Sara's Virtual Notebook

photo credit: we heart it

As you know, I picked a word this year in lieu of making New Year’s Resolutions. This has somehow not stopped me from making some commitments that look suspiciously like New Year’s Resolutions, a sky full of little umbrellas to fly me through 2010 with pizazz.

Remember those posts I wrote for Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge? They started out with that intro about 2009 being “the year I got really sick”. Well, it’s true. But re-iterating that story so much in December made me realize it was just that — a story. As Lisa at Sacred Circle so succinctly put it, we all have stories that we cling to like Velcro. So no more wallowing in or telling that old story. I’m on my way to wellness now, armed with choices (it only recently occurred to me that not only am I the patient, I am the consumer, so if I’m not satisfied with the care I’m getting, I can go elsewhere!) and a naturopath who seems to have a pretty clear idea of what my body is going through right now. My focus is on Wellness.

Wellness
Toward that end, I was pleased when Leo Babauta of Zen Habits recently unveiled his new website, 6changes.com. It’s all about creating 6 new habits over the course of the year, starting in small increments, making it so doable you really can’t fail!

My first habit is the most important, one I began working on since I began seeing my naturopath in late fall; and that is Eating Better! This is not about worrying about the numbers on the scale, this is about nourishment and eating to add years to my life rather than shaving them off with each cheeseburger and milkshake.  My eight baby steps in eight weeks to eating better are:

1. Drink only water, green tea and *occasionally* milk, rarely juices. Drink water when soda craving hits. The point here is not to be ingesting unnecessary sugar, which my kidneys and adrenals don’t like.
2. Start day with breakfast including good protein. Again, this is not just common sense, it supports my adrenal function, esp. if I eat this within an hour of waking.
3. Plan afternoon snack of veggies and salsa or hummus or peanut butter. Having a little protein every 2-3 hours or so.
4. Add a fruit each morning before breakfast.
5. Have two veggie servings with lunch.
6. Have two veggie servings with dinner.
7. Eat fish 2x a week if possible, and take fish oil.
8. Eat lean proteins and beans, following good food combos. Food combos are pretty important for optimal digestion. For those interested, I highly recommend the resources available at Great Taste, No Pain.

In keeping with Wellness, and with my naturopath’s Rx for my adrenals which includes relaxation and gentle exercise, I’ll be joining Marianne at Zen & the Art of Peacekeeping, in 30 days of yoga, beginning on January 15th. And I signed up for The Happiness Project, where the word for the month of January is Energy. The two top tips for jump-starting energy are to sleep more and move more.

If I have my way, I’ll be incorporating some raw and a little Nia into my life with Goddess Leonie’s Radiant Goddess E-course, beginning January 17th. There’s still time to sign up, and if you have yet to check out her amazing 2010: My Goddess Year Guidebook and Planner, you can get it at a discount for signing up for one of her courses!

Making Space
Shannon’s put together a year-long challenge dedicated to creating space for the things you love, and for the time to do the things you love. I haven’t defined my precise goals for this yet, but having read both Karen Kingston books last year, I’m working toward a big decluttering, after which I plan to do a formal Space Clearing. If you’re just looking for decluttering inspiration, I heartily recommend her book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. With this book alone, I tackled getting rid of a huge chunk of my book collection, books being one of the hardest things for me to let go of. She gently suggests that once we have read certain books enough times, their energy is fully integrated into our beingness, and we don’t need the books anymore. Likewise, we may have grown past or never grown into some of our other books, or we might be hanging onto them out of guilt for not having read them yet.

Financial Freedom
This past weekend my sister brought up the house mail. Since I have a PO Box, I receive very little mail at the house, and so I rarely check it. In the mail she brought up was a letter from the local hospital. I had owed them money toward my 2008-2009 deductible when I had to have an emergency MRI two days before my insurance calendar year was over (a week later I had surgery and had to pay the deductible… again). I had been paying in small increments as I incurred the debt almost in tandem with the surgery debt, and as I was expected to pay that as well, I could only work it into my budget at a smaller amount than the one suggested. I was told to send my proposal in writing and they accepted it very quickly. I made regular payments but still had an outstanding balance which I was continuing to pay off. However, at the end of December, as the letter was dated, funds had been applied to my balance so that I no longer was on the hook for the last $200! They stated they understood the financial hardship and appreciated that I continued to make payments despite this. Woohoo! This make me free of medical debt. (Another way to say goodbye to the Year of Sick story).

This got me thinking about money and how I handle it. I’ve been poking around online this week looking for good financial blogs and resources. I have a lot riding on learning how to rein in saving and spending habits in 2010, because by the end of February, I will be completely debt-free for the first time in my adult life. Rather than throw caution to the wind and blow my new-found freedom (which is just the freedom of a little more money to myself each month — I still don’t have any credit), it seemed I ought to have a plan in place both for saving and for determining how and when to spend money.

I found a great blog, The Simple Dollar, and a great resource there which is called 31 Days to Fix Your Finances. It’s a series of 31 posts aimed at getting your money on track by determining what you value and what you’re worth. It reminds me in many ways of Your Money or Your Life, but it’s less intimidating. Today will be my Day 1 of 31 days where I’ll be sitting down with the lessons and taking stock.

It feels like a pretty good start to 2010.