I’ve been missing my dear blog and am hoping to get back into doing more writing this year. It’s been such a year of change for me, and my new job has allowed me less time to write for pleasure. In the next few weeks, look for my Books of the Year and further posts about our wonderful trip to the UK in the summer.

But first things first: today my mom, a few friends, and I attended a New Year’s Soul Collage® Workshop led by Kathryn at East Wind Ceremonies. We had a few drumming circle events and we were led by the spirit and our souls to choose a word of the year and an animal of the year, inspired by Soul Collage cards we created.

Soul Collage is a journey of self-discovery where you create collage cards without thinking or analyzing…just letting the spirit draw you to images, and then discovering what they mean after you combine them into a collage. Then you write “I am one who…” repeatedly and fill in the blanks on the back of the card.

Spaciousness will be the conduit to the dance.

And closing my eyes and putting my hand into a stack of animal images, my animal for the year:

Walrus! I never would have chosen that one, but I’m hoping to figure out why it chose me. After a quick research, I learned that walruses use their long tusks to haul themselves out of the water and up onto the ice. They are big and heavy because of all the blubber under their skin (hmm…what does this mean, I wonder!?)…which keeps them warm and the fat provides energy. I look forward to learning more about walruses in the coming year!

Here’s how I got there:

I am one who wants to make order out of chaos I am one whose mind is constantly full and can’t stop moving I am one who feels overwhelmed by the amount of shit in my house I am one who needs to create more space and stillness in my life Etc.

I am one who desires more beauty and expression in my life I am one who loves color I am one who finds value in creative expression I am one who knows very little about walruses

I haven’t written my “I am one” sayings for this one yet, but it’s about savoring my relationship with Mike and feeling a need “to dance.” I am one who needs spaciousness so I can dance, or in other words, “I want to be able to dance through each room in my house without fear of tripping on something on the floor and breaking my neck!”

This is about my renewed commitment to my health (since becoming a vegetarian in September and re-joining a gym) and living a long life for my children

Instead of making the usual resolutions, I am making some commitments that will help me get to my goals of spaciousness and dance–which starts with getting rid of “shit,” to quote my friend Joe, who felt that his weekends were always spent “moving shit around” until his wife Adele hired a professional organizer to purge and organize that shit.

I began my commitments this evening, and I will have to work on my follow-through, which is always a challenge for me! I love this tradition of starting the new year this way, and I hope to make it an annual tradition.