What’s New

I am long overdue for an entry!  It’s not that I haven’t been thinking about what to write.  It’s just pinning myself down to one topic.  One of the many things I’ve contemplated is  my New Year’s self-help focus (yes, resolutions).  I guess I’m about three weeks late with this, but am I really?

Here are seven things I want to work on this year.

1.   To be a better listener at home with my family and at work with colleagues and students.  I remember first working on this as a university student, but it’s a tough thing to do and I keep coming back to it.  Why?  Because so many things get in the way.  We zone out – I do it all the time. We’re afraid of losing something – sometimes I have a vague feeling of this.  We’re impatient, feeling somehow that we’ll lose the opportunity to speak if it isn’t done right away – I’ve done this out of an irrational sense of urgency.  Are we afraid we will disappear if we really listen to someone else?  I think we are, but in fact, that’s the great thing about it.  Really listening makes you forget yourself  for a while and that can be so refreshing.

2. Keep an eye on my ego when I’m feeling threatened. It’s too easy to lose sight of things and become defensive.

3.  Be more joyous at work by focusing on what I love most about the job – the chance to help young people learn, find their strengths, and feel good about themselves.  It’s easy to focus too much on what we need to get done.  I want to shift my focus a little more away from the tasks that need to be done to the people I work with.

4. Write more regularly, including keeping this blog up.  Set aside more time. I never regret my time spent writing.

5. Practice more scales on my cello.  Those shifts aren’t coming and I’m sure I need to focus on some fundamentals before  I can move on.  We’ll see.

6. Sink into each moment a little more deeply and more comfortably.  This may sound odd, but sometimes I feel like I’m skimming my life, rather than really living it.  Preoccupied with things I’ve just done, or things people have said to me, or dwelling on what I need to do next, I’m not fully experiencing things.  I get an feeling anxious about it all too.  I’m sure I can change this.

7. Lose the five pounds that I’ve gained over the last few months, and stretch, walk, and practice yoga more regularly. 

There, I’ve shared them.  It feels good to say what they are.  I think it gives them more legitimacy.  It makes me feel like I owe them more attention.  I hope they inspire others.  At the very least the process of writing them down has helped me think about them more deeply and feel a greater commitment to them.

That can’t be bad.

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