Goal Setting

Goal Setting – Health and Fitness
What are your goals for this year?  When we arrive at December 2016, will you be able to look back and tell yourself you’ve had a fantastic year and have made progress towards optimizing your health?  What would you like to be able to see, feel, or do?

In December 2016 I want to be able to look back and say wow:

* I made life changes to increase my connections to nature
* Each week I found the time to be outdoors - living and breathing fresh air
* Cycling, trekking, camping, enjoying the freedom and open spaces
* I took the time to declutter personal possessions to create more freedom with my time.
* The decluttering wasn't always easy but it was essential to enure my possessions didn't own me.
* I found many ways to let go, live a more simple joyful life.
* A life that I now have more control over.
* To be excited about each day, live in the present, to sleep well not surrounded by clutter.
* All that remains - items that bring me joy and have a function in my life.

 ** Then add all the standards goals -  find my balance between 65kg -70kg, work out most days, ride bike regularly, drink lots of water, eat healthy foods. moderation.

The first step to achieving something is to write it down and then make a plan to get there.  If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll wind up someplace else.  Set yourself:

•    1-3 long term goals (6-12 months)
•    Break each one down to medium term goals (3 months)
•    Break these down to short term goals (4 weeks)
•    Set weekly targets to help you reach your short term goals – 1 step at a time!
•    Set daily habits and actions that will help you reach your weekly targets

Your goals need to be SMARTE:  SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ACHIEVABLE, RELEVANT, TIME SPECIFIC and EXCITING.
They should be stated positively, be things you have control over and be things that YOU want, not that others want.  You must have a clear understanding of why your goal is important to you.  If you have a strong emotional driver there will be a far greater likelihood of success.

What a great idea - it's in USA - I bet Aust must have some of these. What about Beechworth.
 
http://www.duvine.com/coffee-bikes-and-beer-bicycle-bars-and-cycling-cafes-across-america/

http://www.cyclestyle.com.au/bikes-beer-bridge-road-brewers-beechworth/
http://www.traveller.com.au/bikes-bumps-and-brews-2710z

"We're striving for that overall philosophy here as well," Brandon says. "Everyone's not just here to run a business - it's a lifestyle thing. All of the brewers mountain-bike, so it's an obvious match. And we're just in this little pocket where we really do get more than our fair share of blue sunny days, which is perfect for what we like to do."
The trails stretch from the Warby Ranges near Glenrowan to the town of Mount Beauty, at the foot of Victoria's highest peak, Mount Bogong. It's here that I begin my visit, on the Survey Track, with Sweetwater brewer Pete Hull.

"Originally the concept for the Brewery Trail was just about making people aware that there were breweries here, and that they could actually do a loop of them," Kraus says as we ride. "We were looking to find a link to cycling and we were well aware that on weekends, lots of our customers had already been out mountain-biking and they were coming in for lunch afterwards. It was already something that was happening and we were just wanting to strengthen that link."

Read more: http://www.traveller.com.au/bikes-bumps-and-brews-2710z#ixzz45PvbJlFQ
Follow us: @TravellerAU on Twitter | TravellerAU on Facebook

Create the Weekend everyday - there's no such thing as bad weather!!!

It dawned on me - can I find a way to live everyday like it's the weekend?
What do I enjoy doing on the weekends?
relaxing
cycling 60-100km
having a massage
mindfulness / meditation
catching up on emails
reading
socializing

Then instead of living for the weekends, it would be the weekend all the time. What a great philosophy!
trekking,
mountain walks,
cycling
camping,
sunrise, sunsets,
disconnect from technology,
reconnect to nature
swim in streams,
listen to the birds,

Nature School Port Macquarie

At some point in your day, or in the very least your week, aim to extend the outdoors notion by ensuring you’re also in nature…barefoot if possible!  Give your feet a proper stretch and wake up the muscles that are less active whilst wearing shoes.  Enjoy being connected with the natural world and take the opportunity to be fully present – smell a flower, feel the dirt between your toes and marvel at the intricacies of a leaf.
And finally…never mind the weather!  There is no such thing as ‘bad weather’,  just inappropriate clothing.  So splash in those puddles; let the rain refresh you, and enjoy the wind through your hair.
Elly McGuinness

Create Significance

Due to my time constraints I'm just tagging Becoming Minimalist and I'll return here later.
Creating significance is really resonating with me lately. Time to give up the pursuit of success and change pathways!!!

