Endings and Beginnings

I was very surprised to see that I had actually written in this blog during 2014 - January was a long time ago. My "blogging" days are really over, but there are times when I feel like expressing the current mood in writing. There are days I want to remember, feelings I want to hold on to. So here is the place to do it, at least for right now.

I first began this diary to cleanse myself of stress and frustration. Has that all gone away? Of course not. But life looks a little rosier now. There's more calm. Moments of happiness and occasionally pure joy shine through. And this is happening more often. My mindset is so much on the "half empty" side, that I need to remind myself from time to time that if I may not have many more moments to cherish, so I'd better get to it.

I want to begin 2015 with different goals, or maybe with a different intent for my goals. Today I feel like they're going to be self-serving, they will be intended to make me feel happier and more aware of the abundance that I have. At this very moment, I've been working on my Goodreads account, which was begun to make me more aware of and systematic about my reading? Why? I don't know. It just makes me feel happier. I didn't have a reading goal last year. The year before it was 100 books, which I just barely made. Couldn't read that many this year, and somehow the goal of numbers didn't make an impact on me other than pressure. So what should it be? I have a moderate "to-read" list on Goodreads, which I seldom consult. So one reading goal could be to reduce that list with regularity. It's meant to keep me from holding on to books because I'm afraid they looked interesting. So instead of snagging books as I see them, I'll add them to the "to-read" shelf and let each book take its turn on the shelf. Let's see how long this one lasts!

This year was to be the year that I found time to do more of the things that are personally satisfying to me - right now those things would be knitting and genealogy. So I think I should choose one morning a week - Wednesday - that is my genealogy day. I might find other times during the week, but Wednesday morning is a date (at least after holiday company leaves). Knitting - there are a lot of times when I'm sitting mindlessly watching tv that I could have something in my hand. I'll have to thing about that one.

A good start. Hope I'll be back again soon. Next time, I want to wrap up holiday memories from this year to hold on to.