Showing all posts tagged goal setting

In Life in General, Writing Life

A Brand New, Shiny Year

Author Kiel LemonPosted on Leave a comment

Ah, hello there, poor neglected blog and readers! I bet you thought I’d completely forgotten you and would never return! But no, I have thought of writing so very many times, and I simply kept talking myself out of it. The longer I am away, the harder it always seems to return. It is tricky to think of just how to begin again. But here I am at last, ready to dust off my writing cap and try it anyway, awkward as these new beginnings always are.

Since it is the early part of the new year, I am still thinking a little of the new things this year holds…a new year of AmblesideOnline with my son, beginning some gentle kindergarten lessons with my daughter, a shiny new bullet journal for my planner, a few tweaks for my daily routine, a renewed sense of balance in my approach to social media and tech, and lots and lots of new reading goals. It is all rather mundane and daily, but it is exciting nonetheless.

Unlike the last few years, I haven’t exactly chosen a word of the year for 2020. But if I did, it would probably be something having to do with intention, curation and habit. Over the last couple of months, I have been thinking a great deal about honing in on the truly valuable people, activities and things in my life. Weary of going through the motions of less-than-stellar habits, I am prioritizing intentional choices, making the most of the time I have wherever I can. My goal is to develop healthier, happier habits that will help me do just that. Our family has also been persistently decluttering both our stuff and our schedules, curating that which is truly important and joy-bringing in our family culture.

A few changes in my routine are along these lines, things like: applying digital minimalism concepts to social media and smart phone usage, tacking certain types of reading to certain times of day, and regularly using a habit tracker to see my progress. Each day marks a shift in my trajectory from just taking the path of least resistance to living with purpose and intention. Even when a change is small, it makes a difference!

What are you looking forward to as we embark on this shiny new year? Have you made any new goals? Do you choose a word of the year? I truly would love to hear from you in the comments. And if you are a fellow blogger (even if only sporadic, like me), if you leave a comment with a link to your blog, I will be sure to read your latest news!

In Natural Wellness

Goals, Habits and Intentions for 2019: Wellness Wednesday

Author Kiel LemonPosted on Leave a comment


Welcome back to Wellness Wednesdays here at Tuning Hearts! I have been slow to return to the blog since the holidays, but I hope to be more consistent in posting as the new year gets under way. I have decided to dial back my Wellness Wednesday link-up posts to one per month. Let’s plan to meet here every second Wednesday of the month and link up your wholistic health and wellness posts! This will not only give me to more time to think and write on relevant topics, but it will also give me more time I read and comment on your posts, something I have not been doing in as timely a manner as I should.

With all that business out of the way, let’s get on to this month’s wellness topic. Since it is the beginning of a new year, I am sure we all have goals or intentions for getting healthier and improving our lives in some way. Without going into all the whys and wherefores, I thought this would be an appropriate time to share some of the habits and choices I want to work on this year. I have added each of these to a habit tracker in my new bullet journal for 2019, so I can keep myself accountable for making progress in each area.

