Author: kimhaynesjohnson

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Remembering, Sharing, Meditating on the Past: My 2023 Reflection Goals

Dad shares 1950s football stories with Aidan as they play ball together, December 2023

In 2013, I abandoned the notion of New Year’s Resolutions when I realized that not one resolution I had ever made survived more than a few weeks. Instead, I began listing goals for the year in different areas and taking time to reflect each week or so to update what I had done in those areas. It began in the NOTES section on my phone. Today, I reflect back to 2013 and the goals I established. I copied and pasted the first two of my ten goals from that year:

2013 Goals

Physical Goal #1: lose 50 pounds in 5 months. 

Action Plan: join Weight Watchers for diet and add exercise plan of walking. Seek exercise bike in March when everyone else gives up and sells them. Drink only water in restaurants. 

I need to make myself a countdown reward system to Marshall and Selena's wedding in May.

1/3/13. * I began counting points on January 2 for Weight Watchers. I weighed on day 1 to mark my starting point. 

1/15/13 I am down 13 pounds from January 1. I can lose 37 pounds by the wedding day. 

1/21/13 now sixteen pounds down and I can lose 34 pounds by May 25! 

2/7/13 now down 22 pounds and I can lose 28 pounds by May 25!

3/5/13 down 23 pounds and I can lose 28 pounds by May 25!

7/25/13 back at it. Up ten from last weigh, but down 14 from start of year! Brushing off and getting back in the groove....starting my point counting system again today. 

Educational goal #2: enter a doctoral program in fall 2013. 

Action plan: research programs in the first quarter of the year and measure against Georgia PSC requirements. Take GRE in February or March. Apply to schools in March.  Make decisions in May or June. Enter a program in the summer or fall. 

* Beth gave me some research on Univ of Florida to be considered

I am rethinking Walden, since I already have the first course completed there but had to stop for divorce.

1/18/2013 I completed the application to Walden, faxed my certificate, emailed my résumé and requested my transcript from University of West Georgia. One school down. I need to work on financial aid. 

1/24/13 I submitted FAFSA and requested pin. 

1/29/13 I am accepted back and they will honor my existing credit. Awaiting financial aid decision.

2/7/13 they will let me resume my program and have me ready to start March 4! Waiting on financial aid information to be processed by Walden. 

3/5/2013 I began my second course in the program officially yesterday. I am on track.

7/25/13 I am a module ahead in my third course in the program. Also registered for my residency in December in Washington, DC. Things are going well and I am enjoying the challenges.

Back to 2023: I look back on these 2013 goals and smile because setting goals, establishing action steps, and adding a measure of accountability actually works – it’s the recipe for success when there is follow-through and intention. Today’s banner picture was taken at my son’s May 2013 wedding, and while I didn’t reach my goal in time for the wedding, I could at least fit in the dress. In all but one of my ten goal areas of that year, I am doing much better today than I was then. I’m within six pounds of the top of my goal range today, and I earned my Ed.D in Leadership in October 2016.

Being able to reflect not only on one year but across a decade of goals is powerful – I see how dynamics of situations have changed and how there are bumps in the road that at the time seem earth-shattering, but in the grand scheme were simply little speed bumps that slowed me down.

My 2023 Reflection goals include end-of-month consideration and tracking of progress in writing and for the first time ever: sharing my goals and progress with readers on this blog, reflecting on memories, and writing family stories (and getting other family members to do the same so that our stories are preserved for future generations to enjoy). By the end of 2023, I hope to have at least 25 family stories shared on my blog.

Happy weekend! Spend some time reflecting today!

Reflecting on that time in the corn maze with Andrew when we had to use the map to try to get out…………
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Literature Goals: Reading Around the USA in 2023

"....no, there is not more beauty here than elsewhere....but there is much beauty here because there is much beauty everywhere."  

