2009 will be mine

New Year's Rizzos:

I'm going to start 2009 by cleaning the slate. I love that a new year is an opportunity for a fresh start! Start over from day one deciding to do things differently. To do things differently thoughts, feelings and actions need to be alligned and directed to the change. As I've been thinking about what I want to work on this year and really accomplish, these five areas of attention come to mind: Financial, Relational [self & others], Intellectual [mental & emotional], Physical [the physcial world including body and objects], and Spiritual [personal relationship with God].

The focus of my life is changing this year from what it has been in the past three years. I'm no longer in school. I'm in a different state. I'm not romantically attached. It's the perfect time to be in charge of where my focus is directed. I'll share a few with you.

Intellectual | New Job: Monday's are great for starting out, too. When Monday comes, I'm hitting the pavement, getting my internship application in to DOPL and finding a great paying job that will allow me to experience what I need to become the practitioner that I need to be. A few of the things I'm going to do is get an appointment to talk with MFT faculty at BYU, get my resume out there to private practices as well as clinics and residential treatment centers. My waking thought this morning was of me talking to a professor at BYU (or UVU) who looks at my resume and transcripts and decides that he needs me on staff to teach a class on Narrative Therapy, work as a research assistant and in the clinic as a therapist. That idea totally excites me.

Practical Hours: Complete a minimum of 1,840 hours toward licensure. That will bring me close to the half-way mark in just one year. The faster I knock out those hours, the closer I'll be to opening my dream clinic.

Relational | Release Baggage: I won't go into a lot of detail on this one, but I want to enter the new year--or at least experience as much of it as possible--with no baggage. Carl Jung, an existential philosopher and theorist said, "When an unconscious issue is not made conscious it shows up outside of us as fate." I'm done with making the same mistakes repeatedly, of learning the same lessons over and over again. How am I going to do this? Well, I am currently excavating my soul of resentments and bitterness that I may still have from past relationships. In just a few days, I have already been amazed by what I've been storing up and holding on to, including self-blame and self-resentment. So, one by one, I'm going through my old flames and cleaning house. My step-by-step process will be published (completion of which will be a NYR for another year). The effect of this release will open space for me to grow as a person therefore making me a better partner. It will also help me identify the things I have loved and learned.

Financial | Start paying myself: When I start bringing home a pay check again :), I am committed to paying God first and myself second and saving/adding to my IRA.

I'm still working on making my other intentions super clear and attainable. Yes, there will be one about getting in shape, maybe something about visitng the gym, defintitely something about giving my body a lot more attention...

God bless 2009!! I am so looking forward to a new year and a clean slate.