I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.

— Neil Gaiman

Last year, instead of making resolutions, I created a vision board. The beauty of a vision board is that it helps you to define your goals and set your intentions for a given period of time. It’s a roadmap of exactly what you plan to accomplish. Of course, “plan” is the operative word. And, as the old Yiddish adage says, “Mann tracht, un gott lacht.” For those of us who don’t speak Yiddish, that translates to, “Man plans, and God laughs.”

I’ve mentioned a number of times on this blog that I am a Type A personality, which means that I am a highly competitive, ultra-organized, impatient, get-it-done-now perfectionist. As such, my first impulse is to perform a post-mortem review focusing solely on what I didn’t accomplish. The primarily “failed” 2017 goal is that I didn’t publish my book. Truth be told, I didn’t even edit my book. It collected virtual dust in cyberspace for a year while I spent most of 2017 working for a dear friend. My plan was to help her out for a month and then take time off to edit and publish my book. Suffice it to say that I just had my year-end review. After 17 years in IT at a major financial institution, I’m now working at a company that sources, curates and creates art, primarily for a very specific market. I’m surrounded by ideas, creativity and beauty and incredibly innovative, talented people. I quickly grew to love the job and I thrive on the creative energy.

The irony, of course, is that I had very little creative energy left at the end of my workdays to edit my own work. So I did what I could. Almost every weekend, I set aside several hours to post to this blog. Doing so exercised my writing muscles, gave me a forum to investigate my ever-evolving spiritual beliefs and allowed me to connect with like-minded seekers.

As any project manager will tell you, a post-mortem should focus on what was done right as well as on what could have been done better or differently. With that in mind, I’d like to share the goals that I accomplished in 2017.

Health

• Allergy shots — I  have now graduated to “maintenance.”
• Obtain significant migraine relief/pursue non-surgical solutions
  • I actively sought alternative solutions.
    • A few weeks ago, I started using the Curable app for chronic pain relief.
      • This week, I had five migraine-free days, which, for me, is nothing short of a miracle.

Reduce Debt

• I eliminated all of my debt and continue to pay my bills in full each month.

Spiritual Practice

• I meditated daily, most often using my Muse “meditation assistant” or the Calm app.
• In an attempt to reconnect with Sangha (spiritual community) I:
  • Attended a lecture/meditation event featuring Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein
  • Registered for an upcoming event with Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman
• I became more adept at rune casting by recording detailed analysis in my journal

Tattoo

• Got a butterfly tattoo to serve as a daily reminder that I am constantly transforming

For 2018, I think that I’ll skip the vision board and keep my intentions really simple:

• Create
  • Write (everything and anything counts)
  • Knit and crochet
  • Color
  • Whatever brings me joy…
• Health
  • Eat whole food
  • Exercise more
• Spirituality
  • Participate in more Buddhist activities
    • Sits
    • Classes and lectures

First and foremost, I want to be kind to others and to myself. When in doubt, I’ll ask myself, “What is the kind thing to do or say?”

Please check in, dear reader, and let me know how your 2017 intentions went and what your 2018 plans are. I wish you a love-filled, joyful, prosperous New Year.