No Solution

Wednesday, January 12, 2011


I hate the word resolution...or maybe I hate the concept. Resolved, Solution...these related words all make me think of problems, things to fix.

There are always problems, and things to fix, but I hate the idea of starting the New Year from such a negative/half empty point of view. I want to think about building up, going forward.

So, at the New Year, I thought about my life list, my goals, what I could accomplish this year towards my larger hopes and dreams and plans. NOT resolutions.

For example, improving my health, not reducing my weight. Actually, this was in part a practicality: I gained 2 lbs during the Bikram 30 day challenge, but lost a dress size: muscle weighs more than fat. And picking an arbitrary weight goal is kind of stupid. What it means is the important thing. Better fitting clothes, better health. More strength, endurance; less illness.

So: my goals, all of which have value and relevance to the larger and more general direction I hope my life is growing into.


to grow all of our (natively growable, i.e.no star anise) herbs
to finish 10 knitted objects(up from 5 this year)
to Knit Jasper a sweater
to Sew a garment
to Learn whole grain baking
to Do Bikram 100 times
to Improve my meditation practice
to consistently improve the organization& beauty of our home
to Paint my mantra tree
to Find a new/consistent Volunteer Opportunity

Plus one other that shall remain... private. For now!


Mostly these are not actionable, or tasks. I will need to figure those out, as the days come. Having these as goals, more principles-based reminds me of "why" I am doing the action, and allows for some flexibility in execution, as the seasons and circumstances change.

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We make family goals, too...which of course take us a month to agree on! We did about 90% of the list last year,which I think is pretty good. And having that list on the fridge reminded us of things to do, ideas we’d had for the year.

There will be 11 items on the list, 11 things for 2011.

My preliminary thoughts:
go on a new hike
walk across golden gate bridge
finish/re-do our bathroom
see 11 best oscar winners
speak spanish
bake 80% of all baked goods (cookies, bread, crackers, granola bars)
80% of our grocery $$ at local stores
reduce our garbage load by 20%
reduce our debt load by 20%

I’m curious what this list will look like on February 1, our “go” day.

2 comments:

jilly said...

You are an inspiration. Jilly

Amy Nieto said...

How wonderful to have family goals. I am sure you will achieve them all and create exciting new ones along the way!!