In the last Peacock Tree Yoga blog, we urged you to put your New Year resolutions to one side, hunker down in front of a fire and eat bean stew with your loved ones. We were promoting ‘hygge’ over ‘harrrrgh’ as the way to begin the year. And we still are, but remember the bit about that cosy and intimate setting being perfect for discussing your plans and dreams, thoughts and schemes for the coming year? We’re going to expand on that in this blog.
Making your dream list
Although there’s no harm in setting goals, there’s no need to rush ahead and attempt to meet those goals immediately, as previously discussed. Instead, we recommend using nature’s ‘down time’ to make a dream list. Think about what you’d like to experience this coming year – the places you’d like to go, the artwork you’d like to see, the languages you’d like to speak, the new tricks you’d like to learn. Share your dreams, and listen to other people’s.
Creating the right setting for making your dream list
We’ve already discussed what constitutes ‘hygge’, but for this particular exercise, you should put a few other measures in place, too:
- Identify and then talk to the people you’d like to do this with, unless you’d prefer to do it alone.
- Schedule some time – set a reminder on your phone, put it on the family calendar, write it in your diary. However you do it, be sure to allocate yourself this time.
- When that time comes, switch off your computer and your phone – filter out the distractions, and give your mind the freedom to explore the topic in hand.
- Arm yourself with a pen and a notebook.
What to put on your dream list
Think big and think small, but think always about YOU. So often, we have lists that are mostly to do with nurturing and supporting those around us – as is evident in the responses given to the artist, Alice Instone, who gathered “prominent and inspiring women’s to-do lists and made a number of art works from her own lists”, for an exhibition, entitled The Pram in the Hall. But this is a time to top yourself up with what you need. Besides, the better you feel, the better you’ll be able to continue to serve those around you.
We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list ~ Michelle Obama
These are some of the things on my list for 2017:
As you all know, we are also renovating our house and having a baby – but as they’re already construction(!) I wanted to include some other things too.
- Change my dentist from Huntington to Leeds, so that I get to go to Harvey Nicks for lunch when I have a check-up
- Set up another weekly savings account bucket
- ‘Time block’ 180mins for additional weekly learning on Tai Chi lectures & practices
- Put weekend spa date in diary with Andrea this spring
- Set up a ‘clearing out the Acomb cupboard’ date with Miss Kelly and then lunch afterwards
Put some dates on your dream list
Visualise the year ahead, see its nature – the growth of Spring, the colour of Summer, the harvest of Autumn, and the deep rest of Winter. Some of the things on your list will naturally fall into these categories – for example, you might paint your allotment shed in Spring, go to a lively festival in the Summer, make a photo album of your holiday snaps in Autumn, and book a Yin Yoga retreat for Winter.
Other things will be suited to any given time of the year. But nature’s rhythms can still help, particularly when it comes to actually identifying what it is you want to put on your dream list.
- Spring prompts us to ask ourselves what we want to grow
- Summer invites us visualise how it will look when it’s flourishing
- Autumn asks us what we will gain from it, what we will reap
- And Winter wants to know if it’ll let us settle
Hold on to your dreams
Whether it’s in your mobile phone notes, on a scrap of paper in your purse, or learnt by heart, keep your dream list close. Check in with it whenever you get a moment. Seek out and create those moments. Then stop and really feel the joy of manifesting your own dreams, however ‘big’ or ‘small’ they may be.
“Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.” ~ John Updike
