The “Soul” category is one that is represented by the Gentle Yellow of belief. It is the deepest part of me, the “this-I-believe” me. It is also the expressive me, the part of me that allows my creativity to grow wings and expand outward, with no “rational” filter on it to say “is this worth it?” but rather just to give expression to a thought, a feeling, to scratch a creative itch because it is there.

In the past, some of my successes in this area have included NAC theatre and orchestra outings, studio tours for art viewing, cooking courses, new recipes, OpEd pieces, participating in critiquing groups, writing different types of prose, book reviews, my spiritual journey, and opening up on my blog. .

Last year, I had ten priorities. My first goal had been to complete my HR guide, and I did make decent progress on it in the summer during my holidays. I didn’t complete it, but decent progress. After that, the list drops rapidly in terms of progress…I didn’t publish anything on my proposed business model for self-publishing, only handled 1 of the big 10-12 questions related to spirituality, did manage to upload some of my past writing to the website, didn’t expand my book reviews or reboot my movie reviews. I didn’t really get going on the various books I wanted to read from either my bedside table or the Top 600 list nor did I do the dinosaur book for Jacob (plus, he’s mostly outgrown his interest in dinosaurs). And no new recipes really to add to the monthly mix. Sigh. Not quite a shutout, but far from “progress”. This is, notably, my hardest category — yellow is my least “go to” energy or activity, the one that both exhausts me and challenges me. But still, they are areas that I want to address/express as part of my personality, and personal growth.

Most of those will roll to this year. I want to get the HR Guide done. That one is priority one, as it has been kicking around too long. Recipe nights and reading from the top 600 list are hopefully easy additions. I’m hoping to knock off one spiritual question a month, we’ll see how that goes. The business model, book reviews and movie reviews are all about populating the blog and expanding it. I have an ongoing debate with myself about committing to goals for writing fiction until the HRG is done, so for now, it will just sit outside the annual priorities. I also want to start taking stock of daily blessings — I read a blog that talked about recording each day something you were grateful for, and I like the premise. At the end of the year, you open the box and review your list. Sounds like a good idea, so I’m thinking each day I’ll record my favorite thing of the day or something that I’m aware of that day more than others, etc.

With those goals in mind, here’s my working to do list for the Soul category:

On to the next area!