*kiss*

I am joyful.

I am searching for restorative yoga classes in Guelph, Ontario. Google has provided me with 2009 workshops, but little else. I am tense, stiff, and stressed – not interested in sweating in a room full of other sweating bodies, nor “working hard”. I wanted to be nurtured. This can’t be too difficult to find. If money was no object, I would consider private classes, but $60/class is not within the current budget.

“Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine

I don’t believe in New Years resolutions; I believe in goals and dreams. This is what I wrote at the beginning of 2009. My life has certainly changed since then. While 2008 was fantastic, 2009 was challenging. It was brilliant, painful, inspiring, and heartbreaking – a cornucopia of deep feeling. Love lost, self found. I shed enough tears to fill an ocean, but discovered the hope and strength to find my way through the darkness.

I was laid off from my project management job and spent several months finding myself and redefining my goals. Similar to 2008, I traveled and studied. I spent a good deal of time touring Ontario wine country, and visited my favourite haunts in Ottawa, Quebec, and Michigan. I drank tequila in Ensenada, explored the mysterious beauty of Iceland, and stood at the top of Mount Baker, Washington. I learned some additional modalities in energy work, applied to the American Institute of Holistic Theology, achieved my ACB (Advanced Communicator Bronze) in Toastmasters, and joined the Guelph Guild of Storytellers. I took several advanced CSS 2.1 courses and became a whiz at designing table-free web sites. My client base has grown exponentially and I am enjoying the prosperity that comes with repeat business from work well done.

2010 has seen me make some serious decisions about my future – in terms of career, finances, health and human connection and I am excited and passionate about everything that this year will bring.

Goals for 2010

• A full detoxification of my body, mind, spirit
• Be continually conscious of my health and diet / fully embrace a raw food lifestyle
• Get back into yoga and martial arts
• Finish and submit all coursework for yoga teacher training
• Attain my Zend Certified Engineer designation
• Achieve my ACS (Advanced Communicator Silver) designation in Toastmasters
• Become the Guelph Area Governor for Toastmasters

2009/earlier goals that didn’t make it

• Learn Flex – not sure I am going to bother anymore
• Return to Halifax (Easter?), visit San Francisco (in the Spring perhaps)
• Apply to grad school – not sure I am going to anymore
• Get my Registered Practitioner status with the Canadian Reiki Association – still a goal
• Write my exam with the Certified Personal Trainers Network – not sure this is a goal anymore
• Master of Herbology with Dominion Herbal College – still a goal

Happy 2010… and may the new year bless you with health, wealth, and wisdom… and hope.

“Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.” – Vaclav Havel