New Years Resolutions – Creative Meanderings

Happy New Year to 2024!

Jan 022024

It was a beautiful start to 2024 and we are looking forward to how the year unfolds after having a rather amazing 2023!

We’ve started our goal-writing as a couple and are working on our individual ones, though I had already started mine back in September, but as with all things they change. So, I’m narrowing down a bit more on some things and letting others go.

Since we are still on vacation in the Bahamas – Exuma -, I’ll save a full post on our goals/plans until we are back.

In the meantime, I wish all you readers of this crazy blog of mine a most wonderful 2024 that is filled with health, wealth, fun, sun, and most of all – love. ❤️

~T 🔥🐉♋️

Summarized Reflections and Goals of 2023 into 2024

Going Mental 1 Response »

Sep 292023

Well, I managed to complete this task early in the week and so am posting it here now for record-keeping and accountability purposes. Cheers to a fairly decent 2023 so far and here’s to the amazingness that will come in 2024! 🎉

Reflections on my writing so far in 2023

Positives

Umbria on a Whim – Vol 1: The Basics was published and sent out in the world.
I started OSH’s Letters on Substack and maintained a paid membership.
My blog CreativeMeanderings got regular posts most months.
Started the year with paid publication under my pseudonym.

Oopsies

Writing on and for other platforms like Medium and collaborations fell to the wayside.
Work on my fiction novel took a back seat delaying yet another year in its progress.

Goals for my writing for end of 2023 into 2024

Prioritize my writing every day – this is my purpose in life!
Finish Umbria on a Whim – Vol 2: Health and send to publisher by end of October 2023
Work on drafts of Umbria on a Whim – Vol 3: Finding your Home & Vol 4: Making Home Yours – possibly one send to publisher May 2024 and October 2024, respectively…
Finish draft of my fiction novel by June
Beta readers for fiction novel and feedback by August/early September
Revise and send to publisher/agent/etc by November
Move all writing to own sites for membership and any paid aspects: OSHwriter.com (aim is to reduce footprint and focus attention on my own spaces)

Reflections on my “professional” life in 2023

My work editing increased and is starting to naturally form into something clearer and more manageable. Although it was not something I was actively pursuing, I am happy with it as “work” as it allows me to basically read for ‘free’ and use my analytical/intellectual brain periodically. Plus, it is fairly flexible, so it works very nicely for me.

My freelance work with Fruitful continues to flow nicely. Also, I am happy with this work as something to keep me busy when the work is there. Again, it allows me flexibility and gives me a small income to use for gifts or splurges without dipping into other financial spaces.

So, I feel content with these professional activities and how they have developed this year.

Goals for my “professional” life in 2024

Although I am mostly enjoying the new English Yoga class that I am teaching once a week online for the next three months, I do not want to continue to do any more online teaching. Since I have already committed to this course and potentially future ones related to it, I will stick to that, but then probably avoid anything else. If I do any kind of teaching in 2024, I think it will only be yoga related and perhaps in person at the studio where I join classes; however, that is to be determined organically.

With the editing work, I will maintain it as is until I feel that it is not serving me positively. Otherwise, I have no desired changes to make “professionally” in the next year.

Reflections on my health and wellbeing in 2023

With the ankle break, this year was a bit of a mix in my health and well-being. I am first and foremost so thankful that I was able to go to a private clinic. Thanks to my yoga contact and financial situation, I was attended to by amazing doctors and got wonderful treatment. Therefore, my recovery period has been fairly smooth and quick overall.

There is the obvious downside from being laid up with some weight gain and muscle loss, but I am starting to get that back. A positive was that I spoiled myself a bit with massages and spa days when I could. I found a couple of options locally to our house, so that has been lovely to know I can do a little self-care when wanted/needed.

So, I would say, I feel pretty OK with how my health and wellbeing have been this year all things considered.

