A new year - Let's begin

A New Year

Thanks be to God

So we had a wonderful Christmas, thanks God. Everything was so good: the preparations, the Christmas Eve dinner, the First Day of Christmas...I can only thank God endlessly.

Then it came the New Year, also so good. Those moments when the year ends and a new one begins were so peacefuly, so happy.

How can I thank God for so much good He gives to me ?!

I like Christmas but I also like so much the beginning of a New Year.

The Liturgical Year began in December with Advent but the common year begins now.

As my birthday is in October and for me is also a year that begins, I begin making a lot of plans. From October to the end of December it works as a kind of prelude to the new year. Then in January I feel I'm going in full steam. And it feels good.

I have this sentence in my mind since the year began, even in the end of December: Be Better.

It's not about to be perfect, perfectionism is a very bad thing, it's just about to be better and that feels good and gives me so much hope.

Be better as a homemaker, as a woman. I have a long list of "to be beter" in my mind and I feel I can do it, it's not above reach.

I want to be very good to  me, to be my best friend. Many times we forget ourselves but now I will be more careful and do what I can, everyday, to be feel calmer and happy. For instance, I will not go everyday running to do so many things in a time frame when I should only do half of it. This way I don't need to run so much. 

I will give a lot of importance to me and my house. It's not that I don't do it now but I want to do it in a calm way, slowing down.

And I will try hard to take more care of me again. Mothers and daughters of older parents sometimes forget about themselves. I must remember that I am important too.

I want to work a lot on my sewing machine, I want to be more organised, I want to do a lot of work in my home... I do have a lot of plans.

And I want to work more on my blog.

So, Happy New Year to all !

And...

Let's begin !

Partying at 

Coastal Bohemian

Esme Salon

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

I know that in this corner of the world, where I live, it doesn't usually snows. In the North, yes, but not here.

I know that some years ago, a lot of them, it snowed here, after a very big discharge of hail. First it was fritening, and some hours after there it began snowing. How lovely it was. 

But it was January, not December.

Anyway, we can dream, isn't it?

Just look at the athmosphere of this painting. The snow covering the floor, the heavy sky ready for more, the light inside the houses, people talking, it reminds me when we are out and feel like going home. And we go, feeling all the peace.

One thing that helps me to feel as if it snowed is to look at nice wintery and Christmassy scenes, so I will post here some for you to see too.

We really can feel that we are in those pre Christams days, wondering in the streets and window shopping.

Going home...

Well, we never know, maybe it will snow this year.

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Partying at A Stroll Thru Life

Set that Goal

As it's the beginning of a new year, let's start well and take action on getting better. You can, you are able, don't give up. Feel that happiness bubbling in your stomach, dare to live well. And so you need to remember that

You are never too old to set another Goal 

or dream another Dream

-C.S. Lewis

and

It's never too late to be what you might have been

- George Eliot

So, let's do it, let's dare to fight for that dream. Have that goal. Plan it. 

1 - Write it

Don't worry about the size of the dream, dare to dream big, never mind if it's too big. Once I read something like that if you aim for the stars and you will not be able to reach them, even so maybe you will reach the moon. So, don't worry, try and if you don't reach so far you will be able to reach a good point, so never mind.

For instance, if you dream to run in the London marathon but if you find no way to do it, if you train for it at least you will be able to join a smaller marathon in your town or surroundings and, next year maybe you will join the London one.

This is just an idea, not that I want to run a marathon, I'm not very much sports inclined.

So, let's think of a different dream, more suitable to me.

For instance, you want to have all your house shipshape by the end of the year. Try it but if you can't reach that level, at least you will have some rooms that are a candy to the eye, tidy, clean and enriched with some pretty things. Well, it's not the whole house as you would like but it will be so good to have all those rooms done, or at least that ONE room. Step by step you will get there, year by year, you just have to not give up.

2 - Now write your dream as goals, one by one, never mind if you think it's too much, write them.

3 - So you wrote on the top of  a page the goal you want to achieve. Next you will write the several steps you need to take to reach that goal.

Let's say, you want to begin by prettying your bedroom. You write: 

1 - Clear the clutter on the floor

2 - take the clothes to wash

3 - hang the ones that are clean

4 - dust the bedside tables

5 - give the closet an improvement

And so on. 

4 - And now you will post a date. You will think on when you would like to have it done, let's say by the end of this year. Ok, it's possible, maybe.

5 - And after that you will have a space where you will write how things are getting done - and date it each time you write an improvement, or just a note about how things are going.

Let's say, by the end of this month you will write what you have done to reach your goal. Don't be discouraged, step by step things will improve, if it's not as much as you would like, never mind, just keep going, step by step.

You don't need to  have just one dream, have several.

I have a notebook, an exercise book, or the name you want to call it, written Dream Book or Notebook of Dreams. In there I write my dreams as goals and I do as I said before.

So now take heart and begin, take action.

People begin to become successful the minute they decide to be - Harvey Mackay

And remember

Any Day is Good to Begin

Start Today !

Fly !

Images from Pexels

Partying at

Happiness is Homemade - Eclectic Barn

Sunday Sunshine Blog Hop - Ridge Haven Homestead

Be a happy duck

I was reading a post on Fox Hollow Cottage about depression, Helpful Tools For Living with Depression and I saw very good advise there as, for instance, take on responsibilities, get enough sleep, to have goals (which like routines, are a kind of a map so you just don't go adrift) and to be kind to yourself.

I would like to add now a little advise of mine: inspire yourself.

One thing that keeps me going is to visit blogs I like and another one is to go to Pinterest. It's such a source of inspiration, of motivation.

Here is my Pinterest: Alfazema. Pretty things and motivational, being this board still in the beginning but which has only things that are related to me, to what I need to read and think to not stop trying.

Look for nice things that inspire you, feel well with some images and try to know why those images can give you peace, or well being or just make you feel well  but you don't want to know why, for now.

But now you must be careful to not stay in the inspirational part only and now I tell you something that is very important: ACTION. Go into action, don't stay seated in your dreams, in your wishes.

I know this has several levels: first we just can't do anything, even thinking tires you. Then you are getting better and feel you would like to live more, not just to seat in life. Then you feel really encouraged and start to make plans. Oh, I like this level, this is when I am feeling really well, so full of plans and wanting to live more.

Then...where is the energy for going into action, to make plans a reality ? That is the very hard part, but don't give up, one step each time without stopping. Don't feel discouraged.

One step after the other. GO !

Be a happy duck. Live happy inspite the troubles, one step after the other, one day, then another.

Believe, it's possible.

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Partying at:
Amaze me Monday at Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home
The Art of Home-Making Mondays at Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth
Inspire me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Tutorials & Tips Link Party at House Stories A to Z
This Is How We Roll at Organized 31.