Last January I wrote the following:
This year I will spend more time being gracious. This year I will spend time reading things things for fun and learning to meditate. This year I will complete a 60-mile marathon, and go on a silent vipassana retreat. I will listen to music I've never heard and spend more time looking at the ocean. I will laugh more and watch more movies. I will take more mini-vacations. I will take more bubble baths and use the outside grill more. I will enjoy the little things. I will create something beautiful as often as possible, and I will take every opportunity to extend respect and friendliness to those in need. I will spend more time looking at the moon and stars. I will do things I've never done before. I will care for my friendships.
I will care for myself.
I don't know that I spent more time being gracious. I read a little for fun, but only a little. I did (better) learn to meditate. I did not partake in the 60-mile, as I failed both my fundraising and training goals. I may have laughed more... but I don't think I used my Netflix account at all. I moved into a house were bubble baths were naught and I used the grill only once. I haven't gone on a silent retreat (yet), but I'm en route. I'm studying Buddhism with more vigor than I intended and finding it extremely fulfilling.
I have created beautiful things and honest works of art.
I have tried to extend respect and friendliness. I have often failed. But it remains my goal.
I didn't look at the moon and stars all that much.
I did do things I've never done before. The landscape of my friendships changed drastically. I leave the year with, largely, a different set of supports than those I began with.
This year I became much happier at my job. This year I gave someone a kidney and gave them back their life. This year I took up causes. This year I gave of my riches as much as possible, and in varied ways. This year I learned a lot... a whole lot about myself.
I do care for myself. I love myself, very much. I'm working on showing it more.
This year I didn't make resolutions. Instead I wrote my bucket list. Things I would love to do - someday. I added the things I have already done, just to remind myself of them.
Happy 2012, my friends. You are my dearest family. And you are ferociously loved.
Enjoy!
Bucket List
√ Meet Alanis
√ Meet Amanda Palmer
√ Go to Wrestlemania
Sit front row ringside for a wrestling event
√ Pet a dolphin
Hug a panda
√ Rescue a stranded marine animal
Watch sea turtles hatch
Backpack across Europe
Have a book published
√ Become a published illustrator
√ Have a gallery art installation
√ Get my motorcycle license
√ Work at a job I love
√ Get a tattoo
√ See Pearl Jam
√ Go to an opera at The Met
Go to an opera in Italy
Look at the ocean from the Scottish moors
Have a beer in Ireland
Drink absinthe and smoke in Amsterdam
Live with Bohemian musicians in Montmartre
Worship at a temple in Greece
See Petra
See the Great Pyramids
See space (through a really good telescope)
See Angkor Wat
Take my mother to Hawaii
Take photos of animals in Africa
Hear the Dalai Lama speak
Stay at the Atlantis in the Bahamas
√ See the Red Sox play at Fenway
√ See fall in New England
√ See a play on Broadway
√ Climb the Rocky Mountains
Ski the Alps
Hang glide
Shoot a machine gun (at a target)
√ Give
Give
See New Year’s Eve in Times Square
Go to Mardi Gras
Go to Pride in San Francisco
Visit the Galapagos Islands
Visit Yellowstone
Ghost hunt at Waverly Hills or Eastern State
Visit T.I.G.E.R.S. in Myrtle Beach
√ Drive across the U.S.
√ Fall in love
Fall in love
No comments:
Post a Comment