Let me guess, phase one is positive thinking, visualizing goals.

And the beginning of March is a good time for an end-of-the-month report on my goals as well.

Goal 1: Deal with stress better.
Part 1: Yoga
I'm continuing to do yoga 3-4 times each week. It is really helping me, and I am doing better at remembering that it is totally worth the time I put into it.



From the months of January and February, I have 34 rocks in my yoga jar.





Part 2: Read The Power of Now
Yeah, this was shifted to the backburner, and I didn't get very much farther in it this month.

Part 3: The new implementation of taking time to breathe and notice what is going on around me.
Just like everything else, this is a work in progress. I am taking several deep breaths when I wake up in the morning and before I go to bed at night. So small steps.


Goal 2: Be more positive/have a positive outlook on life
Part 1: The Gratitude Jar
I am still writing 3 things I am grateful for every night. There are so many papers in my jar that when I take the lid off, the papers overflow. I really enjoy the few minutes to think back over my day and focus on the good things.




Part 2: Making time for things I love
I spent a day cooking because I love it. I turn on Pandora at home and sing at the top of my lungs (not well, I might add). I made another batch of the hard lotion bars and also made some chapstick. I took myself to see a performance of Romeo and Juliet and went with friends to a ballet performance of Dracula.





Goal 3: Be kinder/negative self-talk
So my epiphany this month on how to incorporate this comes from rereading Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. I was looking for specific things that I can do to "dare greatly." I love her ideas and her approach, but I need some more concretes on how to actually open myself up to the vulnerability and allow myself to be seen. The first thing that I came across that ties into the kinder goal is to own my story. Brown's point (I feel weird calling her Brown, like we're friends and I should just call her Brene) is that often we feel shame about our life stories, something we have done or something that has happened to us, and so we shut it down and don't want to share it. But the things that have happened in our lives are who we are, and we need -- desperately need -- to share that and allow ourselves to be seen. So I want to own my story and be more accepting of myself and my life.

The second part that ties in is the idea of practicing self-compassion. Brene discusses self-compassion as a strategy for building shame resistance and mentions the website self-compassion.org. So I went there and watched the video and really liked the ideas of self-compassion, because that is what this whole goal of be kinder is about. And again, I feel like it all ties to the previous two goals, but I am working on the ideas of being more compassionate with myself.


So to summarize: some good, some work still to do, and some new ideas. Yay for goals.