She's Baaack!

I am still recuperating from my working vacation. As I shared earlier, I had a lot of fun in New Hampshire with Claudia, Chelidon, Kelly, Paul and Forest. I also got to hang out a little bit with Angelica too, but I had to leave midway for the second half of my trip.

In the second half I visited the Assisi Institute for an intensive on Archetypal Pattern Analysis. I met such wonderful people including the school's founder Dr. Michael Conforti. He gave me some ideas on how to grow Reflections Mystery School. His faculty are such giants in their respective fields, I admired how he surrounded himself with stars, never fearing being eclipsed by them or his students. He reveled in the contributions of all within his constellation. A wonderful role model, a deep visionary and on top of it all, a very funny guy. Yeah, I guess you could call me fan.

But it goes deeper than that, Dr. Conforti et al are on a mission to study what they call the Objective Psyche, the intersection between Spirit and Matter -- Universal Archetypes. They have amassed a good deal of evidence to support their conclusions from mathematics, physics, systems theory, mythology, sociology, archeology, organizational dynamics and yes, psychology. I think they are on to something.

They offer a two year program for certification as an Archetypal Pattern Analyst. I am considering joining their program. For one thing, they are an order of magnitude cheaper then Pacifica, and they are on the East coast. We will see how this develops.

I also managed to get several more sponsors for my Teddy Bear Knitting. Check out my web site for my handy "Bear-o-meter!" (patent pending)

I came home to a whole heaping pile of things to do ... including

• Preparing to teach my first Cherry Hill Seminary course -- Dynamics of Group Leadership.
• Opening registration for my upcoming workshop, Answering the Call.
• A looming due date for a huge new Amber Eyes web site design.
• Fixing the Connect DC web site upgrade (again) and
• Planning for the next 18 months.

So today, though I am still moving a little slow, as of now ... I am officially back to work.

Be very very afraid ...

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Second Quarter Progress Report

I was sooooo busy, I had to wait till I finished my series on using dreams and symbols to navigate your productivity before I could do my update.

So although I reviewed my second quarter in July, I did not write up this report till now. The first thing I noted was that I needed to drop several of my previous goals. Secondly, that several of my goals were essentially completed. And lastly, and this one is a biggie, I have substantially changed trajectory and I need to re-evaluate all my remaining annual goals.

I review my Long Term Goals every quarter. But I review my annual goals every single week. And the slow change in focus has been obvious to me for a while now. So of the goals that are left, I need to consider just how many of them reflect my current focus.

I could go back to my original annual goals list and modify it as needed. Or I could restart the process and determine new goals for the last six months of 2008. I have decided to do a little of both. First I have updated my annual goals list with the current status. Below are the remaining open goals.

Remaining 2008 Goals

I have added two major additions to my annual goals

• Teaching at Cherry Hill Seminary
• Active collaboration with P (a web guy) to produce major web site designs

Which when added to my existing major projects of …

• Psychology & Magick book proposal, final draft and literary agent
• 2009 weekend intensive for Presidents Day weekend 09
• Reflections Mystery School (+Plan 2009 school year & school portal upgrade)
• Connect DC (+Complete web site upgrade)

… gives me a rather full plate for the last half of 2008.

I am thinking with these major items on my already full plate, these two goals may be too much for me this year.

• Answer requests for short term Drupal assistance on local job boards
• Let more folks know that I am available for out of town classes, workshops, festivals and conferences.

But I will hold on to the following goals, since they represent items that could be generally seen as representing home, health and finances. And those three areas usually represent a challenge for me in terms of motivation and focus. Although I may trim back my list of home projects for this year.

• Walk 30 minutes three times a week
• Baseline weight closer to ~200 lbs
• Build up my cash reserves
• Will and Power of Attorney documents
• Repairs and reorganization – Maybe three items from the list below.
  • Kitchen (3 projects),
  • Bedroom (3 projects) and
  • Closet (2 projects)

The remaining goals concern advertising my classes, workshops and intensives. I will most likely advertise the annual intensive as planned, but I will reconsider advertising my regular classes. I will review this area again in September.

• Create a Reflections Mystery School brochure
• Advertise classes and rituals in local newsletters such as the Hill Rag, DC North, Takoma Voice, etc.
• Advertise annual Reflections intensive in regional and national publications

I have already dropped goals that represented my old business focus and goals that would be difficult to accomplish with the upswing in business and a full teaching schedule.

So now all that is left is rescheduling the remaining items and updating my project files.

Conclusion

I have accomplished an awful lot this year already. But if I did not review my annual goals and drop ones that no longer serve me, I would be setting myself up for disappointment. Because things have change substantially in my life compared to earlier in the year, re-examining my goals helps me to refocus the second half of the year.

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At Long Last, an Update

I feel like I have been remiss in not posting about this sooner. But I want to thank everyone who kept me in their prayers as I delved deeply into some of my most painful memories. I am feeling so much better, stronger even, and I know it was in no small part, due to the love that buoyed, lifted and held me as I slowly healed and grew. Thank you.

I am also marveling at how my life has so much less drama. I am not a drama queen by any stretch of the imagination, but the complexity of my life has gone down appreciably. I mean I still have way too many irons in the fire, and my to do list would choke most over achievers, but I feel so much lighter and less encumbered, that it doesn’t fill me with dread. Even when my mail piled up for two weeks, the pile itself did not develop a persona. I noticed that it didn’t make a sound, no screaming accusations, no withering retorts – it was just a pile of mail. So when I finally sifted through the pile, it was just a boring chore, not a litany of abuse and condemnation. Wow.

I also recently realized that the reason my epic to do list bothers me so much was because I feared that I would never be done with it all. Because I had some how convinced myself that I could not possibly relax till I was done. I realized that it was a message left over from my childhood – “You cannot play till your chores are done” – that was messing with my ability to relax and enjoy life. So I needed to exorcise that fundamental belief.

I may never be done with my list, but as some point I will be done with my life. So I asked myself, “What on that list did I not want to leave undone when I crossed beyond the veil?” And the answer came back crystal clear -- my books and my writings. And it hit me, that is the one area that gets short shrift because of all I felt I needed to do. That was an instructive exercise for me.

And surprisingly, guess what I discovered when I looked carefully at my book … it is practically done. What is left is writing up intros and summaries for some of the chapters plus the book as a whole. Additionally I need to rewrite one small section where I wrote up a summary of morphic resonance based on my faulty memory. Wow, again.

In the mean time, I have achieved several goals from my annual list. I have two new pairs of prescription glasses – regular and sunglasses. My web design business is booming. Focusing on the "web guy" was the solution. Which means setting my marketing goals was the key to my success. And even more ... Wow.

I am saving some money, but aside from Amber Eyes, my income is kind of flat this year as rising energy costs are affecting attendance at my local classes and all my out town gigs.

I have had enough openness in my schedule to spend time with both new acquaintances and old friends. I even got to see Ironman at the theater! Tonight, I have organized a group of budding film snobs to go with me to the AFI to see an acclaimed Korean film, The King and the Clown. I hoping to see both the new Indiana Jones and The Fall in a theater. And my Hard K club is busy trying to book a night out for all of us at Dave & Busters.

My hair is super short again, which makes it easier to keep up with my schedule. And before the heat wave I was walking a mile twice a week. My lights went out for just under 24 hours last week, but I did not lose any of my recently purchased frozen food.

I had an unexpected Vet expense at the end of last week, when Lil’ Devi fractured several bones in his left paw falling from the top of the fridge. But he seems none the worse for it. Hell, he can still out run me, leap into trouble and piss off the calico while holding said paw delicately in the air. Go Devi!

All in all, I am doing okay. And my life has a rhythm and rhyme that fits me just right at the moment. So although Mercury has not been kind, so far it has mostly been gentle learning opportunities. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

May your burdens lighten, may your heart be filled. May the blossoms you love turn toward the spaces where you dwell.

Blessings,
Katrina

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First Quarter Progress Report

Well, it is time for an update on my progress toward my annual goals. First off, I lost some time this past month due to a “growth” opportunity, i.e. a butt-kicking spiritual ordeal. And so as expected, I have had to modify my plan and push many of my first quarter goals forward and adjust the rest of my annual plan.

But here is the good news. I still managed to complete three goals and move forward on several others.

Completed Goals

• Normal Blood Sugar (Glucose ~ 90)
• Lowered Overall Cholesterol Levels (~ 200)
  I haven’t read the lab report yet, but my doctor reports that my cholesterol levels are normal. Apparently, I needed medication to finish bringing down the bad cholesterol levels. So unless the report says otherwise, I am counting this as a win. My glucose levels were also on the mark, so I just need to continue with my current good habits. Yay!

• Create Marketing Goals
  I still need to schedule and add them to the plan, but here are my 2008 marketing goals.
  1. Amber Eyes Marketing/Business Goals
     • Raise prices for web design to reflect my new hourly rate
     • Create templates, wire frame themes and a live test bed so I can build sites faster
     • Answer requests for short term Drupal assistance on local job boards
     • Attend networking events like the local Drupal Meetup
  2. Outreach/Publicity Goals
     • Advertise Connect DC Rituals in Washington Post Religion section starting with Summer Solstice. (This has been in the works for a looong time!)
     • Create a Reflections Mystery School brochure
     • Advertise classes and rituals in local newsletters such as the Hill Rag, DC North, Takoma Voice, etc.
     • Advertise annual Reflections intensive in regional and national publications
     • Let more folks know that I am available for out of town classes, workshops, festivals and conferences.

April Goals

Several of my April goals are already underway, so I just need to focus on completing them.