December 2010
12/30/10 Reverb10
Prompt: Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?
Friendship, kindness, love, understanding, support, and tolerance from complete strangers when I was going through a rough time, falling apart, and could barely function.
I am trying to finish this reverb10 thing but...
12/28/10
Prompt: Achieve. What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.
To quote one of my favorite slogans “I am going to put the plug in the jug” and let...
Airlines, stupid blizzard. Stuck in Indiana till...
If this tells you anything, the earliest flight I could get back through American Airlines to New York City was 6:30am Friday morning TO WHITE PLAINS. I swear to god, I thought she said Buffalo at first.
So….I have a phone appointment with my therapist tomorrow, we are going to do some guided meditation. Serenity now! I want to stomp up and down and scream at them to get me back...
Ugh, midwest
my flight was just cancelled.
Reverb10 12/27/10
Prompt: Ordinary joy. Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year?
Watching my good friend of 12 years transform into a father. It was what I describe as one of my perfect moments this year. A couple of weeks ago, I sat in his living room as he talked to his one month old son. It was such an amazing and...
Reverb10 12/26/10
Prompt: Soul food. What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?
For 9 months of this year, I ate one cupcake every day. My roommate and I kept mix and frosting on hand and would bake one every night as a reward for getting through a bad day. Red velvet with cream cheese frosting was my drug of choice.
Somewhere around November I...
Reverb10 12/24/10
Prompt: Everything’s OK. What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?
What a question! I had a really hard time believing that I was ok for most of this year. For a good 6 months, I had to rely on other people to tell me I was ok. Somewhere around September, I actually started...
Reverb10 12/23/10
Prompt: New name. Let’s meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?
Because of the way I introduce myself these days, a lot of people think my name is Allison. A lot of people actually call me Allison, I haven’t corrected them. It doesn’t bother me the way it used to and I sort of just...
Reverb10 12/22/10
Prompt: Travel. How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?
I didn’t travel much this year, just to Indiana, Chicago, Maine, Rhode Island, Jersey, and Connecticut. Next year, I am in a wedding in Australia. I am really nervous about the flight, we will see how it goes.
Reverb10 12/21/10
Prompt: Future self. Imagine yourself five years from now. What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead? (Bonus: Write a note to yourself 10 years ago. What would you tell your younger self?)
Dear 2011 Self,
Be kind to yourself. 2010 was a red letter year, you dealt with some really difficult stuff. You had to give up a lot in order to find yourself. I honestly...
Reverb10 12/20/10
Prompt: Beyond avoidance. What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?)
I have been joking with friends that I am avoiding the area below 14th street. For the past year I have rarely gone downtown. My goal for 2011 is to try to go downtown more. I have a lot of friends down...
Reverb10 12/19/10
Prompt: Healing. What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution? How would you like to be healed in 2011?
Connecting with other people, telling my story to friends, and crying it out is what started my healing this year. It’s been a drip by drip evolution, very slow and at times very painful. But it’s all been completely worth it because when you actually set...
Reverb10 12/18/10
Prompt: Try. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it?
Two things:
I want to run a half marathon or a marathon. I am starting to lose momentum on this one again.
I want to join a swim team. I am a fantastic swimmer and really want to start taking it seriously. And I already swim 2 miles every day,...
The real tragedy is happening in my office.
My coworker has a 10 year old son; he’s very creative, soulful, and likes to write. He has had a girlfriend since he was 8; she lives in brooklyn. My coworker and her son live in NJ. The girlfriend called my coworker and left her a voicemail breaking up with the son. Now my coworker is trying to figure out how she is going to tell her son that his gf left her a voicemail breaking up with...
Reverb10 12/17/10
Prompt: Lesson learned. What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?
As cheesy as it sounds, I learned how to love myself, be kind to myself, and to give myself the respect I give others. There’s a really great saying I hear a lot that I love, “Would you let someone else treat you the way you have treated...
Reverb10 12/16/10
Prompt: Friendship. How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?
This is a hard question. So many people have changed my life and my perspective this year. I would love to give credit where credit is due and say that starting from January 2010 on everyone had a little bit of hand in my journey this year.
But the one...
Reverb10 12/16/10
Prompt: Friendship. How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?
This is a hard question. So many people have changed my life and my perspective this year. I would love to give credit where credit is due and say that starting from January 2010 on everyone had a little bit of hand in my journey this year.
