Book of Days

I do like a diary. As you know, because blogging is a type of diary. But this year I have gone for a 'Book of Days', rather than my usual pretty-cover-but-blank-notebook-to-fill-in-randomly-but-sometimes-forget-especially-when-I've-had-a-rubbish-day effort.

A Book of Days is more like an inspirational journal, with ideas about how to make changes in your world, achieve your dreams, and live a simpler, healthier, more fulfilling life. Nowhere in the Book of Days will it say, 'Go on an extravagant shopping spree', or 'Get together with your mates for a good gossip session about your weird neighbours,' or 'Run five miles before breakfast, then treat yourself to half a grapefruit and a glass of wheatgrass. ' (Thank goodness!!)

So yesterday I turned to January. At the start of each month there is a page split into four headings - a mantra, a 'set your intention', something to practice and a project.

Thus for January the mantra is 'Follow Your Passion'. Well, that'd be writing then. And getting my holistic therapy practice up and running. Can I have two passions? Does cake count? What will people think if I start following cake? 'There she goes - the inevitable had to happen at some point. This time next year she'll look like Jabba the Hut.' Best not follow the passion of cake then...

Set your intention is: 'I'm uncovering the talents and desires that will make 2011 my most memorable year. Book of Days will keep me pointed in the direction of my passion.' Coo. My most memorable year, eh? There's a double edged sword if ever I saw one. And a cliche. Still, I think it means I need to keep my Book of Days to hand and make sure I refer to it every day to stop me being distracted from my passions towards more mundane things like ironing and watching DIY SOS.

My something to practice is 'The Passion Quiz.' This is where I came a tad unstuck, and I'm glad I've given myself a couple of day's head start, because if this was January 1st I'd be in a wild panic by now. The quiz required me to complete the following:
1) I'm proudest of...
2) I most value...
3) My ideal day is...
4) My greatest strengths are...
5) Not many people know I...
6) I feel destined to...
7) If I had £5 million I would...

Well, I didn't have any trouble completing numbers 1,2,3,4 and 7. But numbers 5 and 6 remain blank, and those answers, plus a rush of hot flushes, kept me awake most of last night. Is it because I really know the answers but I don't want to commit them to paper? Possibly, with regard to number 5. I mean, would you admit to people you've got piles? But my destiny? Oo-err. Really stuck on that one. Suggestions on a postcard please. (If I was 14, I'd say my destiny was to marry Adam Ant; or if I was being anagrammatic I'd say my density was a lettuce.)

The rest of the quiz involved making three columns entitled a) '20 things I want to be' b)20 things I want to do' and c)'20 things I want to have'. I managed 2 things for a), 1 thing for b) and 2 things for c). So a bit of work to do there then.

And the January project it to 'Assemble a Bliss-o-rama'. To surround myself with sensory input that inspires me - images, sounds, objects, flowers etc etc. Well, that's do-able, because I like our home to be aesthetically pleasing anyway. Unlike my father who, typically builder-like, covered everything with woodchip and magnolia and got narky if anyone stuck picture pins into his fresh plaster work. But I could work on my writing/ therapy room as it currently looks like a post Christmas bomb site at the mo. With an electronic piano sitting pride of place in the middle.

Oh yes! With the demise of the traditional piano, lovely hubbie Andy got me a full-sized piano keyboard for Christmas. So one thing I want to do see b) above, is learn to play the piano properly this year.

So there we are. The Book of Days. A big, slightly scary but ultimately exciting project for 2011.

('Is that anything like our Bok of Days?' says Mrs Miggins.
'Probably,' I say. 'Only slightly less noisy.')