GRATITUDE: Somehow managed to get out of bed at 5:30 and do 20 min yoga, pivot to coffee/lunch/breakfast duties, get a strength workout in, all before my usual morning walk. Definitely felt more productive than usual before the 10 o’clock hour.

FOCUS: Need to better break down these small strength workouts better to allow for separate lower, upper, and core body workouts so I don’t burnout, yet also focus on all the different parts of the body. Also need to determine which day of the week is best suited for a morning run…I think Wednesdays…

INSPIRATION: Not feeling super inspired by Adam Grant’s audiobook Originals (despite feeling the pressure to actually complete more books this year) and so I’ve switched over to Jay Shetty’s Think Like a Monk.

11 Lessons to be gleened from this book:

• Find and follow your inner voice
• Remove negative and toxic thoughts and habits
• Heal your past and be present
• Uncover your true passion and purpose
• Create effective morning and evening routines
• Stop overthinking and increase focus
• Put aside your ego to clear the path
• Develop a powertul gratitude practice
• Understand chemistry and compatibility
• Meditate daily
• Find calm in chaos

GRATITUDE: Morning walk to get Jasper a breakfast bagel followed by coffee, cocoa and tea at Starbucks. Quiet serene morning on the streets.

FOCUS: Started the day with a protein packed breakfast after a quick workout. Looking forward to tomorrow and going on my 2 mile loop as it’s been awhile since everyone’s been home for vacation. Going to bed early today in order to try and get up at 5:30 tomorrow…this is the year of strength…I can get up and show up for myself every morning.

INSPIRATION:

GRATITUDE: A great day hanging out with Eric and Jasper seeing the Takeshi Murakami Monsterized exhibit at the Asian Art Museum. Jasper found a great pizza place called Outta Sight afterwards before we dodged the rain for some hot beverages and dessert. Thankful Juniper is so forgiving that I failed to help make her lunch for her yurt Adventure Program today.

FOCUS: I need to get rid of and purge something today. Update-Sorted through socks and a few extra sweatshirts I don’t use, cleaned up small hallway desk, set aside a few books.

INSPIRATION: Reminded by going to the Pixlcat Cafe after lunch that I’ve always wanted to make some kind of mochi dessert.

GRATITUDE: Spent the morning at Tom’s, where he was able to share his art work and studio space with Eric, Jasper, and Juniper. I was reminded the power of shared experience and how it can truly enhance our feeling of belonging, connectedness and sense of meaning. This is something to strive for everyday.

FOCUS: If I could see every interaction that I have with a person as an opportunity for connection what would that look like???

INSPIRATION:

Japanese – つぎはもっとがんばってください

English – Please do your best next time.

GRATITUDE: A wonderful morning family trip to Half Moon Bay where we tried out Johnny’s Diner for the first time, it was such a delightful breakfast! Followed by a few hours at Cowell Ranch soaking in the sun, collecting tiny treasures, even reading out loud from an actual book to Eric. I think I made him smile.

FOCUS: It’s been nice this week post norovirus, post holiday family obligations of cooking and presents, post traveling to have absolutely nothing super set in stone to do. Trying to take advantage of this time to establish sleep, and morning yoga routines before the reality of next week sets in again.

INSPIRATION: Finding snippets of gold in these pages about Naoshima for our upcoming summer trip to Japan. Thanks to Raylene for the folded over page corners signaling the important parts to read.

GRATITUDE: For our morning family date at Backhaus Bread. The feel of the warm sunshine on Juniper and my face as we walked down El Camino this morning on the way to Backhaus.

FOCUS: Tried to get habit trackers printed today but didn’t succeed. We did have a good afternoon of Catan instead! Didn’t do so well at resisting the sugars and refined sugars with this wonderful coffee cake and pasta for dinner, though I did restrain myself from a slice of Juniper’s homemade banana bread and slice of country pan sourdough.

INSPIRATION: Interview with author of book “Ultra-Processed People” emphasizing need to go back to eating REAL food.

GRATITUDE: Got nearly 8 hours of sleep with almost 2 hours of REM! Woke up and started with 10 min yoga (trying new Apple Fitness+ app). Went for a lovely morning stroll around town with Juniper where we stopped for a Maison Alyzée date before heading home to some more family Catan. Happy Eric helped to hang some of the artwork that’s been living at the foot of our bed for years now. Seems selfish I’ve been keeping it all there and it’s often unappreciated piling layer upon layer now.

FOCUS: Getting more art on the wall!

INSPIRATION: Watching Juniper attack her new scrapbooking project with enthusiasm and vigor. She’s just as excited to document her life with the instax camera and labelmaker as I used to treat my sketchbook drawings. Gets my brain juices flowing to see what kinds of projects I want to tackle this year.

GRATITUDE: Happy always to have a chance to begin again, with a new perspective and coming from new growth of last year. All of us feeling better enough (after a bout of norovirus picked up on the way to Riverside) to go for a family 5k walk from Harborview Park to the harbor at Coyote Point. We saw a great blue heron, but more importantly I got to hold Juniper’s hand while she chatted with me and Jasper walked by my side talking aboit Plants vs. Zombies. The sun was shining and the temperature just right, clear views all across the Bay.

FOCUS: This past year has felt different as I’ve set smalls goals for improvement throughout the year, learning so much via podcasts, audiobooks, & more about the gut, the brain, longevity, gratitude, connection. Moving into the new year means putting some of this knowledge into action, growing stronger (Year of Strength) both outer and inner. This still needs more definition but this week I’m just going to focus on enjoying this time where all four of us are together and starting the year with sunshine walks and connecting. School and work and the activities will be back all too soon.

INSPIRATION: Eric introduced me (again) to CGP Grey’s podcast where he talked about his Theme System & coming up with a Theme for the Year.

Also, this below has me thinking this is a super easy way for the kids (and me!) to thinking about what I want more of and what I need less of in my life. Not my list below, but I intend to make one as well as update our habit tracking system.

GRATITUDE:

FOCUS:

INSPIRATION:

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