Goals for my health and wellbeing in 2024

I am on a bit of a mission to ensure that I do not gain any more weight or accept the dreaded “menopausal belly”. I don’t really compare myself to others as I know that most would look at me and say that I don’t have anything to worry about. However, my health and wellbeing are exactly that – mine. It’s about how I want to look and how I feel, not how others perceive me. So, I plan to keep up with my yoga practice regularly. I have already started using the Peloton app to see if I can include some fitness training through there. I’m not sure if I will continue with it or not, but the aim is to stay toned through light weight training and active through walking or other cardio. This is in addition to my yoga.

Also, in terms of wellbeing, I want to maintain my writing retreats. These retreats aren’t just for writing, but for finding my own headspace and resetting periodically. So, when I have the chance to sit with the man and tentatively plan out our joint travels, then I will also sketch out my writing retreats and outings so that I can satisfy my need for a schedule, which also gives me motivation and direction.

Reflections on the rest of life activities so far in 2023

It’s been a good year when looking back. The last quarter is also looking to be spectacular. Aside from the three months of focused recovery, I have been able to enjoy travel and dining experiences as well as developing friendships near and far. What being more limited did give me was perspective on what I consider important.

So, a few months ago, I began to do a kind of countdown or count up of how many times in the next five years I can see my family, friends, travel, and do some of the things I consider important to me. When put into this view, it is easier to make decisions about my activities. This leads me into my goals for next year.

Goals on the rest of life activities in 2024

I plan to see my parents at least twice in one year. So, we will see them at Christmas 2023 in the Bahamas this year. Then, the plan is to see them in the summer of 2024 and possibly around Thanksgiving time again. I’ll also plan the next trip with my mom in 2025, if not before.

Three years have passed since I last saw my BFF and family, which is too long. So, we are going this November to Tokyo and they will come to Italy next June. All of that is in the books. One goal already checked off! 😀

As we like to have big parties here and there, I have tentatively scheduled large events for Easter and then one in the fall. I think this year it will be held in October, which sounds great. The rest of our get togethers are going to be quiet ones with those I/we want to really spend time with. For me, I want to make the most of my relationships rather than superficially skid through them.

Then, there is travel. This is still being worked out as I imagine that during our time in the sun this December, we will sit to make our plans for the following year, so will update later – if I can remember – on that.

So, there they are — my reflections and goals.

I think I covered just about everything except money, which is also an area that will be done together with my partner. We have tentative goals already, but I want to make them more specific.

In any case, it is satisfying to have this done and dusted now. It is exactly what I needed to feel refreshed and to reset my mojo. For the future, I need to install a process for doing this sooner, or immediately, when our schedules and placements get off-rhythm. Since we will likely be a bit more nomadic in the coming years/months/days, this will be important to have in my toolkit to ensure that I do not get unanchored and waste precious time that is limited as we lead this amazing life.

Thank you for being on this journey with me as a record-keeper and unwitting accountability partner just by reading my reflections and goals.

~T 🔥🐉♋️

Reflections: Into 2023 We Go

Going Mental 1 Response »

Dec 232022

I wrote this as a draft for another article I was going to submit, but realized it was a bit too personal to share on a non-affiliated space. 🤷🏽‍♀️ There is some repeat from an earlier post last week, but in any case, I thought I’d put it here for record-keeping and, well, this IS an affiliated space for my personal musings. 😝 Also, as this is the sum of my reflections for my regular new year’s planning as I’ll take a wee break from writing for a week or so, consider it my 2023 resolutions post. ❤️

To be perfectly honest, my reflective behavior is usually focused on myself and only myself. 😜 Although this might sound enviable (or extremely self-centered) to many who struggle to embrace self-care, self-awareness, positive self-talk, etc., it really isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

For me, my introspective nature is an attempt to better myself as a member of society, a participant in my community of friends, a wife to my husband, a daughter to my parents, a sister to my brother, a writer to my unknown readers, and a representative to my fellow humans. In this attempt at self-improvement, as defined by the transcendentalists of 19th century America, comes a sense of exhaustion – quite the opposite to the goal our 21st century idea of “self -” promotes.

So, as I reflect on the past year or so with the return of an adjusted-way-of-life post-COVID19, I am setting new goals for the next year – to be more SELFish. WHAT?! (a collective gasp might be heard).

I know – controversial, right?

