January 2012- Back To My Lessons Challenge

January, my birthday month, has been wonderful!! I managed to get myself back on track as far as my lessons are concerned, I am studying again. Now that I am back on my path, I plan to really push myself this year so that I can make some real gains. Before I go to bed this evening, I will meditate and I will have achieved my biggest challenge this year which was to meditate everyday for one year and, I did it. I am so proud of me and my body mind spirit, thanks me. I was able to save myself through daily meditation, because prior to starting this challenge last February 1st, my mind was so fractured and I was sure that something was terribly wrong. But, after just a week of meditating, after not doing it for years, I felt the brain fog lifting. It was then that I decided to challenge myself to doing this for a year but now I know that I will continue this practice for as long as I can. So all in all, January has been a very fruitful month and I am still celebrating my birthday for at least a couple of more months!!

January 2012- Back To My Lessons Challenge

Since 2005 my honey and I have tortured our children with our annual christmas performance. This performance is part of a larger program that we started called Annu University. We created Annu U. when our children moved out and we found that we had lots of time on our hands and we wanted to use it in an uplifting way. We didn't want to become couch potatoes, so we created our own curriculum and every night for two years we studied spanish, music, egyptology and twice a week we did art, usually painting. Gradually we slacked off and started doing the minimal, just enough not to lose everything that we learned but not enough to advance to the next level. So for the month of January(my birthday month), my husband and I are jumping back into our lessons. Today I went out and got my guitar restrung and wow, I had forgotten how good it sounds. Its full bodied sound got me so excited that I actually practiced for an hour and a half today. I am so excited to return to my studies.

December Challenge -I went to the woods

This has been an oh so busy month and in the last day and a half, I have managed to get in some readings by Muir and Thoreau on the wonders of nature and I am looking forward to going into nature for my birthday. I am looking forward to continuing my monthly challenges for my own personal enrichment and now that the holidays are over, I received my last gift today, I can dedicate more of my time to my challenges. I am looking forward to continued growth in 2012. Here's to sucking out all of the marrow of life.

December Challenge -I went to the woods

I have decided that for the month of December even though I probably will not physically go into the cold damp woods, I will read daily thoughts and meditations on nature and I am have starting off with Thoreau and Muir. When I find quotes that I love I will post them and my thoughts on the subject. I know this is going to be a hectic month and reading my daily meditations will help to ground the stress right out of me.

I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately

I wanted to live deep and suck out all of the marrow of life!

To put to rout all that was not life...

And not, when I came to die, discover

that I had not lived...

Henry David Thoreau

November Challenge--My Quest to Become Centenarian

My quest to become a centenarian is of course an ongoing adventure but in November I was suppose to focus in by reading a couple of books on the subject and well, I am only a quarter of the way through one of the books. Between preparing my home for the holidays, finishing the last Harry Potter book before Twilight came out(I needed a goal in order to complete the last of the series), and traveling to visit my sister who has been in the hospital for a month, I fell short on this challenge. One thing I did do this month that put a smile on my face was to create what I call hanging protection altars for my pen pals as we celebrated our penniversary by exchanging art in honor of our year.

Shadow Shot Sunday

I hope you all have had a marvelous week and are looking forward to the coming week.

Tonight we set our clocks back one hour, yes, we fall back and I am looking forward to being cozy in my lovely cottage which I named Hummingbird cottage about seven years ago.

This is my small contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday!

November Challenge--My Quest to Be a Centenarian

Decades ago I read a story in the old Prevention magazines about a land where people lived to be well over a hundred and I decided that I would love to be a centenarian. I have always been a late bloomer so let's hope that I can keep this bloom blooming for at least forty more years. I want to be a healthy centenarian but I have not done all of the right things when it comes to my body, I have spent a lot more energy working on my mind and spirit. Over the past five years or so, I have totally dropped the ball when it comes to physical exercise which for most of my life was dance. Don't get me wrong, I still love to dance but being in a dance studio with all of the creepy competitive energy just doesn't fit my nature so, I walked away from it all. This past month I found a wonderful Pilates instructor and signed up for private lessons. It is time to whip my body back into shape. To help me achieve my goal of becoming a centenarian, I have study the books to find out what all I should and shouldn't be doing. As long as there is life in my body, I can make changes in my life that will enrich my health. This month I will continue to eat smart and to do my pilates and I will also read a couple of books on the secrets to longevity.

My husband has a nook and I have the kindle and today we started reading, "The most Effective Ways to Live Longer by Jonny Bowden.