Second quarter - A Year to Change

St. Andrew's Day already, and Advent begins in two days time - where did the autumn go, you ask? It got blown away with all the leaves in the rain and the winds that sweep across from west to east! (Dartford artist Stephen Oliver has caught just how it feels in his painting, Autumn Winds, below.)

Meanwhile, I have swept away my attempts to be part of online book clubs, having tried out a couple on the goodreads.com site, as well as Richard & Judy - which is tied in to both Facebook, which I don't do, and WHSmith, which we don't have in France. I was simply looking for a site where people commit to read the same book over a set period of time, and then review and discuss it. Simple - but so far undiscovered! But I am nonetheless, reading and writing every day, which is in itself relaxing, if somewhat in a context-lacking vacuum, so I don't feel I'm completely abandoning my self-set goals.

And now it's time to begin the second quarter of the Year to Change, so here is the outline for the first four weeks, moving from the Mind to the Spirit:

WINTER	SPIRIT
	December: Gifts & Giving
Week 14:  30 Nov-7 Dec		Giving to others: It's Advent! Send Christmas cards & gifts to friends/family. Send an unexpected card to someone you don't usually include. Work out how you can give to your community, society, world at large... and then do it.
Week 15:  7-14 Dec		Assessment of own gifts/talents: List current opinion of own gifts/talents, then do the following - Skills Scan: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/get-started.htm Values Card Sort: http://thegoodproject.org/toolkits-curricula/the-goodwork-toolkit/value-sort-activity/ Resumé Review: Print a copy of CV. Using highlighters, mark what you wish to continue (what brings joy!) in green and roles/outcomes to be left behind in orange. Mark in pink anything from the orange areas that could be redeemed in any way. Now revisit and revise original list.
Week 16:  14-21 Dec		Spiritual gifts: Read/study: 1 Cor. 12.1-11 https://bible.org/seriespage/6-spiritual-gifts-1-corinthians-121-11 https://spiritualgiftstest.com/spiritual-gifts/ Galatians 5 Now list your own spiritual gifts, and how you will cultivate others
Week 17:  21-28 Dec		Receiving the gift of love: Do I block love because of pride or fear?  Accepting love depends on trust, not fearing loss, being open, banishing negativity, expressing one's own love, not trying to be an island, and loving one's self - which can be very hard.  Every day this week look in a mirror and say out loud x (name their names) love/s me just as I am; God loves me just as I am; I love me just as I am. Write thank you notes - proper paper ones - and post them.

I'll be posting my progress here as usual, and it'd be great to hear your opinions. Meanwhile, you can also check out the final liturgies on my other blog page, Celebrating the Year, which has now gone full circle. 

Seasonal stuff!

Please check out the new posts on my blog page 'Celebrating the Year', ready for St. Andrew's-tide...

(Loving his tartan cloak!)

… and Advent. Enjoy!

At the end of Autumn

So, it's the last week of November already, and time perhaps to quickly review the first quarter of my Year to Change.

As you may remember, the outline looked like this:

When	What	How
AUTUMN	MIND
	Sept: Brain Training
Wk 1: 31Aug-7 Sept		Brain training app
Wk 2: 7-14 Sept		+ words (Scrabble) + numbers (Sudoku)
Wk 3: 14-21 Sept		+ logic (Logic puzzles) + eat treats!
Wk 4: 21-28 Sept		+ Tetris + reading
Wk 5: 28 Sept-5 Oct		+ strategy (Learn to play chess app) + get new perfume ready for next week
	Oct: Mind Changing
Wk 6: 5 -12 Oct		Keep an extract of favourite scent near the bed. Open it & inhale when first waking up, & again as bathing & dressing. Change scent each week.
Wk 7: 12-19 Oct		Use non-dominant hand e.g. tooth/hair brushing, & shower with eyes shut
Wk 8: 19-26 Oct		Do something different e.g. change routine (esp. morning), look at things upside-down, learn something new
Wk 9: 26 Oct-2 Nov		Assess each day & how it could have gone better
	Nov: Health Giving
Wk 10: 2-9 Nov		Eat wholegrains, soy beans, pumpkin seeds, walnuts & other nuts, blueberries, tomatoes, eggs, blackcurrants, broccoli, brown rice, oats, peas, potatoes, spinach, yoghurt, avocados, kale, dark chocolate (but only a little!) & sage. Drink green tea
Wk 11: 9-16 Nov		Exercise: cross-training - build up to 20 mins x 3/week
Wk 12: 16-23 Nov		Read: join a book club & write every day (Goodreads book club UK)
Wk 13: 23-30 Nov		Rest & sleep: learn new relaxation techniques

I made a mistake in my planning for the first month by trying to re-use brain training and games apps - they lacked the novelty value. The lesson learned is that I need new stuff to keep my mind/brain engaged! I did, however, introduce a bit of novelty into my long-standing enjoyment of the app Dragon Vale...

