New Years has always been a favorite time. It’s kind of like a birthday- a fresh start, a new cycle, but one where I’m willing to spoil the opportunity for joy and festivities with serious reflection and promises to myself.
Some promises I have kept. Many not, but over the years, my New Years Resolutions have served as moderately heavy anchors on my progress.
Sometimes they are frivolous. Like the year I resolved to wear more green pants. I still wear more green pants. I love green pants, and I am actually waiting on some bias tape to make a green work robe. Last year, I promised to wear more hats. And I think I have, this resolution actually gets me outside more since there is no sense in wearing a cap inside alone. I wonder if there is a word for that. Behatted Solitude. Sounds frightfully lonely to take solace in a hat. There’s a short story in there somewhere. Help yourself to the idea.
Another year it was to learn to like more beans. Met this challenge with mixed success, but I’m a fan of string beans, edamame, garbanzo beans in different forms, and sprouted mung beans and beanthreads. Some beans: I do not like them Sam I am. And that’s okay. I’m really okay with that.
I have had more serious years that I resolved to be some how self-improved. I actually don’t remember those, but they involved fitness, finances, exercise, and such. I had resolved to read more fiction one year, which was a good one that I followed through on and continue. One year I resolved to learn a foreign language, and I worked my way up to intermediate Norwegian. After close to 50 years of resolutions, some failed and some well-integrated, I must think hard for new territory!
This year is a big year. My first full calendar year in my new monasticism. What are some of the promises that I will make to myself and how seriously will I take them?
Environment
- Expand my recycling efforts to some neighbors. ( Not recycling the neighbors, but invite them to donate some of their sorted discard.)
- Improve habitat at Mons Domus for small fauna including insects and corvids.
- Work with my housing association to develop a booklet about environmental stewardship on the mountain.
- Reduce the use of the dryer, which may be the biggest electrical drain that I can reduce presently. Unfortunately, in the winter, I can’t dry in the house because of condensation.
Health
- Exercise daily.
- Build raised gardening beds on the cleared parcel.
- Determine the feasibility of an elevated Kratky hydro-greenhouse.
- Grow some productive crops instead of only interesting ones. How much horseradish does one need?
- Get a COVID vaccine! Hurray!
- Sweet tooth reduction.
Music
- Become fluent at reading music on the chromatic accordion
- Keep working on folk music on the diatonic button boxes
- Develop a better recording procedure.
Arts and Sciences
Make detailed, weekly observations and records of nature.
The Monastery and my Eremitism
- Keep up with my Rule. Not too worried about doing this since it’s my fundamental M.O. Working on doing so with fewer interruptions and temptations would be a good goal.
- Keep up this blog!
That’s a lot of resolutions. Yikes. I’ll stop now.