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.