Taking a deep breath...

I've now been in Korea for almost a year and in not too many hours we'll be counting down to 2012 - amazing! After the school semester finished, I felt pretty frazzled and ready to collapse and take a looong rest. Now I'm getting excited for the new year. Moving to a different country, starting a new job, looking after children, and throwing my old routine out the window has been tremendously liberating, fun, and adventurous. It was quite a shake up and now I am ready to settle down a bit more and get centered again. This seems like a good time to reflect on the past year and figure out what I want to fit into the new one.

1. Meditating
I used to think meditation was some exotic, unapproachable, mysterious activity that appeared humorous and soundly unnecessary. Then I tried it and felt incredibly good. Taking a few minutes in the morning to clear my head, consciously relax, and slow down my overly busy and cluttered thoughts is one of the healthiest and most energizing things that I can do. If I feel grumpy, stressed, overwhelmed, etc. I know this is what helps me most, but during most of this year I've neglected to take that time. The last few days I've gotten back into it and I feel sooo much better. It's like taking a luxurious bath for my mind haha...ahem, moving on now.

2. Cooking
Before I left Canada, I got pretty comfortable in the kitchen and really enjoyed cooking soups, stews, stir-fries, and dabbling in baking. The last few months have featured very little cooking by me. I have a cute, brand new kitchen and though it is small, there's no reason for it to go unused. It's time for me reclaim the lead role in the kitchen and let the rice cooker step down to an assisting position. I had lots of excuses not to cook much - lack of energy after work, unfamiliarity with the ingredients here, living in an apartment surrounded by lovely and cheap restaurants - but the truth is I love cooking and I miss it a lot. It gives me energy, grounds me, and makes me feel nourished and healthy. It's also just fun!

3. Studying Korean
This is something I must do. I'm no longer a beginner but I'm far from being at a conversational level and I really really want to understand what people are saying all around me. I want to communicate and feel at ease and be more independent. So, my goal is to study every day, even if it's only for a few minutes. One day, I want to have an actual conversation with my boyfriend's parents.

4. Spending time in nature
Living in a big city here is very different from living by the ocean, surrounded by trees and natural beauty. I realize now that I took nature for granted. I could just step outside and breathe fresh air and feel inspired by beautiful ocean views. Parks and gardens and hiking trails were everywhere, so easily accessible. There is plenty of natural beauty in Korea and hiking in the mountains here can be breathtaking. However, it takes more effort to get to the mountains or the countryside. I haven't made enough of an effort this past year and I'm craving nature badly. I live quite close to some beautiful mountains so I will try to actually pay them a visit at least once a month.

5. Exercising
So this is a boring one, but I do feel a lot better when I exercise regularly. During vacation it's not a problem, but it's hard to get motivated after a tiring day at work. So, even if I just hula hoop for ten minutes, do some jumping jacks, or pretend to execute some ballet moves, I will try to fit more conscious movement into each day.

The new year is just around the corner, and I feel excited, energized, and ready to celebrate! Hooray! :-)

Resolutions? Nah!

So this is the time when many people dust off their forgotten goals and desires, getting ready to plunge into the new year brimming with resolutions. I think it's absolutely fantastic to set goals and to aim for great things, whether it's quitting smoking or eating healthier. However, there are also good reasons why many resolutions fall by the wayside, only to get covered with dust (and guilt!) again. Maybe they weren't specific enough, or there were too many, maybe there wasn't a clear action plan to follow, or maybe it was something that willpower alone cannot tackle.

Many resolutions are phrased in a negative way - lose weight, stop this, stop that, quit this, cut out that, eliminate, give up, restrict - AGH! It's just not that appealing! And this kind of language doesn't motivate anyone. No matter what, it won't make you feel good about yourself in a healthy, genuine way. So I definitely don't like these kinds of resolutions.

Is there an alternative? Of course! It's always great to set goals and aim for the stars, while taking manageable baby steps to get there. For one thing, why not phrase resolutions in a positive, inspiring way? Why aim to lose ten pounds when you can instead aim to eat a varied, nutritious and delicious whole foods diet while also engaging in your favourite physical activity on most days. And you can make it more specific to suit your needs and make it super realistic and concrete rather than vague and mysterious. "I will go for a thirty minute walk every morning and cook vegetable soup twice a week" is way more stimulating than "I will break unhealthy habit #34".

Just think of what inspires you, stirs your passions, makes you feel better and healthier, what you daydream about, what you look forward to, what makes you happy, etc, etc, etc. and aim to integrate more of this into your day to day life.

One of my goals will definitely be to read more fiction books, it's something that I absolutely love but haven't been doing nearly enough of since graduating from university. Non-fiction is wonderfully informative and important, but fiction (especially Victorian fiction :) ) stirs the soul :)