Becomingminimalist - Trade up - create significance

Our lives hold far greater potential than the comfort and luxury most of us trade them for. After all, these are temporal pursuits that can never be fully achieved. They move and shift rapidly with the world around us. They never fully satisfy. They are completely self-centered. And our lives can be traded for things far greater.

Our lives can be traded for significance, social justice, or spiritual pursuits. We can invest our lives into creating a more sustainable planet, beautiful art, moments of joy for others, or causes we believe in. We can help others overcome fear, heartache, or significant obstacles to joy. We can trade our finite resources for the desires and values held deep within each of our hearts – the purest passions unspoiled by the culture around us.
We were created to live for pursuits far greater than comfort, luxury, and competition.
We were created to trade our lives up, not down.

Seek significance

“I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” —Leo Rosten

On the other hand, compare the advantages of significance:

• Significance always lasts. Significance will always outlast you. Even when you are no longer present, your significance will still be yours. And nothing can ever take that away from you.
• Significance carries on. Significance keeps on giving. When you positively change the life of another human being…  and that person changes the life of another… who impacts the life of another… who influences another…
• Significance satisfies our soul. While the thirst for success is never quenched, significance satisfies our deepest heart and soul. It allows us to lay our head on our pillow each night confident that we lived a valuable and fulfilling day.

The Gift of Giving

I had a really good idea for this post earlier in the day, now it's time to write I can't remember the 'really good idea' so does that mean that it wasn't that good??

In my quest to declutter I had a decent stack of teacher resource books. I didn't want to just dump them off since I was sure someone in the country would actually find them really useful. I contacted a friend, she came over and loved the books. She offered to pay for them, no it's ok - just take them and put them to good use!!
She left very happy, I was thrilled to see the books leave along with sheets, towels, bath mats and tea towels that I just don't need. It was a great feeling just to give and not expect anything in return.

When in reality I did receive something - a small step closer to my own freedom, when less is more.

Nature

More and more I feel the call of nature.

First I thought I wanted to become an outdoor education teacher - having skills in disciplines such as abseiling, rock climbing, bush walking, kayaking etc.
Gradually I moved away from that idea thinking I just wanted to focus on bush walking and become a day leader for bush walks and then an overnight leader and eventually a leader for multiday trips.
This call to return to the wild is strong and I just want to go camping in the mountains, bush walking and cycling.

Returning to nature will help rebalance my life. I also feel the same way about children. They need to spend more time in nature to make connections to the natural world so they will feel this urge to become custodians.
There are a number of school in Europe that are Forest Schools - these are catching my attention.
I have now discovered that in Australia there are Bush Schools that are based on the same philosophy and pedagogy as the Forest School.

In the Blue Mountains - Springwood there is a school called wildground.com.au/bush-school that seem to have some amazing programs running for young children.

I  have also now discovered Nature School in Port Macquarie. thenatureschool.org.au (facebook) a non profit school that caters for students 3-6years and permits them to be in the bush developing knowledge, skills and concepts that are essential for life and far more important than 'screen time'.

Imagine a preschool where nature is the classroom. There are no chairs, tables, play equipment, organised games or fences to prevent the children from wandering into nearby bush. Welcome to The Nature School Inc.; a not for profit organisation with a vision to create a world in which all children learn from and within nature.   