… by starting a new 'park' designed around the cosmology of the ancient Norse people, as we know them from the various sagas and eddas - and which I've been writing a couple of study units about for the Interfaith Theology Seminary, of which I am now a Research Associate. It was fun, and a good way to embed the mythology/world-view in my mind. There's a great site here is anyone's interested: 

https://norse-mythology.org/

Doing things differently during October went well, although I can't say that there's been any lasting effect to doing things with my non-dominant hand, nor that I've become more creative than before! But I do vary my morning routine more now, and I'm still sniffing those essential oils - sweet orange remains the favourite.

November got off to a good start, as I delved into a couple of new-to-me books about wholefood, plant-based eating, and we're still enjoying trying out some new recipes. The chocolate brownies I made yesterday are great - very light, very chocolatey, and full of walnuts, so healthy too!

The other good things this last month are that I've got back into the habit of cross-training three times a week - while watching Netflix programmes that The William is averse to! - and I've put myself on the mailing list for both the Richard & Judy Book Club (yes, I know; but online book clubs are hard to find!) and Goodreads.com, both of which are already widening my book-fishing net. And I'm grateful to Sarah for her recommendations: 'Eleanor Oliphant...' was brilliant, and I've just started 'My Grandmother sends her regards...' which promised well!

The down-sides of the month are that kale seems impossible to find over here, the quality of fruit and veg on the whole remains disappointing, and our hens are still only laying perhaps three eggs a week between the five of them. (But three is better than none!) And, while I am sleeping better than I did, I haven't found any worthwhile new ideas for relaxation, just recycled old ones.

The outline for the winter months - December, January, and February - will be posted here next weekend, so watch this space!

Remembrance

Just a quick note to say I've posted a new short liturgy for Remembrance and Peace on my 'Celebrating the Year' page, and I hope you'll check it out.

Mind changed?

November already, which, despite the change of the clocks (for the penultimate time here in France), and the misty - and occasionally slightly frosty - mornings, feels more like early October, with strawberries still ripening in the raised beds and now crocosmia's coming into bloom in the tiny front flower border. 

Halloween was duly celebrated, with a fair in Carhaix, and the streets full of costumed children - and a few grown ups! - politely calling at the rows of shops for sweets. We were at the opticians, who ran out! Back at home, later that evening, three youngsters called on us and were duly given a handful of sweets, since we were better prepared this year than last, when we only had mandarins to offer! Mind you, I think the mandarins were preferable - unless you're a fan of acid drops!

My mind-changing exercises of October went ok, and the final week of assessing each day was salutary, not least since, both by accident and design, quite a few of my mornings particularly didn't follow the usual routine - and I enjoyed that they didn't. I think my non-dominant left hand could get better at tooth and hair brushing - but it's just easier and quicker to use my habituated right hand. But I'm continuing to sniff some lovely essential oils morning and evening. So far my 'favourite' in terms of feeling brightened up is Sweet Orange. Ylang ylang was a bit musty and reminded me of a perfume or some other produce but I can't remember quite what. And lavender - this week's fragrance - unfortunately reminds me of a time many years ago, when a couple of us felt and/or were sick on the return journey of a Brownie's Day Out to Frith in North Wales, and a no doubt well-meaning woman wafted a bottle of lavender around. I'm glad I don't get that association from the plant itself!

Health-giving is the focus of this final month of Autumn, and having just got a couple of new vegan recipe books, I'm looking forward to adding some new meals to our usual menu plan. Watch this space for new favourites! Just wish there was a wider choice of veg here - and that fruit and veg lasted longer! Never thought I'd be craving kale and edamame beans!! :-)

	Nov: Health Giving
Wk 10: 2-9 Nov		Eat wholegrains, soy beans, pumpkin seeds, walnuts & other nuts, blueberries, tomatoes, eggs, blackcurrants, broccoli, brown rice, oats, peas, potatoes, spinach, yoghurt, avocados, kale, dark chocolate (but only a little!) & sage. Drink green tea
Wk 11: 9-16 Nov		Exercise: cross-training - build up to 20 mins x 3/week
Wk 12: 16-23 Nov		Read: join an online book club & write every day
Wk 13: 23-30 Nov		Rest & sleep: learn new relaxation techniques