Let me clarify from the start, I will never be selfish to the point that it hurts another individual or at the expense of another human being (or animal, for that matter). It is not in my nature to be intentionally harmful to others; thus, it would not actually be selfish for me to behave in such a manner. Rather, what I mean is that my actions and activities this year are going to be focused on what benefits me as a person. Instead of reflecting on how my actions, thoughts, or words might be perceived or affected by others, I am going to consider how they affect me first and foremost.

An example of how this will play out is in my writing. For years, I have been writing for my own private audience of one – me! Although I do have public spaces like social media or a blog (or two or three), I do not advertise them outside of a subtle link on a profile page. In general, I prefer to work quietly from behind the scenes such as on The Universal Asian or my Medium page. However, this year, I will be focusing on building up my own space as OSH, where I’ll be sharing my own writing, services for Book Coaching and Editing, plus a subscription-based newsletter called OSH’s Letters where I will write to subscribers and share my worldview on the day-to-day experiences discovered on my journey through living on this planet. Much of the latter is still in the works, but do feel free to check the spaces often or go ahead and subscribe on the form provided to stay updated. See how my selfish act(s) work here – a shameless plug for my site(s), but no harm done, right?!

Other ways that this selfishness will play out for me is going to be in spending more time doing yoga and meditating regularly. Although this falls into a ‘self-care’ category, I also treat it as a self-ish time out for only me. It may be at the expense of others in terms of my available time to them, but rather than seeing it as harmful, I consider it helpful that there will be boundaries and by me taking this time for myself, I can be more present and purposeful when I do give others my time.

Also, I’m taking a page out of Tim Ferriss’s Four-Hour Workweek: Life is now and I can live the lifestyle of a millionaire without having to actually be one – though I wouldn’t complain if that happened! Basically, after a summer as a revolving door of visitors to our new home in Italy, I am closing our open-door policy so that we can have time to travel ourselves. Although I fully enjoyed our visits, it was draining and we did not get to do our own exploring of places. Therefore, doors will still be open, just on a more structured timeline.

So, you see, it’s not that self is to be hyphenated this year, but rather it just is itSELF.

Here’s to an amazing year to the SELF.

~T 🔥🐉♋️

Planned Selfishness

Going Mental No Responses »

Dec 132022

While I was home I came to a realization that surprised me. I’m tired of ‘changing’ or trying to do so.

Obviously, the core person I am is the same – and likely always will be. However, I constantly believe that I need to ‘better’ myself. Whether that is through what I eat, how I exercise, my mental state, my spirituality. Instead of trying to change others, I have always been introspective believing that it is me who should bring about the characteristics and behaviors I wish to see in others.

In doing so, I have exhausted myself on many levels without realizing that it was taking a toll. 😳

The freedom of family is that you can be who you are without judgement or worry that they will lay down conditions to permit you to continue to be who you are. Although family might have the permission to intervene if you’re on the wrong track, we take it because it is coming from a safe place.

Although marriage creates a new kind of security, it really never replaces the comfort of family.

So, in that safety, I came to the conclusion that my focus in 2023 is going to be on me. Not on bettering myself or changing who I am for others, but on just being me. It might seem/sound selfish. It might not even seem that different from how my life and attitude appears to others, but I will know the difference; and, in keeping with my vision – that is all that matters! 😅

This leads me back to my previous post about ‘selfishness’.

Is it a negative when I say that I am planning on being more selfish? Is it harming or negatively affecting anyone if I choose to make decisions based on me and for me?

In this moment, I think that the answer is NO.

Obviously, should I make decisions later that are harmful then it puts a negative context on the idea of selfishness, but with the contemporary social desire to promote self-care, self-awareness, self…etc. I think that we have moved toward considering the concept of selfishness as more positive. While I am not going that far on the plus/minus spectrum, I am going to try to be more neutral, which is actually more me than anything else.

How all of this will look is still being processed. I know that it means I will no longer be involved in the Universal Asian space that I created out of selflessness. It also means more yoga and meditation time for myself, not teaching. It will mean more time for writing, but also focusing on the areas that can generate some funds to give me more financial independence on a microlevel. It will also mean more time for travel on my own whether in short day trips or longer weekend getaways – I’m not sure yet, but it’s all being thought through as I begin my reflective days in planning for the upcoming year.