"....most people only get to know one corner of their room..." 
                                                             -Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Reading: About a month ago, I got a 6 a.m. Facebook Messenger post from a friend and co-worker who shares my love of reading. She wanted me to see the new challenge from a Facebook group called Read with the Book Girls ~ to Read Around the USA in 2023. The January Challenge includes the New England states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont (Connecticut, they say, will be included later this year). The site administrators even provide a curated list of book recommendations, along with brief blurbs about the books for those who would like some suggestions. Each month, I’ll read a book from a different area of the United States throughout the year. Here are two links: here and here.

As a predominantly nonfiction reader, I’ve chosen Stephen King’s On Writing to read as my January book. Though I think the focus is more on the landscape and setting of place, I vividly see the King home as I read the words of his books. I see the roots of the thinking that goes into his writing. I have two other New England-setting recommendations if you’re contemplating this challenge and love nonfiction: Following Atticus by Tom Ryan (and the sequel, Will’s Red Coat) and The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. Two of my favorite authors!

I’ll be reading around the USA this year for 2023, and my goal is to complete the 12-book trek over 12 months. I love the way the book challenge supports my experience goals – I’m taking a journey around the nation, but relaxing the pace through the power of books – it’s a peaceful endeavor.

I’ve also chosen a book for each category of my goals this year. For example, I’m rereading Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance as my gratitude guide, Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic as my creativity guide, Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project as my self-improvement guide, Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet as my literature guide, Bhavana Gesota’s The Art of Slow Travel as my experience guide, Women of Faith Daily Devotional by the Women of Faith as my spiritual/inspirational guide, and a yet-to-be-decided book as my reflection guide. My One Little Word (Pray) guide is The Meaning of Prayer by Harry Emerson Fosdick, a gift from my father. 

Writing: Every single day this year, I have written and posted on my blog.  On the last day of February 2023, I will celebrate two full years of daily blogging, and my blog celebrates its 10th birthday TODAY!  Here is a link to my very first post back in 2013. Again, my goal is to blog daily throughout 2023. I'll continue to participate in Open Write and #VerseLove at www.ethicalela.com, and also to share on Slice of Life at www.twowritingteachers.org.  I also hope to present at NCTE this November in Ohio as part of the speaking and listening parts of my Literature goals for the coming year.  A huge thank you to Glenda Funk for her gifts of time and talent in writing proposals! 

In 2023, I will continue to do what I started in the fall of 2022:  I’ll give away at least one book a day with a handwritten note to the recipient.  I’m paring down my collection, and my goal is to get down to two and a half bookcases by the end of the year. My current book hoarding number will remain my secret. If you’re reading this blog and would like to receive a book with a handwritten note from me tucked inside, please send me your name and mailing address on Facebook Messenger at Kim Haynes Johnson, along with some of your hobbies and reading preferences.  I can’t wait to share the gift of a book with you this year!

I'll also continue to send out postcards, as I started doing in 2022.  When I purchased some in the gift shop at Red Top Mountain State Park the last week of December, the clerk said, "I don't think in all my time here I've ever sold a postcard.  It's a dying thing.  I'm glad to see someone is still mailing them."  

Yes, ma'am, I thought to myself. Let me be the change I wish to see in the world. 

In 2022, I mostly wrote poetry.  This year, one of my goals is to vary my writing more.  I am a fan of Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project, and I love the structure of her book and all that she does to focus on establishing order to create happiness in her world.  I reread her book (again) and simmered my thinking down to seven blog categories, hoping to adopt a cycle of writing that will broaden my net and inspire me to listen and to share in some different ways.  My dad, Reverend Dr. Felix Haynes, Jr., will share as a guest blogger as he has done in the past, helping me to preserve family stories.  While I have loved working my way through two book studies in 2022, I plan to pull the wider angle lens out and take a broader perspective rather than a deeper one this year.  

I'm ready for writing through 2023!

Happy Epiphany!