But the one...
What actions can I take to fix this?
is what I asked her at lunch. I really want to excel at my job and lately have been feeling like no matter what I do, no one at work actually sees what I contribute. So I decided to ask my mentor/life coach/spiritual guide what I can do at MY job to move ahead. I thought she was going to tell me to wear a suit which is what I actually did. I went out and bought some suits thinking this would...
“How would you define spirituality as opposed to religion?
Self-awareness and...”
– Deepak Chopra. I love this, someone quoted it to me earlier.
Reverb10 12/15/10
Prompt: 5 minutes. Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.
Je ne regrette rien. I don’t want to forget a single moment of 2010- the good, the bad, the ugly. Having kept a journal for every day this year and written 2 exhaustive inventories, I hope I don’t forget...
Reverb10 12/15/10
Prompt: 5 minutes. Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.
Je ne regrette rien. I don’t want to forget a single moment of 2010- the good, the bad, the ugly. Having kept a journal for every day this year and written 2 exhaustive inventories, I hope I don’t forget...
Labor Day weekend at the farm →
thedeadline:
caro:
What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.
I was going to say the Epic Potrero Hill Pillow Fight Night, except that it turns out said evening was actually in late 2009. Looking back at this year, I think Labor Day weekend at the farm gets the award here. It was one of those rare weekends when nobody...
Reverb10 12/14/10
Prompt: Appreciate. What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?
Peace, Serenity, enjoying life on a deeper level.
9 months ago, I sat down on a couch across from a woman who at the time was a stranger and today is such an important party of my life. We were 18 floors above Union Square and I remember being distracted by the...
Reverb10 12/9/10
Prompt: Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.
My roommate and I went to a gala in November for the organization we belong to. It was amazing. There were about 2200 people there and it felt like I knew at least half of them. I danced the night away, talked to my various crushes, and was one of the last people...
Reverb10 12/10/10
Prompt: Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?
I quit smoking. Friends told me not to, they said that I should keep smoking until the year was up then quit. But being the stubborn mule that I am, I quit everything at once. For about 6 months, my body felt like it was being torn in half. In retrospect, if I had to quit something on that level again, I...
Reverb10 12/11/10
Prompt: 11 Things. What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting ride of these 11 things change your life?
First off, this question is silly. I have a notebook filled of things my life doesn’t need and things I have tried to eliminate with no success. The reality is this year I have only been able to quit doing one...
Reverb10 12/12/10
Prompt: Body integration. This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present?
Last weekend in Ballet class, I was mentally preoccupied with some stuff going on in my life. I wasn’t really paying attention to the moves or the rest of the people in the class. When I...
Reverb10 12/13/10
Prompt: Action. When it comes to aspirations, its not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step?
My life is all about action these days. I am constantly taking the next right action so in response to this- this week I am going to take it easy. I am going to make coffee dates with friends and try to connect one on one with some people.
I am also going to...
#Reverb10 12/8/10
December 8 – Beautifully Different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful. (Author: Karen Walrond)
This is a hard question for me to answer. These days, I like to think I am not that different from other people and I definitely go out of my way to avoid the...
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#reverb10 12/7/10 Where have you discovered...
I joined a new community this year and I am having a great love affair with the people in my life. They have taught me how to live my life and to be happy, joyous, and free. I have recently taken on more responsibility in my community because I want to invest as much of myself as possible. I love the person I have become by being a part of something greater than I ever could have imagined.
...
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#Reverb10 12/5/10 What (or whom) did you let go of...
I let go of:
My expectations: I stopped trying to live my life/fail at what I thought my life should be. I stopped trying to be someone I wasn’t. I stopped trying to control everyone and everything.
My fears: Being a failure, not being liked, not having friends, not getting what I want, not knowing what I want, not feeling like things are ok when they actually are, losing people I...
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Reverb10 12/4/10
Wonder, How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?
My life this whole year has been such a remarkable journey. I woke up at the beginning of this year done- done with my life and numb to everything. I couldn’t physically get out of bed because of a cracked rib and lost just about everything a person can stand to lose. So to be able to say today that I am grateful for...
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Reverb 10, 12/3/10
Prompt: Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).
This one is easy. It was a summer day in late July. I was sitting in my bedroom after a particularly trying day reading a book. I had been sort of struggling off and on daily since January, not sure what was going to happen next, afraid for the...