With that – here’s to a year of SELFISHNESS! 🤪

~T 🔥🐉♋️

Reflections: Week of Reflections 2

Going Mental No Responses »

Jan 062022

If reading my blog posts hasn’t taught you anything else about me, I hope that it has been abundantly clear that I LOVE a plan 💜. Part of my planning process is – appreciating – what has worked and what has not.

Over a two-year-period, I used a bullet journal 📖 style of organizing, tracking, and recording various aspects of my life. In general, I’m a use fan of this method, but it was slightly challenging for me to separate areas as everything was clumped together in one big book. Therefore, this year, I have decided to start fresh with a new journal 📝 only for recording my thoughts or doing my warm-up writing before a full writing session. I also have a separate calendar 🗓 book to hold my to-do lists and track my activities. These combined with my online Google calendar and tasks system should be effective in helping me stay on track each day. So, this is my literal appreciation and planning.

In other areas of appreciation, I touched on them a bit in my previous post. First and foremost is that we have a house 🏡! It truly is the dream house that we manifested together with our list of wishes. Although we now have to focus on paying it off, we know that this is meant to be our home.

Furthermore, my efforts to find, build, and maintain friendships when we moved to France has paid off as I have a small but solid tribe to call my/our own even in a short time. Though they are all based in France, I am so appreciative of their open arms, generosity of spirit, and love of rosé 🍷🥂! I will try to work on finding Italy-based friends as well this year.

Obviously, The Universal Asian has seen great growth and despite a bit of end-of-the-year drama, I am proud of what it is today and excited about what it will become in the upcoming year.

So, these are the main highlights of my appreciation in the last year.

On to my planning for 2022!

As usual, I focused on six areas: health, finances, career/work, relationships, personal growth, and spiritual growth. I’ll just give a quick overview of where I hope to be in these areas by the end of the year.

Health:

Although my weight is not crazy and I eat fairly healthily, there is always room for improvement. Middle-age changes to my metabolism and body shape as well as ability to maintain has been challenging to get a solid hold on. Therefore, I am aiming to drop to my ideal weight of 56kg (currently around 64kg – did I just share that?!). Once I hit it, I hope to maintain it.

Also, I had a goal of being able to do pull ups, which didn’t quite ever come to fruition. However, now that we have a fully functioning gym in the house, I am going to work on training to be able to do pull ups!

Since I think that a six-pack is not likely to ever happen and I actually don’t think it looks that good on a middle-aged woman, I am aiming for a toned four-pack by the time my bikini body is exposed (around April/May). With a bit of weight loss around the middle and concentrated exercises, I think this is feasible.

Finally, my goal is to help support M in his own weight loss and fitness journey with healthy eating and regular fasting – which will likely coincide with my regular writing retreats. 😆

Finances:

Without giving too much public information regarding our finances, I just want to say that the focus this year is to be 100% debt-free. Given the improved conditions of our finances from just a year ago, I firmly believe this is possible and will strive to ensure that we can happily report that all our income is ours by the end of the year. **This is easier said than done as my other half hates paying bills…** 🤪

Career/Work:

As I no longer really “work” or have a formal career, all of these goals relate to building up The Universal Asian. I’d like to get to the point that we are generating at least $5K 💵 per month to cover current costs and increase other budgets. It really doesn’t seem like much, but it is a slow process as we need to increase our engagement numbers through social media and the site itself. I’m also hoping to increase our team members and writers/contributors. So, again, nothing impossible, just need to stay focused on the prize 🏆!

Relationships:

This is somewhat COVID pending as the world of travel as we once knew it seems to be gone. However, I want to, at least, see my parents and family sometime this year. It may not be until the end of the year, but that is a priority for sure.