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Gathering Around a Campfire of Blessings: My Gratitude Goals for 2023

"Start to count your blessings.  Start today. Make a spiritual inventory of all your blessings.  See if you can't get to one hundred.  So much good happens to us but in the rush of daily life we fail even to notice or acknowledge it.  Writing it down focuses our attention on the abundance already within our grasp and makes it real."  Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy

When I missed the last couple of steps at work and broke my ankle at the end of September, I was a spoiled brat. I wanted help, but I wanted to do it all by myself. I wanted to go to work, but I wanted to stay home. I was fine when I planned my day but cried out of sheer frustration when I couldn’t get things done with my normal efficiency and speed. In those moments, I learned that I had to focus on the blessings to get through the challenging times. I had to remind myself to dwell on the good things:

I have people in my life who truly want to help me.

My injuries could have been much worse.

This phase is temporary; my ankle will heal in time.

I have mobility with a knee scooter loaned to me by a friend.

The minute I allowed self-pity to seep in, it clouded my whole world. I had to make a deliberate effort to keep all of my thinking positive, or I got sucked into a dreary hole of darkness with branching tunnels and no apparent end.

My gratitude goals for 2023 include keeping gratefulness at the forefront. I tend to be best at counting my blessings when I’m outdoors – just like we do when we’re sitting around the campfire, thinking about the beauty of life and the power of moments. I plan to spend more time around the campfire, fire pit, and the fireplace this year, and to write about my blessings through Gratiku, Three on Thursdays, Five on Fridays, and other ways of expressing thankfulness. When Simple Abundance inspired us all to keep gratitude journals when it was first published (I’m rereading it this year as my guidebook in the area of gratitude), I noticed a more appreciative outlook in my own life; while I won’t have a designated gratitude journal, I will devote days to blogging about blessings!

Campfire at a campground in 2022

Oh – and one more thing: I’m going to keep my awareness of those with injuries and disabilities heightened. When I see a person with mobility challenges, I’m going to be sure I hold the door and ask if I can help. As I hobbled around with my broken ankle, I was dumbfounded at the complete lack of manners and sensitivity of so many people, and amazed at the graciousness and awareness of others.

I know who I want to be in those situations where I can make a difference. I not only want to count my own blessings this year, but I also want to be a blessing to others for whom such simple gestures can make a powerful difference.

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Lightening the Load: My Self-Improvement Goals for 2023

"According to current research, in the determination of a person's level of happiness, genetics accounts for about 50 percent; life circumstances, such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, income, health, occupation, and religious affiliation, account for about 10 to 20 percent; and the remainder is a product of how a person thinks and acts." - Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

One of my favorite books over the past decade is Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project. I return to it often, examining all the ways to increase happiness by fine-tuning various aspects of life. This is the broadest category of focus for me this year, and I believe that if each one of my focused goal categories were its own nesting box, this one would be the one that holds all of the others. It involves diet, exercise, organizing, cleaning up, cleaning out, practicing frugality, investing time in relationships, counting blessings, professional development, reading, adjusting attitudes, and a myriad of other improvement areas.

On January 1, I mentioned a system for keeping goals that has worked for me since 2013. That system is rooted in this quote from The Happiness Project: “People are more likely to make progress on goals that are broken into concrete, measurable actions, with some kind of structured accountability and positive reinforcement.” That year that I first read this book, I established goals and wrote ten of them in the NOTES section on my phone. Every few weeks, I returned to each goal and added notes about my progress underneath the goal.

I’ll share a segment of my 2013 goals when I write about my Reflection goals this coming Saturday, but this system of establishing goals and accountability has proven successful in motivating my progress in reaching goals. This year, I’ll use the last day of each month to reflect on my goals and my One Little Word for 2023: pray. One strategy as a setup for success: I’ve already scheduled the end-of-month blog dates so that I can visit the post weekly to add goal updates prior to the last day.

A few specific goals in the Self-Improvement category include continuing my weight loss journey that began on Tuesday, August 9 with Optavia. Although the week of Christmas has included a period of grace for some indulgences, I am 48 pounds lighter than I was when I began, and less than 10 pounds from the top of my goal weight range. I will reach my weight goal around the beginning of February and will begin maintenance. I will continue to give away clothes that begin looking frumpy so that I minimize the opportunities for “personal re-growth.”

