Sometimes I believe that our 2008 goals should be more for ourselves. What I mean by that is, Dotsie said above she does stupid things, maybe so, but we all are guilty of that. Now what if we think of it this way. No other person is involved, just us. Don't we do more stupid things regarding ourselves? We eat the wrong food, drink too much, smoke or not exercise when we should? Maybe allow someone to hurt us with their action or words and yet we say nothing? Maybe our major goal for 2008 should be to nurture ourselves, love ourselves and stop doing stupid things to ourselves...the rest will take care of itself!

Come to think of it, here's a personal goal that seems wierd:

Would like a job that allows me to get more sleep. It's been a grind to get up at 4:30 am every weekday to get to work. Don't get home until shortly before 7:00 pm because of long commute.

Orchid, I recall that you mentioned this before. Boy, what a long day! Sounds like a good goal to reduce your work load and commute.

Princess L.,

You know me - always connecting people. I have a gal here in Denver who will come to your home (I'm not sure about the springs)....she'll do a casting of your teeth, and give you an affordable whitening system. It's as good as you get at the dentist, but wayyy less expensive. Let me know when you are ready if you are interested!

p.s. I THINK we are sapposed to get together some day! :0)

danita

I have been putting off goal setting lately, so thanks for posting this so I get the chance to sort some of this out in a very public forum.

1. Continue writing my celebrations daily with my celebrations partner. (For those of you that have been talking about a gratitude thread, etc., it's a worthwhile venture to email someone all that is right with your world each day)

2. Work with my celebration partner on writing our story by beginning to write a book and articles.

3. Get tough with Dennis's doctors, health providers, the social security system and then live by the serinity prayer.

4. Practice meditation daily.

orchid, do you want us to hold you accountable to this goal?

Danita, I belong to a local networking group, and one of the women in it does teeth whitening. I thought it was a wild thing to do as a home party. Also, did you have nay luck with that doctor office in Baltimore?

Anno, I love that idea of emailing with a gratitude pal. Is this a local person you do that with? Not that it matters, but I was just wondering. It's a great way to keep you on track.

Dennis is so blessed to have you in his life!

If you choose to meditate, waht time of day do you think will work best for you? I think it's helpful to do it the same time every day. I've found that morning works for me, and then if I should miss the morning, then I have the rest of the day to do so.

Dotsie, yes, morning meditation is good otherwise other things intrude all day and it never gets done. Danita, there you are! Really, we live so close and it's so hard to get together! Let's try again. Will you PM me so we can xchange phone #? Mine has changed. Thanks for the response re: teeth whitening. The dentist charges $500 including a session that is lasar whitening, then the molds for updates, and a lifetime of bleaching supplies. Thanks to you all for being helpful. Anno, I like the idea of a celebration partner. I mentioned here that a girlfriend and I enable each other by moaning groaning and itching about what we don't like about our marriages. I am planning on telling her that one of my goals is to quit that, cold turkey. I wonder how our girlfriend relationship would change if we bonded over what was good instead of bad? I also now understand the difficulties in getting along with health care providers. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth. Anno, can you tell us about your books and articles, what will be the main theme? I like that we are so "close" here that we can share.

I think it's a great idea to focus on the good instead of the bad. It might put you both in a totally different frame of mind that will allow you to love and appreciate your husbands more. And then maybe the hubbies will be appreciative of your better moods too. I swear, so much depends on what we choose to focus on.

This morning, I began my walk with my friend grumbling. I laughed at myself and said, "Aren't I in a great mood today?"

By the end of the walk, my mood had changed and I was all ready to hit the shower and do my prayer time. Attitude adjustments are so important. The more we tune into our moods, and try to make changes, the better off all of us are.

PL, I would love to share a bit about my celebration partner and what we are planning to do about writing.

Susan and I met about 3 years ago at a workshop in California. We were in a program to become certified coaches. She actually lives in NY and I live in Minnesota.

One day I told her that I was having difficulty with the concept of daily celebrations, and she said she was too. So we thought we would try and write our celebrations to each other every day. It was very difficult and superficial at first, but now, 3 years later, it has become one of my favorite and most important part of the day.

I should mention, that we really do not know each other very well. We have talked in person during the 4 long weekends we spent in California together, but she and I really hung around different groups of people most of the time. We have learned about each other through our daily celebrations.

We have decided to try and write a book in 2008 about this whole celebration idea. It may take a few years since we really only talk by email, but we both want to share with others how much this simple morning routine has changed our lives.

Thanks for asking. Happy to share.

Hi Anno, I like this concept of celebration, and having a partner. Thanks for sharing!