Also, I’ve already put a new time limit on my social media apps from 2hrs to 1hr and my goal is to get to 30mins per day. No more than that! Whenever I feel the urge to pick up my phone or iPad to mindlessly scroll, I am going to try to make myself read instead. This way I can also meet my goal of reading more. 🤓

Finally, I sort of gave up on trying to stay connected with old friends last year and perhaps before as I felt that it was too one-way. However, for the people of whom I think on a regular basis, I will aim to make more of an effort to be the first to reach out to them every so often rather than wait as there is no gain in a one-sided battle of wills. 😛

Personal Growth:

This is my year of writing. Everything related to my personal growth goals this year are connected to what I want to achieve in my writing with the help of my writing tribe – Adoptee Writer’s Experience (AWE) led by Ann Peck.

Therefore, I have already scheduled in my weekly writing dates at a cafe ☕️💻 in Orvieto. Also, I have let M know and scheduled regular writing retreats every six weeks or so. This means I will book a hotel in Rome or somewhere else to escape distractions that might take me away from writing. The cost of this will be less than a short writing retreat and gives my introverted nature a break from social interactions as well. 😅

With all of this, my goal is to submit two short stories to pre-determined submissions and have a draft of my first novel by November. 🙏🏽🤞🏽

Spiritual Growth:

This area went up and down over the past year as I taught a few yoga classes and then didn’t, but managed to maintain my own practice regularly so that it is rare for a day to go by that I don’t do yoga.

Still, I have realized that I am missing the massive benefits that daily meditation brings me. I pushed it aside a bit, but am now trying to reprogram it in each day. I’ve started with pre-sleep meditation and eventually want to put back in a morning sit as well.

Furthermore, I am hoping to read at least seven “spiritual”/philosophy/self-help books:

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – I’ve already started this as an audiobook
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield – Already on my bookshelf waiting to be opened
Radical Compassion by Tara Brach
Yoga of the Subtle Body by Tias Little
Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran
The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

These are not in any specific order and when I say ‘read’, I also mean audiobooks as I tend to absorb nonfiction better aurally.

So, there you have it. My – planning – for 2022 is written in the end of my bullet journal book to round off the book and the year; and now it is here as a sort of accountability space.

Here we go!!! 💪🏽

~T 😀

Reflections: Week of Reflections 1

Going Mental 2 Responses »

Jan 032022

Click here to see my post on FB showing a video of pics as part of the One Second A Day that represent moments of the past year.

Since holiday decorations 🎄are considered to be acceptable until the 7th of January, I am borrowing that acceptance when it comes to reflecting and planning for the upcoming year. 😝

Our Christmas decorations actually came down on the 1st due to our live tree 🌲dropping needles and our guests packing up to return to their home in France. It just felt like the right time to pack it all away after a very warm and successful celebration in our new home. 🏠

Still, due to visitors, I did not quite have my usual period of reflecting 🧐, acknowledging 🤗, appreciating 🙏🏽 and planning 🤔. Thus, I am using this first week to do these activities as I’m also still on ‘holiday mode’ for TUA – though there is always some background work going on.

The first part – reflecting – can be seen in viewing my one-second-a-day video where I did my best to take pictures each day of something that we were doing or even not doing. There are a lot of cat photos where I probably just showed appreciation for the sweetness that is in a sleeping kitty.

Overall, it was a wonderful year. We really did a lot when we look back on all our activity. Obviously, moving to Italy and moving in to our dream house are the highlights, but the friendships we forged and the experiences we had are not to be forgotten nor undervalued in looking back and – acknowledging – the year gone by.

Furthermore, I have much to appreciate and plan for the new year (next post). So, though we had some last minute bumps as we closed out the old year, I look back on 2021 as one of sunshine ☀️ and smiles 😁!

~T 😀

Great Things Ahead

Going Mental No Responses »

Jan 052020

I am determined to make this the year of writing (among other things), so watch this space as I’ll be posting more regularly.

True, I’ve posted this before, but 2020 is the year with my big goals to make some changes regarding work and finances – more about these to come.

So, this is just an introductory post of what is to come.

Over the next week I’ll be settling back into reality after a long winter holiday vacation in Australia, but plenty to come soon!

~T 😀

Responsibility

Going Mental No Responses »

Jan 162019

A conversation with a friend has stayed with me when she once asked her father why he didn’t force her to learn Spanish even though it was her parents’ mother tongue. She shared her father’s response as: he was too busy trying to make a living and needing English to care for the family that it was up to her to learn the language or not.