At the risk of today’s post becoming too lengthy, I’ll delay sharing any more specific goals in this category and will share these on regular blog posts throughout the year. I often add shorter goals in this category, and they’re met quickly. For example, instead of setting the goal as “conduct spring cleaning,” I may claim an unforeseen snow day as a day to “clean out the upstairs closets.” Smaller steps, sometimes spontaneous, seriously sizzling = SUCCESS!

Cheers to the betterment of all of us throughout 2023!

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Hunting Magic! My Creativity Goals for 2023

Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers at Slice of Life! 
Q: What is creativity?
A: The relationship between a human being and the mysteries of inspiration. 

        -Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert asserts that the universe buries strange jewels deep within us all and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels is what she calls creative living, and the surprising results of the hunt are what she calls Big Magic.

During this first week of 2023, I’m spending time each day defining my goals – not resolutions – for the year, in seven broad categories that include reflection, spirituality/inspiration, self-improvement, literature, gratitude, experience, and creativity. Definitive goals for creativity would be in direct contrast to the open-ended creative spirit and energy that can only emerge organically within any given moment from the right slant of light at a particular vantage point, but I aim this year to spend more time on photography as a visual art form.

I have taken a couple of photography classes over the years, my most recent being through University of West Georgia. I had a friend taking the same course, and we would spontaneously go on “photography excursions,” jumping in the car and driving the rural countryside to look for images of beauty. I miss those days of creative adventuring and look forward to resurrecting the energy I felt on those outings. One goal is to improve the photos I share on my blog. I also want to create some photo displays of recent trips with favorite pictures from our travels, beginning with a few photos on canvas.

As a hobby, photography is relatively inexpensive – far more so today than in the 1980s, when I took my first photography course in college and had to purchase film and develop it in the dark room. Unlike my children, I don’t have the gifts of drawing and painting. But I’m often able to find a subject of beauty and click from several angles to find that certain slant of light that magically illuminates the shot and brings a dazzling luster.

The Big Magic ~ I’m hunting the jewels buried within in 2023!

One of my favorite photos taken recently – White Christmas at sunset at Burdoc Farms in Crofton, Kentucky
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Relaxing the Pace: My Experience Goals for 2023

“Slow travel is being in a place long enough to experience it without having a strict itinerary. It isn’t about seeing everything but experiencing the soul of a place.”
― Bhavana Gesota, The Art of Slow Travel: See the World and Savor the Journey On a Budget

Tulips in Gibbs Gardens – Ball Ground, Georgia

In April, I took a girls’ trip with my sister-in-law to north Georgia and North Carolina. We ambled around Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, Georgia at a leisurely pace, admiring the tiers of tulips and daffodils before embarking on the scenic drive to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, where we sat by the huge stone fireplace and sipped coffee in those relaxing wooden rocking chairs you see in the mountains in places where life is simpler and a fresher type of air cleans the lungs and awakens the senses.

Big stone fireplace at Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC

“I’m loving this,” I told her. “I don’t feel rushed, and it’s a more relaxed pace than the itinerary I usually keep when traveling. I zip from place to place, and I don’t generally sit down and breathe until day’s end.” I was especially thinking about the EF Tour I’d taken with students to Europe in June 2019, when we’d visited four countries in ten days with a full day of air travel there and back as two of those days. It had drained every bit of me!

Quote on the rock of the Grove Park Inn Lobby – there were many of these all over the place

Sitting in the huge stone-walled lobby, I noticed the quotes on the rocks in the wall. On a breakneck-paced trip, I would have never noticed such a detail. As I observed more, I discovered that they were scattered throughout the hotel, and I visually scaled the walls on a self-secret scavenger hunt, making pictures, taking the time to ponder each one and to consider why it was selected out of all the quotes they could have chosen to etch there.

