“Anyone can love a thing ‘because’. That’s as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something ‘despite’: to know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect.”
– Patrick Rothfuss
February was a great month, it turns out. Stressful, full-on, yet good. I prioritised getting us out of the house, and following through on some challenges that aren’t writing-related, and focused on my word for this year to just trust that the world will keep turning if I relax. We let the cats in the bedroom overnight, I attended some interesting meetings, and we ended the month with a fairly good balance of work-life-cats and I even squeezed some writing in.
Reflections on the Journey
i. Read 12 books: 1/12 – I continued to read Rise, Sister, Rise; although I’m taking my time now I’m in the middle; letting the ideas percolate as it’s one of those kind of books, thought-provoking and how-does-this-apply-to-me kind of questions.
ii. Track my wordcount and aim for 100,000 words: 00,383/100,000 words – I’m working my way back up to writing again. I have a project with a beta reader which I’ll be focusing on for most of this year, and while waiting, I’m keeping the pressure off.
iii. Wellness Weekly: I began a 40-day meditation challenge on February 1st. I have never done a challenge like this, and I had a bunch of beliefs around how I should meditate: mostly that I should be good at this because six years ago I used to teach meditation and mindfulness.
But, I bought the package, scheduled the time, and have been doing a daily Kundalini meditation complete with chanting and arm movements. I finish in March, so we’ll see how that goes. I have definitely noticed feeling calmer and more at ease since I started, but how much directly relates, I can never tell. =)
Smoke and Ember
It was the anniversary of our bringing the kitties home on February 14th. Two years they’ve been with us now. We had to take them to the Vet for their annual vaccinations, but otherwise things are all grand. ^_^ Even that went well this year. Both cats became our “friend” again shortly after being brought home from the vet, so we count that as a win.
We’ve been letting them sleep in our room with us over the weekend evenings, which is having mixed results. Neither of us have ever had cats in our bedroom before: so it’s a learning curve for all involved. Still, I fell asleep with Smoke at my feet and woke at 7am with Ember against my knees, so it’s going as well as we could hope, so far.
Jumping the Wall…
- We celebrated our wedding anniversary at the local science museum, because we are big kids <3
- My interview for the Rebel Shine Summit went live: sign up free here.
- I have completed 28 days of Kundalini meditation and have 12 days still to go!
- We attended a comedy gig, had dinner with a friend, and saw family.
- I visited London and Surrey for some sekrit-project events.
- My group programme began it’s Spring run.
- I made some big progress on a sekrit project local to me; details to come in March.
The Path Ahead…
- March is set to be a fun transition… I have a writing project on the horizon, this Sekrit project will run until June, and I’ve even got some social plans to see friends and family!