My last meal for the year started with a chilled beetroot soup and sourdough roll to awaken my palate. For entree I chose a twice cooked souffle of gruyere and caramelised onion. My main meal was a beef rib cooked in a sticky chilli and black vinegar sauce. The plan was to resist dessert, but then I saw the words "peanut butter bombe with caramel sauce and home made honeycomb" and the plan changed. An espresso saw me out the door.
It was a fitting meal actually. 2011 has been a year of transition, direction changes (hence my ability to quickly ditch a plan at the last minute), consolidation and finally, a positive trajectory. These patterns define the years since 2008 and I feel that 2012 will be more focussed on consolidation, development and deepening. The first few months are already looking good.
Starting divacultura was a great step taken in 2011. My initial impulse was to create and embed a daily writing habit, which has happened, but it's also enhanced my powers of observation and helped me develop my voice. Creating a discipline around my creative practice was also a way for me to be productive during the times when other (paid) work was a bit quiet. I call these troughs "mini retirements" and learning to value and use this time has been an important lesson in 2011.
Optimism and confidence are essential to well-being when self-employed. I've always easily harnessed these traits and I've learnt their importance in creating the right "vibe" to attract people, work and opportunities to me. I'll be continuing to cultivate these in 2012.
There will be more writing, more music and further development as a performer, perhaps with my own material, in the coming year.
My knitting resolution for the year is to tackle a really complicated lace pattern. It's a technique that I haven't really practised much and it's time I did. I will also find another charity to devote a month of knitting to as I did this year.
At the start of lunch with the family today I asked about resolutions and no one had any. I was a bit surprised. Everyone seemed too busy to have spent time in contemplation. I don't approach the new year with resolutions, but rather a mindfulness about my intentions for living. The same thing I guess, but they tend to be less prosaic if I think about them this way. (Although "sort out the spare room" is still a work in progress which I do hope to achieve this year!)
(For more inspiration, you may like to visit my friend Rose's blog. I love her idea of spending more time with the people who make her feel anything is possible.)
divacultura is not yet a year old, but the end of this year is still a milestone worth marking. The top ten posts of 2011 are:
- MYKI: it's your key to bureaucratic frustration
- To knit or not - it's my choice
- The love rug
- Love in the letter box
- Beginnings (my very first post)
- Taking to the streets of Melbourne
- The rejection letter (companion piece to "Love in the letter box)
- The glee of singing
- Singing with the nuns
- 4 inches of love
Are your favourites here?
Happy New Year from divacultura. Thank you for reading in 2011! I wonder what your intention is for 2012?
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