Grove Park Inn Gingerbread House, winner of the 2021 competition

We stumbled upon the gingerbread house display from the annual competition and noticed each captivating detail of these winning designs. Further down the hall, we found the desk F. Scott Fitzgerald used during his time at the Grove Park Inn. Our room was directly across the hall from the two rooms that were “his” at the inn. We strolled through the gift shops, too, taking time to peruse the books about the history of this historic hotel. We each bought one and returned to the great fireplace to read them.

Open Windows at The Grove Park Inn – Historic Section – Asheville, NC

That’s why months later, when I saw the book The Art of Slow Travel, I knew it would be my next read. Four months into 2022, I was already beginning to realize that a more relaxed pace when traveling has more than mere physical benefits. Throughout 2022, most every trip that didn’t involve our camper held a hard lesson about taking life at a slower pace, lugging less on the journey, and savoring more tranquil moments.

My experience goals for 2023 are to cut back on entertainment in the form of concerts, sports, plays, and movies and instead focus on the experiences that are found outdoors – kayaking, hiking, long walks, conversations over orange spiced tea and playlists by the fire pit (my son and daughter in law gave us one for Christmas). It’s time to open the windows and relax the pace. To breathe. To embrace slow travel not only on trips, but as a daily living practice.

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My One Little Word for 2023

As we move toward the beginning of a brand new year starting at midnight, on this last day of the year I'm taking time to reflect on 2022 and all the living we’ve done in its 525,600 minutes.  My blessings far outweigh my challenges and setbacks.  

Last December, I chose listen as my One Little Word for 2022, which Ali Edwards has made popular since 2006.  I suppose it’s what daily writers do: we listen to the world around us.  We listen for what inspires us and what we can take from conversations, moments, lessons, experiences - and time we share with others - to make sense of our world.  

What we do with all the listening is what invites me to choose pray as my word for 2023.  It wasn’t my first serious consideration, or even my second.  My initial choice was believe.  During my week of Covid confinement in December, I almost prematurely announced believe and all my reasons for choosing it.  It’s the essence of my Christian faith, the verb of what we do with our faith to trust in God’s plan.  It’s what gets us through tough times.  Long moments of pondering all that I don’t want to be quick to believe led me to think more about the power of sharing.  Share was my second consideration. I share what I experience and what I believe as truth, often on my blog. 

Then I thought of my word listen this year, and all of the listening that happened through prayer.  I wondered:  what if I spent an entire year with the word pray as my guiding light word?  My little Caribbean blue Rav4 has been my twice-daily prayer chamber for years as I make my way to and from work.  I don't turn on the radio ~ I pray.  I believe fully in the power of prayer and the difference it makes.  I see miracles that have happened because of prayer, and I often wonder about the miracles that happen that we never see, also because God answers prayer.  

As we step into 2023, I've chosen an action verb again.  Pray.  What a blessing I feel already!  

If you’re taking a One Little Word as your guiding light this year, please share in the comments below or send me a Facebook message - - I love all the thinking that goes into OLW choices!  Cheers to you in 2023!  

Tomorrow, I will begin daily posts in the areas of my seven goal categories this year.  They are: Reflection, Inspiration/Spirituality, Self-Improvement, Creativity, Literature, Experience, and Gratitude.  I've never succeeded at keeping New Year's Resolutions, but what has worked for me for the past 12 years is establishing goals and adding an accountability measure in my writing through a month-end checkpoint.  More on this beginning tomorrow!
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Reflections on 2022 in 26 Pictures

2022 has been a year of living life in full gear for the first three quarters and slamming on brakes the last three months of the year before returning to a snail’s pace. As a traveler with a hopeless case of wanderlust, three curveballs slowed me down between September 27 and the end of the year: a broken ankle right before Fall Break (I had to cancel a hiking trip to Fort Mountain State Park in Chatsworth, Georgia); a collision with a deer (I wasn’t hurt – but I had to listen to what the good Lord was trying to tell me about slowing down a bit…..first my heels, then my wheels); and then I tested positive for Covid (we missed The Piano Boys in concert at The Fox in Atlanta after buying the tickets a year in advance).

