It’s great to have an overarching focus, theme or motivation to dedicate a year to. And I like the ideas offered by Leo Babauta and David Cain about ‘going deeper’.

David sees it as a mark of maturity and here he explains the parameters of his idea:

“No new hobbies, equipment, games, or books are allowed during this year. Instead, you have to find the value in what you already own or what you’ve already started. You improve skills rather than learning new ones. You consume media you’ve already stockpiled instead of acquiring more. You read your unread books, or even reread your favorites. You pick up the guitar again and get better at it, instead of taking up the harmonica. You finish the Gordon Ramsey Masterclass you started in April, despite your fascination with the new Annie Leibovitz one, even though it’s on sale. The guiding philosophy is “Go deeper, not wider.” Drill down for value and enrichment instead of fanning out. You turn to the wealth of options already in your house, literally and figuratively. We could call it a “Depth Year” or a “Year of Deepening” or something.”

Leo has taken hold of this idea and adopted his own list of rituals that include: meditation; fitness; healthy eating; yoga; etc. He asks:

“Are you willing to live with constraints of your own? Are you interested in going deeper or wider? What would that look like for you?”

So my thoughts around this and ideas for 2018 are:

1. Meditate daily using Insight Timer
2. Yoga twice weekly
3. Plant-based cooking and eating
4. Piano practice daily using all the music I currently own
5. Walk, swim and cycle regularly
6. Finish the Family History scrapbook that is almost done
7. Write in my journal and on my blog
8. Play and swim with Lily
9. Work of course and this takes up most of my time
10. Read the content saved to my Feedly list for professional development and creative inspiration
11. Practice French using the books I have
12. Read the books from my bookshelves or from the local library. My Goodreads challenge is set for 50 in 2018 and I have already finished 4four this month
13. Cook recipes from the cookbooks I already own
14. Plant more things in my garden
15. Paint pictures using the ideas, canvases and materials I already own