Make it Easy, Make it Yours

 Almost a year since I put anything out here, what got me started today, of all days?

Well, it was finally getting around to reading 2021's Lunar New Year forecast (to be fair, year 4719) posted by acupuncturist CT Holman way back in January. There's always a gaggle of predictions coming at you in January, like a flock of geese, each one proclaiming loud and long. And just like the sonic Doppler effect, they're gone, just like all those other New Year's predictions and resolutions.

Today (3/17/2021), at 42+`N latitude with temps well north of 40`F and calm sunny skies, was the right day. Local flora and fauna, sky and land are beginning to stir, hearts and minds are lofting with spring's rising energy, we itch to start doing. As I start to wake and crawl out from under my winter rock, I wanted to know what CT thinks is in store for 2021. Take a few minutes to read it now, as you'll have some background for what follows.

What wise seeds, ready for planting, were born out of 2020 for you? Everyone knows, it was no small year of gestation and delivery, to say the least. So many lessons laid out in the inaugural year of this current traditional cycle! This second year, the Ox year, is one for planting and cultivating with purpose of nourishing into the remaining 10 years. What are your best cultivation skills and practices? Which ones are coming into place? Can you figure out which routines still need to be incorporated?

2020 probably showed you a whole lot of what you don't want your life to be. 2021 is the time to start growing and embodying what you do want. Plan  for the long game, for who will you be at the other end of this Lunar Cycle, Metal Boar year 2031. Yes, it IS work, it's crucial work for each of us as individuals and as members of Group Gaia. Look through some of my previous blogs for ideas of how to answer these questions. Ask around, there's a lot of clever and experienced folks around and I bet you know some of them.

PS               
​So you realize one of the secret, underlying, generally-thought-of-as-tiresome concepts here is the cultivation of “good” habits which will aloow for efficiently carrying out “good” intentions with a minimum of tears, yes? Effortlessly easy to say and think, we assume equally hard to actually do because isn't success predicated on struggle and great effort? Well, yes and no. Set yourself up to succeed; a lot of heavy lifting later on can be avoided with cleverness up front. As James Clear of “Atomic Habits” reminds us, often it's not about the target behavior itself where the struggle is, it's about learning to initiate the habit's action within an effective environment.

Make it easy, the choice is all yours.