12/28/2006

Just 360 or so days ago...


Just 360 or so days ago I started this blog with an article about resolutions and goal-setting.

One year later, it's time to take stock, and see how we did.

I have got in the habit with the kids at the free school to review and make a list of the biggest PERSONAL news stories of the past year. Younger kids seem to write all ten entries from last weekend. Anything further back is just distant past.

Most people seem to come up with 5 or 6 events, but I've found the real reflection happens with entries 7, 8, 9 and 10. What really happened last year?

For me, and now with a family of 4 I say, "us," it was a year of being pregnant. After spending New Years in Las Vegas, we learned early in the year that Emiko was pregnant. That news colored the rest of the year, obviously...

Aside from getting some administrative things done (permanent residence permit: Japan's Green Card) and staying close to home, I also started being coached, took a trip to the Philippines, was visited by mom (she came bearing diapers) and of course, celebrated the birth of Elinor Cullen Stratton on September 16th.

While bringing new life into the world certainly "counts," there were other goals that didn't get met.

Discussing that with my "coach," I was advised that there are some mechanical goals that just take grit and hard work, others were more "open" and could be met in unexpected ways by the universe, ala Law of Attraction. For instance, if I am working on an audio project, it will take some recording and editing. But asking the question, "How ELSE might this work?" opens us up to new solutions and ways of "getting things done."

I include here a picture of my still new family, which gives me more pride and happiness than I've ever known.