughter, friends, and family)
Have you taken some time to reflect on 2010 and plan for 2011? I would love to hear what you are dreaming of!
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