Post #3182: Rooted in 2020

Last week, on January 2nd, I did my Year Compass to close out the old and ring in the new year. This was the fifth year I’ve completed the booklet either before or just after the new year, and I definitely find it a helpful framework for thinking about my life.

The culmination of the workbook is a word to guide your year. Last year my word was Radiant. This year my word is Rooted. While last year I wanted to put myself out in the world, this year needs something different: my feet planted firmly where I stand, my hands reaching out and up, deepening my connections and feeling the connection with the elements. “Embodied” was another contender this year, as I’ve been so physically focused as of late, but rooted feels more encompassing of what I want and need to work on as we collectively face some pretty challenging times.

What follows are twenty goals and projects I will work on in the next year. Some are very specific (my dead lifting goal), others are more general (walk weekly). Some are space clearing/fixing while others are about technique and form. What I wanted to do was come up with a list of achievable items, within my control, that help deepen my relationship to people, my body, my spiritual and creative practices, and my home. Let’s see how many of these get done as we move forward from these early days of 2020:

1. Write 100 pages of memoir
2. Dead lift 185 pounds (I currently do 3 sets of 135 weekly)
3. Perform three sets of 15 properly executed push-ups
4. Host three open studio events for weavers/sewists
5. Give a “Way Seeking Mind Talk” (I’ve been invited by my Zen teachers)
6. Participate in at least one (maybe two) 6-day meditation retreats
7. Replace the heater in my zendo with one that doesn’t blacken the wall
8. Sell/give away the large loom in my studio
9. Sell the Ashford Knitter’s loom I never use
10. Learn double weave techniques by completing a sampler project for 4 and 8 shafts
11. Do two 30-day yoga challenges
12. Weave one huck lace project
13. Sew one pair of fitted blue jeans
14. Sew 5 pairs of underwear for myself
15. Learn three new songs to sing and play
16. Set aside one Saturday per month for Brian and I exclusively
17. Purchase bike rack for car (to facilitate riding more often)
18. Walk with a friend weekly
19. Make one new recipe bi-weekly and write about it here
20. Put at least ten woven or sewn items into my Etsy store and market them

There are of course other goals for 2020, like eleven more issues of Comfort for the Apocalypse, daily meditation, working out 3-4 times per week – but this list focuses on specific things with more intention. Simply doing this exercise (and the year compass) is a reminder of what it is that I value and need more of in my life, as well as what I can let go of.

So here we are 2020, let’s see if we can plant our feet firmly to withstand what’s coming.