Boot Camp Monday

Painted Lady

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and get ready for a week of fun activities with my grandsons. 

This week at the full moon I discerned a new intention: 

I intend to list clear actionable steps towards paring down, resilience habits, delegation, care-taking, and community-building because the next 2-weeks are our boot camp for the long haul of recovery.

The truth is that I need to control the bits I can control: MY habits, my preparations and negotiations, my integrity and compassion. So, for the next two weeks I'm putting myself through Resilience Boot Camp! And today is Day Two.

Agenda this week:

1. Love Meditation

2. Review "How to Keep House While Drowning"

3. A simple living room

4. Health and renewal plans

5. May nature tray

Monday Renewal

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and get ready for a week of fun activities with my grandsons. 

Agenda this week:

1. Read "The Achievement Habit"

2. Health and renewal plans

3. Clearing and Home projects

4. Grandson fun

Monday Monday

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and get ready for a week of fun activities with my grandsons.

Agenda this week:

1. Gratitude meditation

2. Read "The Spirited Walker"

3. Clearing and Home projects

4. Grandson fun

Easter Week

This whole week is called Easter week or Holy Week, and I enjoy celebrating it with my family. 

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and get ready for a week of Easter activities with my grandsons.

Agenda this week:

1. Read "The Spirited Walker"

2. Clearing and Home projects

3. Grandson fun

4. Pocket calendar plan

Monday Fire

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda:

1. Devotions

2. Beingness 

3. Earth Action

4. Ongo journal

5. Make choice cards

6. Spring cleaning and Home projects

7. Starting a fire

Retreat for Home and Garden

Today I have an entire day alone! I get to read, write, take a webinar, go for a walk, and paint some butterflies in the bathroom.

I've been pretty focused and effective this week, except with housework. In fact, I've been putting things off all month. It's time for a reset, and some earnest time with housekeeping and order.

Agenda:

1. Read "The Art of Simple Living"

2. Discard what I don't need

3. Today's housecleaning catch-up

4. House blessing ceremony 

Plow Monday

Plow Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany, is the traditional day in Europe for farmers to restart their farm work. Our garden isn't large, but, with the ducks, it's like a miniature farm. 

Normally, it's too wet at this time in the Pacific Northwest to do any digging, but many other tasks are possible, and it's good motivation for me to have this set date each year to start my “farm work”.

I got a lot of good permaculture information from Amy of the Ten-Acre Farm.  Amy says,

"January is one of my favorite times of year because I love the opportunity to start anew, make new agreements with myself about how I will spend time in the garden, and determine what kinds of experiments I will run to continue learning and improving."

Agenda for today & this week: 

1. Journal query

2. Creative Perspective plans

3. Walking script

4. Read "SoulSpace"

5. Clean and clear the living room

6. Tool blessing ceremony

7. Garden planing

8. Daily garden visits

9. Make Plough Pudding or Homity Pie

Twelfth Night

 The evening of January 5th is called Twelfth Night, the Eve of the Epiphany, the night that the three Magi traveled to Bethlehem to see the newborn baby Jesus.

In Italy, the story goes, the Befana (short for Epiphania) was busy sweeping her floor that night, when the Magi stopped at her house. They invited her to come along with them on their trip to see Jesus but she said she was too busy.

Later she changed her mind and decided to follow, but she couldn’t find them. She continues her search each year on Twelfth Night, flying on a broom, going from house to house and leaving gifts.

Agenda:

1. Twelfth Night queries

2. Creative Perspective plans

3. Resolutions postcard

4. Walking script

5. Read "SoulSpace"

6. Sweeping

7. Clean and clear the kitchen

8. Make Focaccia della Befana

9. Leave gifts

Alban Arthan

Alban Arthan is the Celtic and Druidic name for the Winter Solstice; it's Welsh for Light of Winter.

The Winter Solstice was never a one day festival - three days seems to be the minimum. The sun appears to stand still for three days, then days begin to noticeably increase in length (and we all sigh in relief). 

Alban Arthan is a celebration of the strengthening sun, and the central theme is renewal; we leave the past behind and greet the new. The world is undergoing constant change and we must change and adjust, too, in order to be able to survive.

From A Druid Way: "One link between the objective and the subjective is awen, inspiration, the flow of spirit, which lets us evoke in others an echo of our original experience. Let the echo be strong enough, let our understanding of this thing called being human, and our skill in working with it, run equal to the task, and music, image, voice, story, object of craft can all serve to unite us in the experience of mystery. An echo from outside awakens a resonance within us." 

Agenda today:

1. Read a novena

2. Druid peace prayer 

3. Light a candle for Order

4. Read "Spirit Walker"

5. Soyal retreat practices for order and self-care

6. Self-care practices brainstorm

7. Pre-school plans

8. Home order practices

Unity with All People

This week of advent my theme is "Striving to find unity and peace with all the people of the world". The first step is always to remember to be peaceful within myself, and find harmony with the people I interact with.

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health, home, holiday, and prepare for Grandson fun. Today I'll also make plans for inner peace, generosity, and daily harmony.

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. Generosity practice

3. Holiday Mindset

4. Advent school plans

5. Fall Order and Home projects

Nativity Fast

The Nativity Fast is the Orthodox Christian way to experience the waiting which is Advent. Instead of “pre-celebrating” Christmas, they have a 40-day period of fasting, beginning on November 15th (but I wait until sometime AFTER Thanksgiving!)

