It's Go Time!

 Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. -Theodore Roosevelt

Two weeks ago, my body finally told me, It's go time!  The 2012 training season has begun, baby!

I was wondering and longing for when it would happen. For the past three months, I've struggled to wake up to my alarm, put on my running shoes or do anything with any gusto. I've tried to just roll with that, being compassionate and respectful to my body's needs. I still have some injuries I'm diagnosing and nursing, but at long last, it feels like someone threw gasoline on the tiny embers inside of me, and I just exploded with readiness.

From the outside, my rebound appears to have coincided with the new year, but I actually launched my 2012 season back in October by deliberately resting my butt off. You've never seen somebody working so hard to accomplish so little.

The downtime and darkness has especially lent itself to reflection over the past year and setting goals for the coming one. We also had our company retreat this week, so in a comprehensive work+play way, I'm excited to launch 2012 with new visions of an integrated life.

As a four person architecture firm we strategized about how to balance all of our off-the-wall-pie-in-the-sky projects with the day-to-day normalcy and even occasional downright tedium. One outcome of this exercise was to create a more tangible rallying point in the office-- a kind of shrine (aka bulletin board) to our collective psyche and all of our dream-projects.

Due to something called "time compression diseconomies", visits to the shrine, whether consciously or subconsciously, reinforce our intentions with collective focus. They build up mutual trust and support for each others' dreams through small-dose long-term exposure that could never be garnered through a single, intense, large-dose exposure. Think Chinese water drip torture versus electric chair.

In the same way, I've tried to make mini-shrines all over my house and within my subconsious for the many things I hope for from 2012. As Steve Pavlina says, "Some of the best goals will require you to shift your vibe in order to achieve them. It could be said that the vibrational shift is an even greater accomplishment than the external goal. For example, aligning your vibe with abundance can be a greater accomplishment than earning some specific sum of money. Once you’ve integrated the vibe of abundance, your whole life is transformed, not just your finances."

So in no particular order, here's my list of goals for 2012:

1) Visit a national park I've never been to

2) Learn Portuguese and Dvorak

3) Run a 50 mile trail race

4) Qualify for Boston

5) Bike to work 3x/wk

6) Eat a big ass salad with dinner daily

7) Do my vision exercises daily

8) Renew my passport... and use it

10) Build a living hedge

11) Inuslate my house

12) Go to a nudist resort (or become one once my house gets warm from insulation)

13) Build a food forest with my family

14) Learn one magic trick and teach a kid

15) Find a cool organization to volunteer with

16) Write a stand-up comedy routine

17) Donate blood/marrow

18) Read every book recommended to me personally

19) Take nieces and nephews on adventures to new places

20) Convert my anger and anxiety into opportunity and peace

21) Start working on my PhD

22) Learn how to identify the 110 Messier objects

23) Design a zero-energy home

24) Do the American Triple-T

Having the courage to be myself continues to be one of my main challenges in life. It's almost more difficult for me to have shared this list than it is to imagine accomplishing the items. But I feel like if I put these intentions out there, while I may drive some folks away, I am drawing out others who may be able to help me. If 2011 was my "year of soil", 2012 will be my year of "bridges and bonds".

Have a bodacious new year everyone!