The Focus and the Joy

My friend, the divine Shanna Germain, picks a word for each year. Something to focus on, to embrace, to work towards, to center around. (Follow the link on her name to read her explanation, which is much better than mine. Go on. I’ll wait.)

So she asked her friends and readers what their words were, and this year, I can’t decide between two. They’re different, but yet they’re both internal.

Joy. Focus.

These words, along with Temperance, the Tarot card I pulled on Samhain (to illuminate the Celtic year ahead), are what I’m meditating on right now. No definitive answers yet. But I know I want to focus on joy, and find joy in focus. I want to recognize and experience joy when I’m in the middle of it—I want to be mindful of it—and I want to rediscover the joy of doing the things I love, the things that are good for me. Writing, eating healthy, running, dancing, laughing, loving, singing, being.

It looks like the beginning of the year will also be about learning, gaining knowledge—which I know will help me with focus.

In February, I’ll be taking a couple of writing workshops in Oregon. In March, I’ll be attending the first-ever California Dreamin’ conference, a joint effort by the Los Angeles, Orange County, and East Valley RWA chapters. In March and April, I’ve got a 6-week online course booked on Pitches and Blurbs, and I may do some other online courses through the Oregon Writers Network later in the year.

Overall, I need to look at my production schedule and make some plans for the beginning of the year, writing- and publishing-wise. I started thinking about it last night, to let it soak into my subconscious. Dean Wesley Smith’s blog posts on the topic are a huge boon for me.

Starting next week, Morgana and I are taking a 6-week online course called Align Your Life! Magic, Purpose, & Living the Way You Really Want, taught by my acquaintance, the splendidly lovely T. Thorn Coyle. I’d only recently heard about it, and shot an email to Morgana, and when I didn’t hear back, I kinda forgot. Then last night around 10 pm she called me to tell me she wanted to do it, but registration was about to close! So I fired off an email and our deposits, and we’re in. Whew!

I feel I’ve lost touch with my spirituality over the past few years, and I need to make it a priority again. Morgana’s expressed similar feelings, although I can’t speak directly for her. I think this will be a good first step.

Meanwhile, Ken and I have been discussing our goals re: health and fitness. We’re hoping to both do the three-week nutritional cleanse that I did a couple of years ago (our chiropractor’s father is a nutritionist). It’s a fantastic jump-start, focused on detoxing certain organs, and a good way to get back to basics. Bad habits have crept in again. After I did the cleanse last time, I felt so much better—to the point that my night vision actually improved.

Beyond all this? We’ve talked about taking a photography course so we can learn how to use our camera to its full capabilities, and I’d like to take piano lessons again. (Ken wants to take guitar lessons, but my suggestion is that he take piano lessons with me to learn how to read music, plus we already have a keyboard.) But nothing’s hard-scheduled past March, except for the 2013 Iron Butt Rally (end of June into the beginning of July) and another OWN workshop for me in July. There will be cross-country trips to visit my sister, of course, and no doubt trips north to see my other sister, and trips south to see Ken’s family. There will be friends. There will be joy. There will be focus.

There will be life, as best as we can do it. I’m looking forward to it.