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spirituality

Design Your Life

Crafting New Years Resolutions That Stick

12/31/2012

It’s that time again for all of the glitziest, most sparkling parties to dust our city with their crystalline love for the passing of time and in celebration of the New Year! This coming year happens to look very exciting for me for several reasons. One because 13 is my lucky number, somehow I always get dealt 13 whether it’s my locker or another random number. Another because 2012 was one of the absolute worst years of my life, actually it WAS the worst year of my life hands down for reasons those close to me know and that I will discuss further in the future. And lastly because the end of 2012 has been surprising me with the absolute best gifts I could ever imagine receiving. Not only is the future glistening brightly in my eyes but I’m really excited to start the New Year with the new love of my life.

So what better way to start this New Year than with 10 grand resolutions to bring even more health and happiness into my life? Why don’t you join me and craft a few of your own to share? Together we might even inspire even others to start their own resolutions and to actually hold themselves accountable for them! I know I will because I’ve gotten much more disciplined this year. There’s nothing like losing everything to bring what’s really important (health, love and happiness) to the surface!

As you probably know New Years resolutions are quick to become a subject of the past. They fade away as the days of the New Year linger on and new opportunities occur. The most common reason we forget about our resolutions or leave them behind is due to the unrealistic goals we have set for ourselves in anticipation of quick changes.

Tips for Succeeding

  • 1. Keep your resolutions realistic and achievable.
  • 2. Share them with a friend not for accountability but for encouragement.
  • 3. Focus on changes you’ve been planning to make for awhile.

“John Norcross of the University of Scranton concluded that 75% of resolution-makers will be successful in mid-January, 50% will still be sticking to it by the end of the month and 40%-46% can claim success six months out.” – USA TODAY

My Resolutions for 2013

  • 1. To have my *gulp* divorce finalized and custody agreed upon.
  • 2. To publish one or more of my books I’ve been endlessly putting off.
  • 3. To blog at least twice a week, publish articles/interviews that have been waiting and put much more effort into Miseducated now that my life is whole.
  • 4. To continue to grow more serious in my beautiful relationship.
  • 5. To organize and spring clean our entire home.
  • 6. To produce more work for myself, collaborations and for clients.
  • 7. To lose 5-10 pounds, eat healthier and exercise more.
  • 8. To grow even more spiritual and study religion further.
  • 9. To list the new items I’ve been dutifully creating for the shop.
  • 10. To obtain a larger vehicle (kid count grew from 1 to 4 this past year!).

What are yours?

Escapeland

Power Animals: What is Yours?

12/26/2009
maneki

“I think I could turn and live with animals,
they’re so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied,
not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another,
nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.”
~ Walt Whitman , “Song of Myself”

Animals have been admired, revered and even worshiped throughout the history of mankind. They are so beautiful and powerful that I sometimes think that we envy them, in the ways that we strip from them their coats and skin, or how we try to mimic their physical features. Although I’m not much for the skinning, I do love the cat-eye eyeliner effect.

You may also feel a special connection to a certain species, maybe even a sense of kinship. Do you find yourself enamored with fascination at the sound of a wolf howling, or have you ever stopped to look up at the sky as a hawk or eagle flew overhead? Is there a certain animal that stalks your subconscious mind and maybe scares you a little? Many indigenous cultures around the world believe that different animals all carry a lesson for mankind. An “animal totem” (also known as a “power animal”) is an animal spirit that watches over an individual or a group–looks out for them and teaches them what they need to know to survive.

I’ve always been fascinated by wolves and thought they were beautiful creatures. I started learning more about them and found out that they are very family oriented and support the other members of their pack. The females all help each other with the birthing and taking care of the babies, and I love the fact that they “sing” together by howling at the moon in an eerie chorus. They are also one of the few kinds of animal that mates for life, which really signifies to me how intelligent they are.

Like the loyal and family-oriented wolf, there may be an animal that reflects your own personalty traits, or represents to you a trait that you value. The beaver is an animal that works hard to build a sturdy structure for him and his family, a home that he can pass down through the generations. The eagle flies high over head so she can see for miles around, but she can still see when a field mouse peaks its head out of a tiny hole in the ground. After you learn more about your favorite animal, you might even discover that you admired them for a trait that you value that goes way beyond the physical.

The connection you have with a certain animal doesn’t always need to be spiritual. If you admire a certain animal for their physical traits–such as the antlers on a male deer, or the eyes of a cat or the paw prints of a dog, you can incorporate these symbols into your wardrobe or your home decor. The animal may even be so close to your heart that you feel compelled to get a tattoo related to them. Recently, an image of a piranha kept popping into my head, and it wouldn’t stop until I sat down and drew a picture of this animal. I think this particular animal was showing up in my subconscious because it represented my fears toward a certain situation, and I had to face that fear before it could stop tormenting me.

If there is an animal that wants out of your subconscious, let it roam free and howl or roar or whatever it wants to do. Let your inner doe run gracefully and silently through the trees. Try to see the world through your hamster’s eyes by getting down on his level. Imagine weaving a net-like home for yourself, suspended in the corner of a dark basement, waiting for your dinner to fly in. Animals represent our inner, primal natures that sometimes get repressed, and this is a side of ourselves that we should explore so that we can come to fully understand ourselves and the world around us.

Here is a short list of animals and the things that they generally represent:

Spider

Weaving illusions, writing or creating art.

Bear

Strength and protecting your family and territory.

Cat

Courage, agility and being able to see into the mysterious.

Dolphin

Playfully joyous and lovers of life.

Frog

Adapting to a situation and knowing when to leap.

Falcon

Knowing when to take swift action.

Dog

Loyalty and selflessly protecting loved ones