3rd Day of Christmas

Our Christmas cactus bloomed for Christmas! A miricle.

This is the third day of Christmas and the second day of Kwanzaa. It gets harder on the third day to maintain a Sabbath mentality; I've had to be firm, place  limits, and find others to take on some of my responsibilities. It's worth it, though, to have this extended time of retreat from the norm. Today I continue to rest, reflect, and find peace within.

Agenda:
1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Journal queries

3. Health goals for 2021

4. Practice health with a long walk to the river

5. End of year work list

1. Kwanzaa principles:

The second day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to the principle of kujichagulia (koo-jee-cha-goo-LEE-ah), which is self-determination: Thinking for yourself, and deciding what you will say and do with your life.

2. Journal queries:

I continue my 12 Days of Christmas mini-retreat, focusing on my priorities and what I'm called to do (or not do) next in my life. 

Today I am honoring my health and resilience, including physical and mental strength, rest and recreation, diet and lifestyle choices, resolve and tenacity. 

Why, exactly, is health and vitality a priority for me? How can I motivate myself to keep it a priority?

How do I define and work towards "good health" without being obsessed or feeling shame?  How can I find joy in living a healthy lifestyle? 

What specific "healthy habits" should I focus on this year?

How do my concerns for social justice, climate justice, right sharing of resources, and equity to those who produce my food and possessions affect my diet and buying habits? Do I live by my testimonies? 

How can I find the courage to keep myself and my family safe when health has become so politisized? And how do I balance safety with the need for community? 

How can I build my resilience for challenges yet to come? 

3. Health Goals for 2021:

I'm beginning the work of setting goals and resolutions for the New Year, focusing on my priorities, which are Love, Home, Health, Service, Learning, Creativity, and Life Purpose. 

My theme for today is health and resilience: Just as I need my home to be in good repair to weather a storm, I need to be strong myself. When I am physically and mentally strong, I thrive no matter what life throws at me (please, no more!), and can move forward without the baggage of fears and grudges.

Health goals might have to do with improving my vitality, working on physical health risks and adjustments, increasing my confidence, acting with courage on a new idea, or facing my fears with equanimity.

My ideas so far for health goals next year:

• Find the motivation to make my health a priority when faced with pressure from all directions and my own lack of will-power.
• Improve my diet consistently; eat less meat and sugar and more green and orange vegetables.
• Be more active every day; take longer walks, do a variety of easy exercises, and enjoy daily house and garden work (and find creative ways to keep this goal).
• Take care of my mental health: Pay attention to my needs and feelings, and indulge myself with naps and baths.
• Be clear and firm with my commitment to protect myself and my family from Covid-19. Don't take risks: Wear a mask, shop early in the day, or do curb-side pick up.
• When the time comes, find the courage to re-enter in-person community activities.
• Build my resilience by staying healthy and by taking decisive action on adverse situations (rather than detaching from problems and stresses and wishing they would just go away).

4. Practice health with a long walk:

It's a beautiful December morning, and I'm joining some friends for a walk in the Masonic Cemetery!

5. End of year work list:

This week is the traditional time to complete and tie the old year closed, and allow the New Year to start fresh: Finish old projects and old business, pay debts, make apologies, call neglected friends, and return borrowed items. I have a few of these kinds of things to do! I'd like to do them in the spirit of Sabbath - that is, with reverence and attention.

Today I will make a list of tasks and symbolic acts I can do in these last few days, and put them on my calendar.

My list this year:

1. Visit a few friends on zoom.
2. Repair the plaster on the wall, to tie closed the kitchen remodel project.
3. Finish some clerk work.
4. Start a teaching blog for my students.
5. Paint a still life.
6. Read my antiracism book very day.