Sanity Goals Update

December has been a whirlwind this year. Some things have been much easier than expected at Chez Harris, and the reverse has been true, too.

The holidays do usually tend to kick up my most neurotic, overachieving, compulsive self, and I’ve been surprised at how that hasn’t happened so much so far. I’m someone who likes to bake and to share, but I generally WAY overbake. Rather than having the sense of joyful generosity, I generally feel run down, resentful and irritated at myself for doing it AGAIN.  BUT BUT BUT!  I’ve just made a few things this year. And even more surprisingly, the sky has not fallen. Nor has it caused the Apocalypse. I like this!

Meringue snowmen (above)

Candy cane marshmallows for E

2 kinds of cookies for me—Intense cocoa bites and hazelnut cookies. Both freeze well and are off to NC with me.

A vegan, sugar and grain free version of Carrie’s Impossible Almond Joy Pie for a potluck at Mr. Dude’s work. However what I came up with isn’t yet ready for prime time, so stay tuned.

And that’s IT. Which is totally a first. I would have liked to make one more thing, but just didn’t have the energy, and I’m okay with that.

As for my goals:

• Waiting at least 8 hours to see if I *need* to purchase something.

Yep, I’ve done that, even though there are times I’ve struggled through the 24 hours. Most the time I wasn’t as tempted as usual by all the sales.

• Doing at least one compassion-focused meditation daily, at least 6 days a week

That’s been going well. I find that heart-centered meditations help more when I’m stressed than awareness meditations.

• Giving myself permission to have my own experience, and let people be who they are (I know this is non-specific, I’ll be posting more about this)

Hmm….we’ll see more after the holidays, yes? For me that’s the big test.

• Journaling on what I’m proud of for 2012 at least weekly

Um, yeah, I forgot about this one. This has been the hardest one.

• Spending at least 2 hours weekly figuring out where I want to be and coming up with my “grand master plan” for 2013, and contacting various people to find a good

I’ve done that, and even found a yoga teacher, and have plans to start soon.

Other posts in the Sanity retreat so far (and it’s not too late to join us!)

• My Intro Post for the Dec Sanity Retreat
• Ginger Lemon Girl’s A Peaceful Holiday Season
• Valerie of City Life Eats – Sleep, move, dance, stretch
• Iris of The Daily Dietribe Join the December Sanity Challenge
• My Kickoff Post with goals
• Kate of Eat, Recycle Repeat shares her “Dos” of the season
• My post on the Zen of Candy Cane Marshmallows
• Kathryn, of chacha’s gluten-free kitchen with her goals AND German Chocolate Bites
• My post on “Being Gentle”
• Yoga Twist on Life shared December Merriment
• Lilian of Healthy Happy Vibrant shares “Self Care Continued”
• Iris of the Daily Dietribe shared on the preciousness of our moments
• I posted on the recent tragedy with “A Pause”
• Jonathan of the Canary Files joined us with Embracing the Here and Now with Love

To get a “flavor” of past retreats:
http://www.gfgoodness.com/2012/08/05/a-july-self-retreat-recap/
July Self-Care Retreat and the December Sanity Retreat.

Last, but not least, we do have a FB group–if you’d like to join, you’re more than welcome. It’s a space to support and be supported, and it’s the same one we used during the last Self-Care Retreat.

Our hostess this week is Iris of the Daily Dietribe so do drop on by.