focus. continued.

...maybe telling for how my last few days have gone - I was intending to start a weekly "friday focus" update, but instead it's saturday. at least it's early. and I'm all about focus today. it helps that this is my view as I sit at my desk.

photos of the people and places I love. things that inspire me. and my one little word (a gift from my friend honore, who also gave me "mere" last year - love and thank you!). constant reminders of where my focus should be.

in early 2007, I made a very liberating list of things I wasn't going to worry about (things like learning to play golf, or reading non-fiction books) and things I would. of course that second list was long. and once I retired and had more time, I stopped being so careful about where I spent it. or so diligent about holding myself accountable for what I did with it. so my renewed focus is not just about discipline to make and complete to-do lists. it's really about aligning my time and energy and effort with the people and things that are most important to me.

of course the "me" that created that list four years ago is different now. not only am I four years older (and yikes, I'll be fifty next year!), but my family and friends are too. marc's job takes him away from home a lot and now we're empty nesters. I've found a new passion for knitting. and teaching knitting. and growing my faith. I've made many new friends, including a four-legged one who follows me everywhere :-)

so I started thinking about a new list this week - I'm calling it the Big Picture. it has two sides - side one is the things that are part of my Big Picture (things like marc, katie & sara, and my family, knitting, being passionate about coffee and wine and pizza. photography.) and side two is things that aren't (gardening, shopping, travel).  I'm not sure where some things go. like scrapbooking. and lately, even this blog. but I'm working on it. more to come...

in closing - I also want to share the february prompt from ali's class. it was about capturing your word in photos. literal and figurative interpretations. and even though my Big Picture exercise didn't start til just a few days ago, and I compiled these photos at the beginning of march, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the things I've captured here are (still!?!) part of my Big Picture: