NEW YEAR GOALS

Good Fortune Mandala - (Spring Seasonal Circles series) - © Sue O'Kieffe 2007
Source image: oxalis leaves

Yesterday I began to write down goals for the New Year. I think about this time of year, with another turning of the Great Wheel and the return to Standard Time (in the northern hemisphere) as the beginning of a New Year. It's never a bad thing to revisit, re-evaluate, and update specific goals, something I have always felt some difficulty in setting. What is it exactly I want to manifest? Now this is language easier for me to understand, but both modalities of thought have some common characteristics.

So yesterday I jotted down some specific goals I intend to accomplish in this coming year:

• Commit myself to one year of full time work outside the home
• Get my books in order and keep them maintained
• Finish my business and marketing plans
  
• Obtain a business license
• Create a budget
  
• Pay back personal loans
• Pay off credit cards
• Continue blogging
  
• Get my website up
• Participate in 5 art shows in 2008
• License my art work
• Explore other streams of income
  

Please share your thoughts with me. Do you set goals? What steps do you take to reach them?

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Fleur Radieuse - (Circles of Light series) - © Sue O'Kieffe 2007
Source image - purple chrysanthemum

I created this mandala for my friend Karen Anderson's birthday. She is an incredibly talented astrologer and good friend on an upward path towards spiritual enlightenment. Karen and her partner Barry Martin are launching their website and I want to wish them all sorts of best wishes for their coming new year as well. You can visit them here. I hope you will.

I have been writing about this being the Celtic New Year, and thinking about what I have accomplished in the past year. It's so easy to consider how we fall short but less often do we consider giving ourselves an atta girl. So I pulled out my list of goals for this year to see what I have managed to accomplish thus far.

• Take class in Dreamweaver (done)
• Design website (nope)
• Start business blog (done)
• Increase mailing list to 500 names (10 new names per week) (not even close)
• Obtain resale number (yes)
• Get business license (not yet)
• Get bookkeeping set up (tomorrow)
• Participate in two arts shows by the end of 2007 (done 4)
• Have clearer understanding of art pricing (done)
  
• Place my greeting cards in stores (3 so far)
• Begin investigating licensing of my art (yes)
• Work towards financial stability (yes - willing to commit to a year of full time permanent work outside the home)
  

So for today, just for myself (and anyone else who needs some props) I give myself this standing ovation