A New Approach

Hello ye few who stumble upon my blog and read! Happy New Year! I have many exciting changes in store for me in the next 365 362 days:

1. I am beginning a program through The Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a certified Health Coach of holistic wellness. I am so excited to begin this program, and to begin building a career for myself that feels more in tune with my interests and spirit. 🙂 I plan to be fully certified before the new year!
2. I am taking on a few new responsibilities at my current job that I hope will inspire me and enrich my position with the foundation that I’ve worked for for over five years.
3. I am getting married in seven months to a perfect partner. Planning a wedding on a (very) tight budget has its challenges, but is coming together quite nicely – with some help from friends and family in the creativity department 😉

I will most likely transform this blog over time to reflect my activities. Three Moments of Happy – although not always kept up to date – was a very useful tool for me in 2011 and 2012. I kept the Moments of Happy concept in my mind from day-to-day, and the practice (looking for the silver linings, the rays of sunshine, the little things that keep the world turning) became more of an instinct. I am infinitely happier than I was a few years ago…in part because of my loving partner…in part because of my increasingly loving attitude towards myself and the world around me.

So…2013…Yeah…I’m super-excited about this year…and not in an “ohmygodguys! I’m totes gonna make this the raddest year evarz!” sort of way. I’m excited because I have carefully spent the last two years exploring what will make me most happy. And I feel like I have put together some true-to-self, inspired goals. I don’t plan on being “THE” anything this year. I plan on balance. I plan on learning. I plan on enjoying healthy food and physical activity. I plan on focus. I plan on fun. I plan to not be hard on myself when I cannot make (or do not want to attend) an event. I plan to let go of anger through compassion. I plan to remember to be present, more.

These are not lofty goals; in a way, I feel like I’m cheating the ol’ New Years Resolution game. I have been slowly working on the things I have listed above for several years. “Laying out the foundation,” if you will.

For fun, I thought, I would keep the Moments of Happy theme going throughout the year, documenting a spirit-lifting story per day on this blog, so that in December, I can look back through its entries and remember that (peeking through the melodramatically publicized tragedy) there is joy…courage…kindness…and loverfluff™ everywhere.

2012 ended with a puddle of darkness; it was difficult not to cry every day after the school shooting in Connecticut on December 14th. It was difficult not to rage against members of my government…corporate greed…the degradation of our environment and farming infrastructure…

I think I will need a record of things that make me happy every day – that are occurring locally, nationally, internationally.

I will think of this account as a vision board of sorts.

So…today’s story…introduced to me by my friend, Camille: 

The Incredible Story of What Happened When Two Gay Men Were Harassed While Waiting for Pizza

 

~ K