flashback forward: january / february: new ways, 31 mindful moments, and new year, again

Mindful January
With the turn to February, the Mindful Writing Challenge reached its end.
Here is my final note:

January 31
small stone by small stone
January took a slightly
different shape

This small daily practice of noticing a small moment, and finding words for it, it again made a surprise difference: it turned cold January into a beautiful month of noticing and sharing mindful moments. such a good start into the new year.

And it had a second effect: knowing that i want to / have to find a good mindful moment each day gave the usual everyday activities a fresh touch, made me approach them with a new glance. also, i started to add short-trips to my normal routes, to visit new places that are just some minutes further away, like finding the way to the river walk i noticed a couple of times.

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new ways 
So in addition to the noticing of moments, January turned into a time of exploring, and adding some "out there" time to the days, and every time i went, it felt special to try a new way, and it now starts to be part of the rhythm of the days, and i want to continue this in february.

The visiting of new ways also made me think of other "home journeys" - like walking along the nearby Nature Walk last September: nature home walk & a sense of place in time - how there are so many small beautiful places in this area, and how we often stick to the usual roads and ways.

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The year of the Green Wooden Horse
The end of January brought another turn, too: according to the Chinese calendar, the year of the Green Horse now started. I looked for the chinese horoscope page i visited last year, and found this:

“According to the Oriental horoscope, 2014 is a year of green wooden Horse; this year is characterized by the Yang energy - a powerfully dynamic energy impulse. It shapes up our plans and undoubtedly gives them an objective direction. It will bring numerous opportunities for our spirituality to fully evolve. Be vigilant in 2014, keep your emotions under control and don't let anyone shake you off balance. You should offer an argument when a situation calls for it; you should stand your ground by all means necessary; just keep the argument within the decency limits. It is not the best solution to try to put out a fire by putting more wood into it. This is exactly why you should spare your energy - it'll come handy when fighting less epic battles.” (link)

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February: ways & reading women
So now: February. Like written above, i want to continue the small short trips to new, nearby places. When it gets a bit warmer, i would also like to walk a bit more along new ways, and take pictures.
My daily photo blog Once Upon Each Day will be a visual way of continuing the mindful moments. It's also a place to revisit moments of the past.

As to challenges, i joined the #readwomen2014 initiative, and will focus on short stories in February, i blogged about it this week, here: 2014: The Year of Reading Women: #readwomen2014

And my yoga lessons will start again next week! looking forward to them.