Along the same vein, I have often wondered about people who play the ‘victim’ card or blame their parents for one thing or another having gone wrong in their lives. At what age or point in life do we take responsibility for our own actions, thoughts, and results in our lives?

In my early childhood there were a lot of people I could blame. I also could have ended up a completely different person had circumstances been different or had I stayed in one family or another. Yet, not once did it occur to me to think that it was anyone’s fault. Or, if anyone was to blame, I often blamed myself wondering what I had done wrong or what was wrong with me as a person.

When I was eight, I developed a “personal relationship with Jesus”, as born-again Christians like to put it. Over time, I have revised the wording, but I have faith in a greater power that I call a combination of God the Father and the Universe. Some time in my teens as I was attending church and doing a lot of Bible studying, I developed a belief that I was undoubtedly the foot or the ass in the body of Christ. Every part of the body has a purpose, but some get the full weight of being sat or stomped upon more than other parts. It was really the only way I could put rhyme or reason to why I had faced my early life challenges before I had even had a chance to be a bad person.

Then, for a period of time, I sadly had accepted that perhaps God just didn’t like me. I think ‘hate’ might have been the term I used as I cried in the truck while talking to my dad about being depressed and generally unhappy in life. It was a darker teenage-angst period of life and conversations between me and my parents swirled around this idea.

My dad and I always had our most meaningful chats while on the road. He seemed to like driving around and I liked just hanging out with him. He always could make me laugh – he still does – with silly comments/jokes or he’d challenge me to think in a different way with his sometimes annoying questions of ‘Why do you think ~?’. On this occasion, I blurted out my frustration in believing that God hated me.

Not being much of a religious man and not sure of his own beliefs, my father replied with ‘I don’t know if there’s a God. I do believe there is a higher power or greater being or whatever you want to call it. I think things just happen to people. It’s our job to figure out the reason and to deal with it the best way we can, but it’s definitely not a matter of being hated.’ or something to this effect. They were the wisest words that I had heard and almost as if God the Father were speaking to me directly through my earthly one.

It was then that I learned the essence of being responsible for my own actions, thoughts, words, and way of life, even though I didn’t yet know Don Miguel Ruiz’s Four Agreements. Or, the other self-help type words that are trending or commonly used in yoga, wellness, and psychology today.

My father’s words, reinforced by what I’ve learned throughout life via experiences, reading, and others I meet, taught me that I am the only one I am responsible to and for.

We take joint responsibility for loved ones, partners, etc., but we are not solely responsible for another’s happiness or satisfaction in life. It is up to that person to make their own choices. Learn Spanish if you want to learn it. Take trips if you want to travel. Go out and meet people if you want more friends. Experience everything if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. Set your goals and take the steps you need to achieve them – whatever they may be.

If we fail at life or our goals according to our own standards, then we only have ourselves to blame. At the same time, if we feel overwhelmed by the goals we have set, it is within our power to adjust them so that they can be achieved. There’s no need to try to find someone else to blame.

So, as I take my steps forward this year towards reaching the goals I have set before me, I look to myself (and partially to my husband, family, and friends 😛 ) to be responsible for my success or failure.

~T 😀

Retreating

Going Mental No Responses »

Nov 092018

When the sun and moon align, people gather together to view the phenomenon with the promise of each time being the ~est in our lifetimes. Yet, it is this equilibrium and balance that awes us and, despite all the fanfare and build up, lasts mere moments.

Our life experiences are similar. Though we do not always see the build up or understand the fanfare (aka drama) that we go through, we do live for those mere moments. Yet, there are also times when our focus is so much on the build up and drama that we miss the brief moment that it was all meant for. It is only when we have the luxury of time and reflection that we sometimes find light in the shadows.

In 2017, I had high hopes for life and was on a path that I thought was taking me to a better version of myself and my life. In fact, contrary to my usual avoidance in making New Year’s Resolutions, I set out quite a list of them for that year. Unfortunately, other than managing to finish my RYT500 yoga teacher training, I did very little in terms of the goals I had laid out. (Lesson being I’m probably not going to do that again! 😛 )

However, with somewhat disbelief that nearly two years have passed since our lives were quite different from now, I have been given the luxury of time and reflection to see the light in the shadows of those darker days when it seemed that there was no way out.

