Happy Year of the Rat! I hope it is wonderfully prosperous and you receive lots of blessings in this fabulous year of 08!
I love this festival and its arrival just after the Calendar New Year, for me it is a chance to review my New Year wishes and update them or refine them in time for the Chinese New Year, a sort of second chance if you like! I also take the chance to visit my dear friend Clarice to get my Chinese chart done – I love doing this as it is not only fun and enlightening, but also helps me sit tight and breath during particularly difficult phases in life. The adage “and this too will pass” is perfect when combined with horoscopes – the knowledge that all of life is a cycle, and so there are seasons of Spring signifying growth, and seasons of Winter signifying contemplation and patience.
This year I am in search of Peace! For those of you who have spent any amount of time with me, you will be laughing out loud right now 
YES! I am putting the challenge on the table, PEACE and with it the ability to focus on what needs to be done, to not be distracted by the 101 project ideas normally flying around my head, and to focus on the doing, and not so much the planning (or more aptly the dreamy procrastinating!)
I would love to hear what key word challenge you are setting for yourself this year! Please leave me a comment……..
February 1, 2008 at 2:37 pm |
Hi Elaine !
Really cool blog post. I wish I have the time and inclination to continue mine! Here’s a shoutout from me to you and your family. Happy Chinese New Year !
Key word challenge in its nature is daunting, at least the way I perceive it. I have so many things I want settled this year, which while some are pretty well coming along, I cannot sometimes help but think that perhaps I had been too eager to want to accomplish everything with my old trademark speed. It has been years since those times, and I have learnt to chill and slow down for my own good.
This year I guess the sole keyword challenge I will set for myself this year would be Responsibility. Responsibility is a key trait which I feel I have not fully understood nor explored yet, and it seems perfectly right to want to overcome this before I move on any further.
Responsiblity in itself asks not just accountability for oneself, but it also urges one to not be responsible for others. Sounds harsh there, but I do feel that it could very well be something that people have a problem coming to terms with. It could be very amusing sometimes, when we think about the people we’ve met whose dedication to their responsibilities seem to inspire in us confidence and admiration for such a character. Yet to look in the other way round, one could also view such a person as being both arrogant and condescending too.
Take for example my own experiances with my parents. They take on a seemingly endless list of responsibilities as parents, for our own good of course. But to do that could very well be a subtle declaration of their lack of trust in us, their children, in our ability to take care of ourselves. When they take on responsibilities that their children should and must learn to handle themselves, they restrict that child’s growth and experiances. When they take responsibility, it is also a form of saying that the parents own their children, and therefore relegate another human being to a mere animal who does not know any better. Children learn their lessons the moment they are born, what their parents do will become the foundation of how they will turn out when they are all grown up. Sounds like a good reason to let just kids run amokk, but it is merely food for thought. Where is the line between personal responsibility, parental responsibility and the child’s set of personal responsibilities.
Ofcourse when one has given parenting alot of thought, this line of thought will and can extend to one’s family relations, friendships, work relationships and even love. Have we overstepped our bounds and insulted other people’s ability to take responsibility for their own words and deeds? When one seems to be giving one’s responsibilities to others to take care of, are we escaping or are we doing something far worst? Destroying our own ability and pride in taking personal responsibilities?
This I guess, is exactly why I am setting Responsibility as my key word challenge for myself. This challenge might extend over another year or two given its magnitude, but definately coming to terms with this key word would have a deep and profound impact on myself for the rest of my life. Perhaps I might even write a book about it after I’m done, would this be something that people in general need, or am I being presumptous again in thinking that people need to read a book about responsibility to remind and spell it out for them? Hahaha. I guess its another question for another day.
Have a good year everyone !
With love and light
Nick