Steps to making 2014 better

I’m participating in a different blogging project this year — The Cauldron Blog Project. It arose out of discussion among the various TCers who were doing PBP. Some of us wanted something a bit different from the alphabet posts; some of us wanted to do PBP as well as something more focused on something we decided as members of the same forum.

I’m not doing PBP this year, nor did I finish last year. As said before, I’ve decided the PBP is just not for me. 

The TC Blog Project, is, however, a different format, and one I believe I can commit to. That is, there is more freedom: we’re having monthly themes, with no minimum on how many posts we do in relation to that theme. We may also be choosing threads on the forum to respond to.

January’s theme is Resolutions, Habits, New Beginnings. 

So, here is my first post for the TC Blog Project.

2013 was kind of a crappy year for me, overall. There were some amazing, great things that happened to me last year, which I did blog about — I wanted to focus on the positive. But those amazing things do not cancel out the shit way the year started, nor some of the other ongoing crap in my life (as well as ending the year with the cold from hell, which is still sticking around). I was very happy to see the year end last night.

I’ve decided to work on making 2014 a better year for myself. I have made a resolution (to always be true to myself) and set several goals, which I blogged about at my other blog. I mentioned, briefly, that I do have spiritual goals — but didn’t get in-depth. I still like to compartmentalize my regular-life blog from my spiritual blog.

The goal I listed on that list was Start up some sort of weekly practice, and blog more often at my spiritual blog. Here’s a more in-depth look at that.

One day a week, I am going to do some sort of religious ritual. I am saying “some sort” because while I have some ideas (light candles, say prayers, pour water), I’m going to allow my practice to be organic and changing. This is why I’m setting it to one day a week, and not every day — when I jumped right into everyday practice, it became rote and meaningless. I didn’t feel much when I did it, but I just did it. I want to give my rituals a chance to grow and evolve on their own, until I find something that really works. That something may eventually become a daily practice, or it may not.

I am thinking of setting Wednesday as my one-day a week, because that’s usually when I’m home and a bit more cognizant than at either end of the week. Today, obviously, is a wash for the actual ritual part — but today I am writing here, and that counts. The second part of my goal is to write more here, and I’m going to try to commit to doing it once a week, after my ritual.

There’s another thing I’m going to blog about, which I mentioned last year and haven’t followed through on yet — religious reading. I have several books I need to actually read, beginning to end. I consider them all religious reading, even if some of them may be better classified as “witchcraft studies”. It’s all sort of jumbled together in my brain anyway.

Finally, there may be very short posts talking about whatever Work I’m doing, mundane or mystical (or both). This may or may not include pictures of things.

Whatever I write here at The Mundane Mystic will count towards my Get Your Words Out and Inking It Out word count goal (150,000 words in all of 2014). Therefore, I promise to make it coherent and more like actual articles — journalling I’m saving for my Dreamwidth.

These aren’t resolutions for me, but they are habits I’d like to make. I want 2014 to be a better year for me, and I know I feel better when I’m actively working to better myself, when I’m doing the Work, when I’m being productive, and when I’m sharing certain things with the world at large.

Happy new year.

-Morag