Happy New Year!

                            

I have started the year in a very beautiful part of Australia, very quietly and philosophically. It was not my usual start to a new year but new beginning sometimes calls for new ways.  This is how it was this year.

My new year started in Kangaroo Valley, in Glenmack Park. I am not a camping person and Glenmack Park is a caravan and camping place. I did not feel that camping was my way of living and I hired a self contained-cabin with air conditioning. So I was not exactly roughing it. The reason why I found myself there was my long estranged friend celebrating her 21^st anniversary of coming to Australia on the 31^st of December. She and her two sons spend their summer holidays camping in Kangaroo Valley. In the process I discovered how camping places in Australia look like and work. This is really impressive and attractive way to live. Maybe not for everybody, maybe even not for me, but  I appreciated the community spirit, easiness of making new friends and comfort one can achieve through great organization and service. I am not sure if I will repeat the experience but I really enjoyed it my time there.

             

Kangaroo Valley threw a party, as any respectable place in Australia would, and the 9:00 fire works in its length and quality suited the special occasion of saying good bye to 2015. The old year was finishing with a bang but the new one started with only one skyrocket. This came rather as a surprise but not a disappointment. I knew the new has started.

New Year should start with new resolutions. It is true that our New Year resolutions fizzle out and are forgotten rather soon after the year has started. It also happens that we promise ourselves that this time it will be different, that we will be more diligent in following on our promises. This is exactly the point I am at right now. I am hopeful that it will be right this time, even if I am a little skeptical about living up to my expectations. Of course I expect changes to my initial plans, even some disappointments with myself. But I am planning to follow up on my plans on monthly basis to check with myself if I am on track. Say, first week of each month. Maybe I will manage to go through this year being happy with my progress?

The first step is now. This is a decision making time, a decision on what is especially important to me. Things I want to focus on. In Steven Covey’s words I want to identify my rock tasks and focus on them first. For me it is health, friendships, learning, reading and writing, giving, home, travels and generally fun and pleasure.

The next step is to design my masterpiece day and define projects for the year. I am still working on details.

Lewis Howes, the author of The School of Greatness poses questions:

How do I want my every day to look?

How do I want to feel every single day?

What am I creating daily?

Who am I spending time with?

What places am I exposing myself to?

What passions am fulfilling?

They are good and important questions and I find that the answers are not so easy to come up with. After some reflection though, I found my answers. At least their first cut.