JANUARY 2019 – The future? A flying dolphin? A lovely sunset? Having a vision of what you want and measurable goals is incredibly important towards achieving forward progress in life. Whether it be for your creative projects, career, health, etc. Not going to set any specific new year’s resolutions or outline here that I am going to try and drink more water (though I am bringing two water bottles to work everyday now instead of just one, haha), but I do want to encourage all of you to set achievable benchmark goals for yourself. As they will help keep you pointed in the right direction towards hitting the massive targets that you are after in life. And that is essentially how I’m ever able to write, well pretty much anything, as I need to set do-able targets.
Like tonight, before I let myself go to bed I’m going to make sure I write at least a page in my creative ideas journal. Doing these little things will also help keep the pressure of achievement at bay a tiny bit. It is such a boon to your mind to have the sense that you are on the right track, and this gives you a road map to follow, and lights the way ahead. It is a particular set of skills that you can develop to take on any task with. And is especially helpful in training as a writer. I haven’t gone back to re-read my old posts recently regarding what I have told you all about my new book project. All I want to say at this point is that it is intended to be another small, controlled story, that is for an older audience, with virtues featuring heavily, and as you might have guessed, is going to feature a strong lead character.
I haven’t named the main characters yet, and that is kind of killing me a bit, haha. As I like telling the story to myself over and over again as I brainstorm, and to not know the names of who I’m speaking about makes it sound incomplete in my mind. In the past I have come up with the character names early on (Like August Winter or Oslo Robins), but I am having more trouble this time around as the main character is so much more serious than the other two.
Finished reading some non-fiction this month as I’m reading another door stopper worth of fiction at the moment. Which piece of non-fiction? ‘The Blue Zones’ by Dan Buettner, about isolated locations in the world where there is a higher concentration than normal of centenarians. It was a really cool read, as there were a lot of parallels to these different groups, whether they were in Okinawa, Costa Rica, Greece, or the US.
All of the locations in the book were in warm weather climates which I think definitely ties into the availability of fresh produce year round. As eating a diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables, not a lot of processed foods and eating smaller portions of foods was universal across all the groups studied. They also had a strong connection to family and sense of personal involvement in their communities and feeling of purpose (so vital!). Being physically active, avoiding vices, and avoiding stress, all key elements. Which seem like no-brainers when said aloud, but are very hard to be disciplined enough to do in everyday life. In these communities you had a lot of people living the same way, which helps make it more possible I think. Changes in culture threaten all of these blue zones, as people become more metropolitan and don’t take care of their health and live lives disconnected from their families and traditions.
Is definitely worth a read if you are interested in the topic. And I would encourage everyone to pick one of the lessons from the book to incorporate into your life. Whether it be eating less, connecting with your family more, having a greater sense of purpose, or doing more physical labor/exercise. (There were nine key lessons in the book as I recall). Living a happy life full or purpose, family, healthy foods, and exercise is bound to pay off regardless, so I’m committed to the cause, and here’s hoping I can also make it to 100, haha.
Thanks for stopping by to check-in, is very much appreciated! Hope you’re doing wonderfully and that this proves a particularly brilliant day for you!
~ CS
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