Friday Five, August 29, 2014

The Friday Five for the RevGals is pretty free-form today, which is a good thing, since my mind is pretty free-form today too--I am on muscle relaxants for back pain. 

The topic is "New"--what is new in our lives, what do we wish was new, or what are we ridding ourselves of? 

1. I am working on cleaning out my home--clearing the clutter, the stuff I don't really need--the clothes I will never wear again, the books I will never reread (or maybe even read in the first place), all the tchotchkes I am tired of dusting, the CDs I don't need to keep because they are all in my laptop (and backed up both to a hard drive and the cloud)...etc. I live in a one-bedroom apartment and yet I have five throws, a comforter and a bedspread; several boxes of files/documents/photos; two full closets, ditto dressers; four full bookcases (plus miscellaneous stacks n tables, the desk, etc.)...well, you get the idea. So there's that.

2. With the blessing of the Board and other interested parties (i.e., deacons and musician) I am beginning to use the Narrative Lectionary set of readings on September 7. I have been here for almost ten years, so I have been through the Revised Common Lectionary three times. Yes, I can always find something new to say about the readings, but I would like to try a whole new approach--which the NL offers. If you're intrigued, check it out here: Narrative Lectionary information at WorkingPreacher.

3. This is something new I want to do, partly inspired by the previous item: regular writing. Because there are not a lot of resources out there yet for the NL, I have, in preparing for September (and in the midst of October), written my own liturgies. I had forgotten how much I enjoy this! I am going to see if it continues to be enjoyable (rather than a chore) and I may begin publishing some of them here. 

4. I have a new sense of myself, thanks to my therapist, several friends, and a lot of hard inner work. The most obvious sign, to me, is that I am absolutely comfortable being single. I hadn’t realised how much I had defined myself (and my worth) by whether I was in a relationship or not. It makes sense—I married when I was 20 and was married for 22 years, and had a committed relationship for five years after that, so I have been in a relationship most of my adult life. Now I get it, but it took me a while—I am me, just me, on my own, no need for someone else’s presence in my life to  help define me. I am rediscovering stuff I knew and enjoyed but hadn’t done much with for a long time, from books to hobbies to music to ways of looking at the world. Would I like to have a partner? Sure, but I am no longer anxious about finding one—and no longer paying lip service to “if I meet someone—.”

5. Besides the cleaning out and the writing, I want to be more physically active. I am not and never have been a runner, but I do walk, and I enjoy yoga; so I am thinking that those are two things I can do fairly easily, The predictions are for a rough winter again; these are both things I can do in spite of bad weather (I may have to walk to the store!).  

6. And one more, simply for a bonus! I am certainly eating more healthfully. I’ve cut out as much in the way of processed foods as I can, trying to eat locally-grown produce (well, this area is pretty much the truck garden of Ontario, so that one is easy), and more naturally. I have never liked diet pop, so I don’t have to give that up, but I have switched to butter, organic and/or local meat/produce, and so on. My plan is to make more changes—no more canned soup (I can make my own in my crockpot), do my own baking (a bit tricky, given the size of my kitchen, but I will manage somehow!), and so on..

So what's new with you?