The Orthodox Church teaches that Advent represents the time before Jesus‚ when the people were disconnected from God. Advent is our chance to experience this loss and disconnection in order to embrace and celebrate the joy of Jesus’ birth in its fullness. During the fast, Orthodox Christians eat less than normal, and avoid meat‚ cheese‚ eggs‚ fish and wine on most days. 

During the Nativity fast, Orthodox Christians keep a primarily vegan diet, without being strict about it - the spirit of the practice is more important than what is actually eaten. Besides fasting, the practice includes also prayer, alms-giving, and love. 

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health, home, holiday, and prepare for Grandson fun. Today I'll also make plans for a nativity fast.

Agenda Today:
1. My Nativity fast

2. Prayer for the fast

3. Read "The Sweet Spot"

4. Love

5. Alms-giving

6. Set fast intentions

7. Fall order and Home projects

8. Make Revithia Soupa (Chickpea Soup)

A Grace-filled Monday

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health, home, holiday, and prepare for Grandson fun. 

Today I'm also making plans for fitting Grace into my days.

Agenda:

1. Grace notes

2. Read "The Sweet Spot"

3. Housework script

4. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

5. Holiday mindset

6. Thank-You School plans

Transition time

At the new moon this week I will move to a new theme focus - from abundance to joy, children, and self-expression, a perfect theme for this next phase of my life. 

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health, home, holiday, and prepare for Grandson fun. Today I'm also making a few fun transition-to-joy plans for the week:

• Complete our hot tub set up, and soak!
• Make a dinosaur terrarium with my grandsons.
• Paint an Autumn positivity abstract.
• Choose a new positivity book to read 

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. Soul notes journal

3. Housework script

4. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

5. Holiday mindset

6. Dinosaur School plans

Holiday Frame of Mind

The holiday season is upon us. I'm making plans for Thanksgiving, preparing for advent, and thinking about gift-making for Christmas.

My top four tips for keeping these next months special are:

• Keep the main thing the main thing: Be clear on my holiday intentions and set priorities each week.
• Focus on savoring experiences like good meals, nature walks, and decorating together.
• Communicate early with everyone involved to confirm  schedules and priorities. 
• Don’t overspend on gifts; instead, make as many as possible and buy used books and toys.

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health, home, holiday, and prepare for Grandson fun.

 

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. Renewal plan

3. Holiday mindset

4. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

5. Dinosaur School plans

Forgiveness Thoughts

Forgiveness is a tedious topic. I try not to give it too much thought, but it is the topic that is coming up today. I will try to focus on freeing the resentments I cling to, because these are a burden, and I want to return to dignity and a ground of love. "Though the action itself may remain forever unforgivable, the human is always forgivable."

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

 

Agenda:

1. Ongo journal

2. Read "The Sweet Spot"
3. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

4. Leaf School plans

5. Creative visualization

Transformation

I'm working a transformation: Turning myself into a patient and wise person, who exercises persistently; and also a magical transformation of our home into a tidy and ship-shape space (with a hot tub)!

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. Ongo journal
2. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

3. Halloween School plans

Monday

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

 

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"
2. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

3. Skeleton School plans

Indigenous People's Day and Third Quarter Moon

Happy Indigenous People's Day! Some people celebrate the second Monday in October as Columbus Day, but many of us prefer to honor instead the people who were here in the Americas for centuries before Columbus "discovered" it. 

Many cities are finally making the name change official, adopting Indigenous People's Day to celebrate the people and their culture, and also to reflect on their ongoing struggles in this land. The celebration today includes powwows, drumming, dancing, Native American foods and crafts.

And today is the third Quarter moon. This waning moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. At this phase we can ease off a bit on actively pursuing goals, slow down, go within, and attend to inner work, renewal, and self-care. This isn’t a moment for starting new projects but for finishing up old ones, making peace with the past, and preparing for a fresh start at the next new moon.

Agenda:

1. Read "The Sweet Spot"
2. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

3. Pumpkin School plans

4.

 Ritual for Release and Realignment

5. Meditation and Evaluation Journal

6. Monthly journal brainstorm

7. A note about appropriation

Full Squirrel Moon and Chung Ch'iu

The squirrels are creating great entertainment these days

Today is the start of Chung Ch’iu, the 3-day Mid-Autumn Moon Festival - a happy and beautiful Asian family celebration that comes each year at the time of the full moon in September or October.

And tonight is the full moon called the Squirrel Moon, because now the squirrels are busily gathering nuts for the winter. We are now at the peak of the strong-energy yang phase of the waxing moon, and will soon begin the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon.

Agenda for today:

1. Take a vision walk
2. Celebrate balance

3. Read "The Sweet Spot"

4. Fall cleaning and Home projects

5. Make moon cakes

6. Make a floating lantern

7. Have a moon-viewing party

Autumn Equinox

The autumn equinox occurs this morning at 11:19 a.m. in the Pacific Northwest. Summer is over and darkness will again catch up to the light.

The rains have already begun (hallelujah!), Canadian geese are on the move south, the leaves are turning and beginning to drop, and night temperatures are cooler. Everything in nature is paring down, and moving energy to the roots and into the earth.

Mark the Start of Autumn:

1. Journal queries

2. Read "The Sweet Spot"

3. Sustainable straw collecting

4. Make a straw doll

5. Fall cleaning and gardening