We are seeking your support to lay the foundations for a socially cohesive and sustainable future by nurturing creative, independent, healthy, resilient and environmentally aware children. 
Extensive research has shown that the benefits of nature play for children are far reaching. They include:

• Increased confidence, self-efficacy and self esteem 
• Increased social, physical, cognitive and language skills
• Increased motivation and concentration
• Positively influences family engagement and relationships between children and family members
• Less chance of being overweight
• Deeper conceptual understandings
• Respect for the natural environment
• Better learning experiences and more imaginative play
• Promotes future generations of environmental stewards
• Improves mental and physical health and wellbeing                  (from Nature School)

 

I will continue to read the the Nature School with the view to visit the school when I am in Australia.
Great article: Natural School Port Macquarie

6 Questions to Discover your most meaningful pursuits

6 Questions to Discover your most meaningful pursuits - from becomingminimalists
Discover Meaningful pursuits

Storing these 6 questions here so that I can refer to them often

1. What currently leads to most of my happiness and fulfillment?
Being outdoors, family

2. What concern or problem do I feel most compelled to solve?
Be involved with connecting others to nature, connect children to nature.

3. What would I spend my day doing if I knew I couldn't fail?
To work at a Nature School, to help nature school expand and develop the Primary school.

4. What do I get so consumed with that I forget to eat or sleep?
Reading and research Nature Schools, Forest Schools. Cycling, Bush walking location, Lotus, living a minimalist lifestyle, 

5. What does my perfect day look like?
Work at the Nature School, bush walking, cycling, being with family and friends, sharing and reflecting in the evening, eat healthy, laugh and smile, sleeping well.

6. What is one step I can take this week toward realizing my 'meaningful?'
Send an email to Nature school - done 12th April 2016

Walk away

21 days The Minimalists

Happiness, as far as we’re concerned, is achieved through living a meaningful life: a life filled with passion and freedom in which we grow as individuals and contribute beyond ourselves. Growth and contribution: those are the bedrocks of happiness. Not stuff.

This may not sound sexy or “marketable,” but it’s the cold truth. Without growth, and without a deliberate effort to help others, we are simply slaves to cultural expectations ensnared by the trappings of money, power, status, and perceived success.

Minimalism is the tool that helped us simplify our lives by stripping away the excess so we could focus on what’s truly important.

I felt that I had a wonderful, great job, that I thought I really loved yet it left me feeling stressed and tired at the end of each week with barely enough energy to really live and enjoy the weekend. Is this the way it's supposed to be? Everyone seems to be doing the same thing?
I read a child's book written by Kenny Peavy whilst I was in Bali titled The Box People, this book was also signed and gifted to me by Kenny - thank you. The connection I felt to the Box People and their desire to return to nature was simplistic yet powerful. All I desire is to return to nature and breathe. I'm over the big city living, the hype of having a good job, the stress of weekly demands.

Can I just walk away and leave it all behind???

Have just finished reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer - an interesting read of a young man who just wants to escape into the great outdoors in Alaska, seeking solitude. His tragic end wasn't intentional in my opinion, however he did make some very costly mistakes.

I'm wondering if I try to fit into the mold of what other people think I should be doing. Like I should be getting another job, really, I'm so over it. Seems I have a choice to work or not and right now it's just not something that I feel passionate about. Financially I could not work for a short time, especially if I continue to live in Asia where the cost of living is much cheaper than oz.

Does it matter to me that I don't have a job ?? apparently not :)
Should it worry me that I don't have a job??? apparently. According to who?? This is my life and I have no dependents so I can do whatever I want.

Three months since I've worked. And I still feel tired. And only motivated by returning to nature to rejuvenate. Wonder if I'm fatigued from pollution, toxins, lack of iron, lack of protein??

What is my dream? I just want to be in the mountains, enjoy nature and ride my bike.  Every time I'm cycling, even for 20 mins, my head feels clearer, I'm happier and free. Cycling does make me happy it's that simple. I desire to ride my bike every day even for a short ride each morning.