It's Reflection Time, People, So Get To Reflecting

  It's that time of year again! Whether you celebrate Yule, or just recognize the passing of one year into the next, it's the time when we take stock of the past year and plan for the next.  Some people relish making New Year's resolutions and some people hate them with a vehemence I don't quite understand.  Whatever you want to call them, I think that it's a good idea to take a good look at where you are and where you want to be each year.

  I did most of my review of the past year at Samhain(in October), but I have recently been focusing on planning the year ahead.  I remember years past when I would literally have a list of a hundred resolutions.  Needless to say, I didn't have nearly enough willpower for most of them. Last year, I made a smaller list of some goals for the new year and I'm ecstatic to say that I've accomplished and made progress in many of them. I feel like really thinking about what I want in my life allows me to take charge of it and make it what I want it to be, instead of just another letting another year slip purposelessly by. Since I've begun to be reflective and intentional about my life, I have really begun to make it what I want it to be and I'm excited to continue this in the years to come.

  I came up with a few questions to help you reflect on the past year and plan for the new one. Leave out any that don't apply to you and, if you like, paste them into a word processor or write them into your journal to think over.

Reflection Questions

The Past Year -

What was the most challenging thing you faced?


What were the highlights?


What were the best books you read?


What were the most meaningful relationships in your life?


How have you grown?


The Next Year -

What are you most looking forward to?


What are your goals?


What relationships would you like to nurture?


What are your learning goals?


How would you like to see yourself grow?


How can you better love your partner?

Happy reflecting!

Real Food, Real Work

  Though I sometimes wander into the most unhealthy of junk food binges, I always return to my desire for healthy eating eventually. The first half of this week makes me look like an amazingly healthy, industrious wife. Maybe if we keep quiet, everyone will believe it to be true. ;-)

Fitness Magazine

On Sunday,... Southwestern pizza.


           Monday, pita sandwiches with cucumber, tomato, red bell
                 pepper, and hummus.

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Tuesday, Gingered Carrot Soup with Whole Wheat Biscuits.
                             

   I did so great for those three days!  And yesterday, I ate leftover soup, so that's not too bad. But I didn't really think to plan for lunches at school, and so here I am, left to the mercy of the healthiness of whatever cafeteria soup happens to sound best. Monday and Tuesday were pretty  easy. Wednesday took a while, though. I am determined that one day, I will finally plan and eat healthy foods every day of the week, not just a few. But sometimes all the planning and cooking just gets me overwhelmed.  

Here's to everyone who's on this journey together, that we not get discouraged. (I'm always open to tips...just leave them in the comments!) I'm convinced that taking care of ourselves will be so worth it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Let Us Be Pagan

  When I say that I'm pagan, people make assumptions, many of which are probably untrue. Because paganism happens to be the label for a beautifully diverse group of people, the pagan next to me doesn't necessarily hold my beliefs or do the things that I do. Some people think that this lack of central organization will lead to the downfall of modern paganism. Some of them even believe that we need to come together and create doctrines and creeds to bind us. I, however, feel that this diversity makes up our very core and that by taking away from it, we would take something vital from paganism.

   Paganism isn't the only religion whose adherents hold to a broad spectrum of belief and practice. Judaism is a perfect example of another. No one who knows much about Judaism expects everyone who calls themselves a Jew to keep kosher or wear a kippah or grow the hair on the sides of their head out. Some Jews do take these commands in their holy book literally and do these things. Others leave them and instead draw meaning from their sacred text in the form of rich symbolism. There are these two extremes within Judaism, and any number of Jews inbetween. What makes them all Jews is that, in some way, they all derive meaning from similar traditions and rituals and from their own self-identification as Jews. The comparison is not a perfect one. Neopagans have no one holy book or sacred text, and many different traditions are present within the pagan community. However, we can see from Judaism that such diversity is a valid, effective option for a lasting religion.

   When someone thinks of a pagan, a very specific image may come to mind. Not all pagans are that. Even many pagan books say that pagans are this or that, but the messy, beautiful truth is that not all pagans are either. Though some pagans believe we should define our beliefs, our doctrines, and our rituals more clearly and definitively in order to make us a more unified, effective whole, I believe that when paganism loses its diversity, it will lose the very thing most of us delight in. Many have come from religions of strict doctrine or dogma, and we want to be free, not simply from our religions of origin, but from demands from within the pagan community, as well. We were drawn to the openness of paganism that allowed us to explore our own beliefs and preferences, while giving us a framework to grow within. When paganism becomes like that which we fled from, we will be drawn away.

  Despite all that I've said, there are things that bind pagans together, that cause us to find meaning in the designation of being "pagan." In one way or another, the earth and nature are sacred to us, and a vital part of our spirituality. We all have holy days or festivals that we observe and we draw wisdom from natural cycles, particularly from what is sometimes called the "wheel of the year." Many of us believe that by focusing intent and consciousness, we can change our reality and take control of our own lives. There is frequently emphasis on some form of deity, from a "Great Spirit" to a God and Goddess to many gods and goddesses, seen as either real or archetypal. Many of us believe in a higher power, but some are atheists. Most are polytheistic, but not all.

  Let us delight in our diversity and in our ability to accept differences. Let us abstain from those practices that do not move us and believe only those things that make sense to us. Let us be a diverse, beautiful whole.

   Let us be pagan.

Careful: Elf on the Shelf is Watching

  Am I the only one who finds the whole Elf on the Shelf phenomenon a little disturbing? As if it's not enough that Santa sees you when your sleeping and knows when you're awake, now children everywhere are  being spied on by this miniature elf with his creepy plastic grin.

