A Simple Yule
White Poinsettia for Yule
Fill the cup.
Rain falls, and only
the sound of a dog breathing
in sleep beside me
is more prominent.
I see the sleigh come,
working its way around the earth
but it will not stop at my house tonight.
Long ago the woman,
the winter crone,
walked the earth during those
dark days.
The warmth of the tea
spreads through my hands
and I am her.
....
Interesting thoughts on Mother Christmas
I am sitting in the dark with my four year old writing this post.
She came to me crying because she has developed a sudden fear of the dark. So we talk about what's in the dark, and how it's normal to feel afraid of what you can't see. Someday, fear of the dark may serve her safety. We talk about how sometimes mommy is scared, too.
But we also talk for a while about things that are beautiful. She is fascinated by spiders right now, and we talk about all the times we've found good spiders in the house, releasing them outside to build their webs. She tells me what they looked like just in case I forgot.
I'm never sure if I'm doing the right thing when I parent.
One of the things I do just before New Years now is separate my goals from my resolutions. Resolutions are little things I'd like to change: wear a pretty dress once a week is my current one.
Goals are dreams. They are visions for the future that I'm trying to bring into the current moment. One of them is this blog. Another is to visit Iceland and complete the Icelandic crash course with the University of Iceland.
Goals remind me that I am a person who can accomplish amazing things. They remind me that in spite of all the crap, life can be fulfilling.
This is important for my children because I want them to understand that the world is open to them, and so I must live that truth for myself. They are mirrors of my own behavior and I want that mirror to be limitless.
Three things to keep in mind when making your goals for this year:
1. Joy
Really, joy is pretty much the reason we live. When you find your joy, you can find a lot of meaning in this weird existence we have. So write things down, brainstorm, create a vision board, whatever you need to do to get started, and you'll find yourself dreaming bigger than you ever have.
2. Focus
Sometimes after we do the work of discovering our joy, we are overwhelmed by what we find. I like to cluster goals together so that as I'm working on one goal, it's helping me move towards another.
3. Grace
We catch a lot of flack for not living in the moment or seizing every minute of the day, but let's be honest here. It's really hard to live authentically every second. So if you don't accomplish all your goals this year, or even any of them at all, give yourself space to be thankful for what you do have and your ability to move on.
So what are your goals this year?