When we moved to Japan again, I took some time away from the world of yoga and mindful meditation. I didn’t have time to focus any energy on that as we had to go into survival and rebuilding mode. It was what was needed at the time, and still is to some degree for the foreseeable future. Still, as the Universe and God continue to bless us, some potential possibilities were building up to the forefront of reality.

In an early conversation about possibly getting to the point in our life to again think about traveling or taking some time to decompress at a retreat, my BFF mentioned that she follows someone on Instagram who hosts yoga and meditation retreats in Japan. I took note for later, as we were nowhere near a place to be considering such a thing seriously. Then, proving that the Universe knows, she forwarded me an article that came out interviewing the host of the retreats with more details about it. I again saved it for a later date since the timing was in the summer and we were just starting to touch our feet to the ground again.

Over the months, with the help of some secret-ing, we avoided attracting too much drama and instead focused on the alignment of our lives in all areas, as much as possible. Through this, the Universe and God conspired together to align timing and funding; thus, creating the opportunity to be able to attend the Dairyuji Yoga and Mindfulness Retreat in the very local city of Oga located in Akita Prefecture.

Literally everything aligned.

I was able to leave work early and take the five-hour trip from Tokyo to Oga for a meaningful and refreshing weekend.

Meeting G & K, our hosts, was like reading an inspirational book that reignites a flame of hope in humanity. Their kindness and openness was as fresh as the country ocean air surrounding the Oga peninsula.

For a yoga/mindfulness retreat, this one was an easy way to get my feet wet as a first-time experience. I don’t know about others, but my image of some retreats is more hard-core yoga practice and inescapable focus on being “spiritual”.

Perhaps because of the environment of the temple itself, or perhaps because of the people themselves, there wasn’t a need to be pushy. If anything, they could perhaps have been pushier with a bit more yoga and meditation time. However, if the aim was to provide a relaxing retreat environment with an opportunity to explore mindfulness and try some yoga, this was a success.

As an added bonus, I made connections with people whom I may never see again, and yet I feel were purposeful interactions drawing a nearly full circle from past to present. I think I’ve said before that I believe all connections have meaning and though I may not fully know what they are now, I hold them close in anticipation for a later revelation.

So, I will let the pictures speak for themselves as I consider the next possible, perhaps more hard-core, retreat in the future! 😉

Dairyuji-Oga Yoga/Meditation Retreat_Oct2018 / Google Photos

~T 😀

Happy 2018

Going Mental No Responses »

Jan 022018

Another year begins with the usual hopefulness of what possibilities lay ahead.

As I look back on all that I had laid out last year when time was my frenemy and naivety was embraced with the fervor of those who have no idea what is in store for them.

Although I still owe the story of what transpired in the middle of last year (and it will come eventually), its events changed my worldview a bit. Some truths came to light for me.

Asking for help is a humbling experience that allows the heart to be opened in unexpected ways.
Sharing crisis moments with others reveals true characters – a spectrum of ignoring, offering ‘good lucks’, asking for updates, offering help, and taking action.
My love runs far deeper than I realized and left me incapacitated when I did not know how to take action.
Timing is everything, and
Truly everything works out in the end.

My faith in God and belief in the workings of the Universe strengthened as well over the latter half of the year.

An example is my unknown sense that I should refresh my Japanese by teaching beginner level to Emiratis and taking on a Japanese student for English with some Japanese language exchange. Also, I visited Japan earlier in the year for a possible job that didn’t work out but began turning the wheels of possibilities.

So, while the attempt at a balanced life in my 2017 Reflections did not quite pan out exactly as I had planned, I think that overall we are in a better place than we could have expected a year ago.

Therefore, with less time on my hands I have made some personal and financial goals for this year with a more relaxed sense of expectation as I know that what I put forth into the world will return to me/us twofold.

With that in mind I am looking forward to what 2018 has in store as I work on focusing my mind more on creativity and stability.

~T 😀

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