  I was introduced to him last year while working at an in-home daycare where he was doing his watchful duty. One day something happened, I can't remember exactly what, but it had to do with one of the kids not being good. (Some things that were defined as not being good were pretty insane: a two year old pooping in their pants and then expecting help changing them? Bad. But I digress.) A note showed up from Elf on the Shelf saying that he was so sad that he had to go away because the children there weren't good.  I, in my naivete, believing that the elf was meant to be a fun tradition for the kids, assumed he would come back. He never did. Luckily, the kids didn't seem to miss him. At all. And can you blame them? I mean, look at him. It was like he wasn't even there for fun,  just as another way to guilt the kids into being good.

  To be fair, I have seen some pretty fun, creative scenarios that some moms have come up with for the little guy.  I especially like the pics over at Holly at Nap Time because that elf is just as bad as any kid, even going so far as to steal from their mother's wallet.  Maybe my strong feelings against the elf hype are because of my own negative experience of him being used as a method of tricking kids into behaving. But I still don't think that if I had kids, I would feel like I needed to tell them that the elf was alive and watching them.

Come on guys, he's creepy, right?

Week 3 NaNoWriMo Recap

  Where have I been all month?  Happily, I can say that I have been writing!

A short summary:

Week 1 - Not bad, kept up on word count.  Getting words out was a bit more like pulling on a glob of molasses than a literary miracle.

Week 2 - Best week so far!  Though this week is reportedly a dreadful week of horror for many Nanoers, words seemed to fly out of me and I even got ahead on my word count.  I remember one amazing day that week when I was so wrapped up in my story that whenever I sat down to write a strange, blissful euphoria overtook me.  That day made me feel like a writer.

Week 3 - Thought "spending Thanksgiving week at my parents' house won't affect my writing much," proceeded to go to said parents' house, experienced sheer terror and panic when I began to fear I was going to fail miserably. Decided that maybe stranding my main character alone for a large portion of the book, as planned, wasn't a good idea considering that dialogue is what makes my scenes and that without it I feel like an extremely clumsy person on ice skates. Got back on my feet.


  And that brings me to now, nearing the end of Week 3.  Deep breath.  I have overcome so much this month, just letting myself write without worrying that what I was writing was essentially a pile of shit.  Honestly, I thought it probably was.  Imagine my surprise on reading over some of story today when I realized it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared.  In fact, it has potential and I might not even have to rewrite every single word after November's over.  Keep on writing, fellow Nanoers.  We can do this thing.

Need some hilarious NaNo inspiration?

  I know, I know.  One of the greatest pieces of NaNo advice is to get off the Internet, and yet here I am.  But I think you'll appreciate my finds over at Terrible Minds.  First, here is an excellent article called 25 Things You Should Know About NaNoWriMo.  Second, Mr. Wendig has left us with a prayer: less a supplication to the universe than a stubborn, slightly maniacal rant.  He encourages us to stand in front of a mirror and recite it to ourselves.  I dare you to do it!  I double dare you to do it without peeing yourself.

This book is almost complete. But challenges shall dog my every step. 

My hamstrings might snap like high-tension cables and take out one of my eyes. My back may bend and bow until my scoliosis allows me to pleasure myself with my mouth. My knee caps might shoot off, striking a Yeti in the eye which makes him really mad and so he comes over and tears both of my arms off and beats me about the head and neck with my own gore-spewing limbs. My mind may crumble under the assault, driven to the very precipice of sanity, staring down into the deepest yawning yawping abyss and as the Yeti howls and my synapses fire I will smell the scent of funeral flowers wafting up from that abyss and I will find it peaceful and comfortable and will realize how easy it would be to just pivot my hips just-so and go tumbling down into that satisfying darkness, the darkness of ease, the darkness of acquiescence, the milk-livered niddering darkness of sweet sweet cowardice. 

But I will do no such thing. 

I will soldier on. 

I will grab one of my severed arms in my teeth. 

I will flail my neck around until I slug the Yeti in his Yeti balls with one of my own dismembered limbs, and I will watch as he cries, “MROOOOOooooo!” 

  You can check out the prayer in its entirety here.  My word count is currently standing at 4500, and I need 6600 by the end of today.  So I think it's time for me to truly tell the Internets adieu.  So adieu.

Book Synopsis

  I promised my NaNoWriMo synopsis, so here it is!

Aubrey has gone to Brazil on a biology research internship to study the endangered Boto dolphin, which lives only in the Amazon river.  Living in a small village of stilted houses on the Amazon, she is exposed to the raucous and passionate world of Brazil's less-privileged.  As she begins to talk to and learn the ways of the locals, she learns that some are open, like the merchant's wife, but some are as closed as a musty, unused cellar, like the man who looks barely older than herself and lives on the edge of town with no human contact.  When she meets an alluring man near the Amazon one night, she has no way of knowing that her world will be forever changed.  Is he what he seems, or is there something to the superstitious murmurings of the locals? Does she know as much about the dolphins of the Amazon as she thinks?  This chance encounter throws Aubrey headfirst into the eerie underbelly of a small Brazilian village, with its strange inhabitants and common acceptance of things she has never dared to imagine.  Can she survive the terror that overtakes her, and if so, will she know the girl who emerges on the other side?

So that's that.  I got 2200 words yesterday morning, and I haven't written yet today but am going to a local NaNo write-in with my husband tonight.  That's all for now!