In 2023, I’ll be adjusting my sails for a new concept called “Slow Travel.” But for now, here are some of my memories from 2022, in pictures:

Time together sharing the warmth of Callaway Gardens Christmas lights- November

My One Little Word for 2022 – January
Presenting at NCTE in Anaheim, CA with my writing group at http://www.ethicalela.com – November
Visiting San Antonio in February – so hot I had to buy a t-shirt at the Alamo one day, but didn’t have enough clothes in my suitcase for the cold temperatures the following day!
Scriptural Meal at the Biblical History Center in Lagrange, GA – May
Sharing picture adventures with my hiking, rockhounding daughter
Spending time over the holidays with our 5 grandchildren – December
Taking Aidan to visit Mom’s grave at Christ Church Cemetery, St. Simon’s Island, GA – December
Watching eagles dive for fish in Ketchikan, Alaska – June
Dogsledding on Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau – June
Camping throughout the year – here, on the peninsula at Dames Ferry Campground, Juliette, GA
Christmas Day Church Service
Trolley tour of Vancouver, B.C. – June
Breakfast at the Mallery Street Cafe, St. Simons Island, GA, with Dad, Aidan, Ken, and Jennifer – December
Enjoying a White Christmas in Kentucky
Gibbs Gardens in full bloom – Ball Ground, GA – April
With my son and his family at Pine Mountain, Georgia – November
Black Rock Mountain Overlook – April
Ken’s new dog, Kasa, rescued and adopted after a gunshot to the front paw – July, Brunswick, GA
Briar and my stepson Andrew on a sunset kayak paddle – Lake Juliette, GA – May
With Briar on the glass walk at the Space Needle – Seattle, WA – June
Suspension Bridge at Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee – December
Broken Ankle – at home in Pike County, Georgia – September
November 1 – at home after hitting a deer
Spending time in front of the stone fireplace at the Grove Park Inn – Charlotte, NC – April
Great coffee and time with Boo Radley, Ollie, Fitz, and Briar – Kentucky, December

Blessings in 2023! I wish you a Happy New Year! Stay warm and cozy.

Made with Padlet
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Own Form

I’ve been writing through Lightning Paths by Kyle Vaughn since October, and today is the final poem exercise. The prompt calls for writers to create their own form and write one. I enjoy the Golden Shovel form, and spent a month last year writing Multiple Shovels. Vertical lines may appear in one line, a Double Shovel, a Triple Shovel, Quadruple Shovel, and yes – – I even made it to a Quintuple Shovel. Here is a Double Shovel from my spooky October theme from 2021, when I visited Salem, Massachusetts. Here’s a Triple Shovel. Here’s a Quadruple Shovel. Here’s a Quintuple Shovel. 

Today’s writing is a double golden shovel poem using two lines from Elizabeth Willis’s “The Witch.” Lines are emboldened vertically. 

Double Double Golden Shovel 

with herbs and frogs she concocts
a potion which may at first 
glance appear soupish ~ then 
she will call to powers that 
will not be weak but will 
make her stew an acting agent,
rancid only in deed ~
the enemies of a witch sip 
fresh hell from silent spoons, 
butter creamy film residue 
of wickedness from whose actions 
her spell placards exacting
righteous evil are cast upon her
neighbor who soon goes missing….

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Circular Poem

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths since October, and working my way through the daily exercises from cover to cover. Today’s prompt is a circular poem – it’s hard to master digitally, but I’m writing mine and posting a picture in its concrete shape. I’m thinking of my grandchildren roasting marshmallows at Dowdell’s Knob in Pine Mountain, Georgia when they visited for Thanksgiving.

Roasting Marshmallows at Dowdell’s Knob with 2/5 Grandchildren

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