Need to spend some time actually planning out my blog posts. This will not only help with making sure I post regularly, but lay the groundwork for the other blogs that I would like to get started – no more talk, must do!
So, that’s a task for today’s list. π
-T
Wow, it’s been a rough few weeks…. Aside from my personal life dramas, I took on a book to summarize in late December and it kicked my arse. I thought it would take me two weeks, but three weeks later and barely within the deadline I finally got rid of it. I will do some make-up posting later of these books, but for now I’m just happy to be free of that. Hopefully, I’ll have a week or two free from the book briefing.
In other news, I have a move-in date. The 25th my apartment shall be free. My new mattress will arrive on the 26th and hopefully so will my bed and other furniture I bought. I will have a proper guest room again and I bought a sofa that turns into a bed so that I can have visitors – hint hint!!! In lieu of visitors, I will definitely do the couchsurfing thing again as it is a great way to meet new people.
Everything else has been fine in general. Life goes on as they say. I go up and down with my emotions and haven’t had much time to think too much really, but that will come later.
So, for today, at least I’m going to relax and try to catch up on some of the other things I have been putting aside. π
-T
to get this book project finished TODAY!!! π
I may not be getting enough sleep these days… This morning, my alarm went off and I kept sleeping for another hour. I might have kept going had something not fallen to startle me awake again. Hm…will have to think about this, but time to start the day!
For a while I have been following this website, Mind Body Green, Β on FB, thanks to my friend P.
Most of the articles are very interesting and are featured in the different categories – your mental health, your physical health and your eating health. They keep you interested by recycling the same posts now and then with different titles.
My crazy yoga teacher said something interestingly true last night. We know how to take apart all of these complicated technical things like computers or cars, but we have limited understanding of our own bodies that we live in every day. We take our bodies for granted and treat it the worst of everything around us.
It made me think about how we treat others. How can we treat others well and truly love them if we do not do the same to ourselves?
A friend of mine is considering the idea of being compassionate to oneself. He said he had no idea what that meant and knew that he was not so to himself. This article this morning gives some help with this idea.
As I think about how much I pamper myself and how I try to stay positive, I realize that this is all part of being able to give and love others. I did not grow up liking myself much; therefore I pretty much hated everybody else. As I have gotten older and come into my own, I am also able to give more to those around me.
Strangely, the ideas of yoga or inner spiritual quests never resonated with me before. It was easier to believe in God or a greater being who loves me, than to start within. However, I think that starting within just might be the true key to happiness. See, all those Ekhart Tolle and philosophy reading does pay off! ;P
-T π
I hardly realized that so much time had passed, when my BFF wrote to check if I was okay after having missed a number of days blogging. At first, I just told myself that life had picked up speed as it is wont to do now and then. (Btw, don’t you love the word, wont?! π ) Anyway, I seemed like I was happy doing my freelance writing and I was being busy. However, as I was not getting enough sleep and the deadline(s) started to become my focus, I lost sight of just about everything that I have been working towards achieving, mostly balance. So, the other night R told me to go to bed and not push myself so much. It was then that I realized I had been slipping away into old methods and habits.
Now, I’ve caught myself and am making the careful steps towards keeping myself upright and moving forward again. Each time I catch myself, the more confident I feel of being in control of my life and proud of the decisions that I make.
So, I am hopefully going to be back on track even though the deadline has been extended yet again! π
-T π
Yes, I’m still alive. Sort of got caught up in this book writing and have disappeared. I’m coming back soon. π
This topic hit me last night as I was trying to make guacamole with some very bad avocados – it didn’t turn out. However, I had three avocados in a bowl that was just the right size once they were mashed up and the rest of the guac ingredients. R asked if I needed a bigger bowl. I explained no that it was just right. To which he responded that my booby trapping skills were in full force.
He often comments about my skill at putting a lot of stuff in a small space. Sometimes spaces get so packed that you have to be careful with how you open it as things might fall out. Thus, a booby trap. π
I often comment that it is important to use the space that we have fully rather than waste it. For example, the bowl was just the right size. If I had gotten a bigger bowl, the guacamole would not look as good, I would have dirtied another bowl unnecessarily and space would have been wasted. I commented on how wasting space was unnecessary.
In Asian countries physical space is a commodity. With small apartments and crowded cities, having a lot of things and enough physical space is very difficult. From my years in Japan, I learned how to value physical space and pack as much as I can in.
Then, I began to contemplate the abstract sense of space – no, not the final frontier. One of R’s rationales for our recent change in situation is that he wants his own space. This space is unclear. We are hardly ever in each other’s space and I am often gone, thus he has both the physical and abstract space more than most couples. While some men require man cave’s, he generally has the whole apartment. Soon enough, he will have everything minus my presence and my stuff that makes our place a home. Does he really want that much space? Is my presence in his space like a booby trap to his psyche?
In any case, I try not to go down the self-blame, self-pity route. We all have a right to demand what we need to keep ourselves sane. It’s just sad when it’s at the expense of others, especially those who are closest to you.
-T π
Yesterday I was thinking about this word. What does it really mean and does it really exist? As I was talking to friends about my situation with R, we described it as being in limbo. Is it true?
One definition that suits the use is:
“an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition.”
Yet, I’m not sure this is entirely accurate. I am indeed waiting for my apartment to free up so that I can move. However, that’s a clear decision. It’s just waiting. There are no decisions awaiting on my side. I know what I want and how I want things to be. I guess, the main thing is that I haven’t clarified or shared that with R directly. Probably our ideas of the situation are quite different, but I am not sure that either of us are uncertain at the moment.
So, it is interesting to consider this word. I thought perhaps it is more accurate to say things in the relationship realm are more on hold than in limbo? Hm… π
-T π
It’s time to put my reflections and revisions into a concrete public form. This will maybe keep me accountable! Ha.
As I don’t like to call my new resolutions as New Year’s resolutions, I am calling them long and short term goals for this upcoming year. I know, it’s the same thing in the end, but semantics are important to me. I’m a language nerd after all! π
So, here we go!
Long-term for the year:
*Finish the PhD by June
*Finish coaching workshops to prepare for certification by the end of June/
*Pay off UAE credit card in its entirety by the end of the year at the latest – sooner if possible
*Pay off all US credit cards by June
*Maintain balance in my exercise, diet, mental health and relationships
This year’s charity goals:
*Set aside 100USD a month for charity – Sevenly.orgΒ or another one I might find. Continue with the $100 in Kiva.org
*Set aside 1500dhs a month for travel expenses
*Set aside 1000dhs a month to participate in a charity activity such as Habitat for Humanity or something where I can go to participate.
Short-term on a daily or weekly basis:
*Do PhD work for at least an hour a day
*Write on my blog(s) and own writing for at least two hours a day
*Go out with friends once a week on weekdays and once on weekends
*Attend yoga and Pilates four times a week (according to gym schedule) and exercise by swimming or in the gym twice a week
So, that’s a fairly good start to my goals for the year, wouldn’t ya say? π
-T π