  • Scripture Reading Plan: In October I began a new 52-week Bible Reading Plan. The difference in this year’s plan is that it goes neither chronlogically or in book order as do most. Instead, each day I read a few chapters from a different genre of the Bible: Law, History, Poetry, Psalms, Prophecy, Gospels and Epistles. I have loved reading the Bible this way, and I am making new connections between books that I have not made before.
  • Breathing Prayer: I have written about this practice before, but I got out of the routine. I want to get back to the daily habit of taking 3-5 minutes for focussed breathing and prayer.
  • 10 Minute Workout: I joined “The Little Way” challenge hosted by Revelation Wellness this month, and it could not have come at a better time. I have fallen off the purposeful movement bandwagon, and this is the perfect way to get back to healthy movement while also feeding my soul. The workout options for this challenge are to do either 10 or 30 minutes a day. To begin easing back in, I am doing just 10 minutes a day. I already feel better getting moving first thing in the morning!
  • Read Non-Fiction: I struggle with finishing non-fiction books, at least those that are not in narrative format. My goal is to read at least a chapter a day from one of the non-fiction books that I have started and stopped until I finish them, then continue this habit with each new non-fiction title I begin after that.
  • Outside for 20+ Minutes: In the winter, especially, I struggle with getting outside enough and getting my daily dose vitamin D. Once spring comes, this won’t be such a necessary habit to track, but for now, I have to make it an intentional goal.
  • No Sugar: Another challenge I joined this month is 40 Day Sugar Fast hosted by Wendy Speake. I participated in it last year, and the faith-filled focus of the fast was a great boost to my spiritual growth at the beginning of the year. I am looking forward to this fast coupled with The Little Way challenge. I believe that getting my eyes on Jesus more and more and off the sugary snacks I use to reward myself or cope with emotional struggles is going to go a long way toward greater wholeness and health!
  • Food Log: This is partly added accountability for the sugar fast, but also just a simple, non-obsessive way for me to be mindful of what I am putting into my body each day.
  • Write Something: After the 2018 Write 31 Days blogging challenge, I learned that if I set my mind to it, I could write something every day. But I was tired and wanted a break from blogging like a crazy person. By the time the holidays rolled around I was so out of the habit of writing again that I did not even know where to begin. I dabbled in journalling a bit this fall, and I found that to be a beneficial practice for my thought life. So this year, I decided to combine my desire to blog more and my need to journal more into one basic goal of writing something, somewhere, every day. Some days I will only have time for a brief journal entry. Other days I will put some extra effort and time into creating a blog post. But I want to be doing something with words on a daily basis, because I know I can and should!

That sounds like a lot of goals, now that I have written them out in long hand, especially considering I also am homeschooling my kids and keeping house and cooking meals and trying to be a decent wife, friend and church member! But all these goals are also pretty small time commitments in and of themselves. And they are all things I have done before and can do again if I just make the right choices throughout my days.

Now it’s your turn! What are a few of your goals for wellness in 2019? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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In Life as Mom, Life in General

Rhythms and Routines #fiveminutefriday

Author Kiel LemonPosted on 2 Comments

rhythms and routines

I could go in so many different directions with this week’s “routine” prompt! (Which means I should probably think about doing some posts on related topics!) But I think I’ll stick with why I love rhythms and routines as a non-type A personality and as a mom of young children.

I used to try to create a schedule with times to do specific things during my days. This never, ever, ever, ever worked for me! I could not stick to a schedule for more than one day, if I could even get through that first day at all! So I thought I was just not a person who could organize my days. But then if I just went through days without any direction at all, I felt very disorganized and lost.

Enter: Rhythms and Routines!

For me a routine is more like a rhythm that helps provide a general structure to my days without being rigid or scheduled. I know that I need to do some things during certain parts of my day, but not at specific set times. A routine gives me grace to switch things up if I need to in order to accommodate our ever-changing schedule. But it still gives some direction as to the general outline of each day and keeps things somewhat predictable, both for me and my kids.

And that’s another thing about having a routine… My kids know generally what to expect of each day. They aren’t left guessing about everything because that would leave them feeling uneasy, too.

Rhythms and routines keep us sane and stable while giving us room to be flexible. So if you don’t work well with a schedule, but you know you need structure, give a routine a try. I think you’ll be glad you did!

This post is part of the Five Minute Fridays link-up hosted by Kate Motaung. Join the FMF community and get your free-write on! Find my other Five Minute Fridays posts here. 

In Faith Talk, Life in General

Taking the Next Step

Author Kiel LemonPosted on Leave a comment
Taking the Next Step

Sometimes life takes an unexpected turn that sends us reeling, wondering how to take the next step. That’s what happened last week when we found out our house sale was not going to happen. After all the planning we had set in motion, we found ourselves back at square one, not sure what to do next. For several days I felt like I was just wandering aimlessly around the house, in a total fog. Yes, I was doing the necessary things to keep the household running, but beyond that, I had no sense of direction.

What can we do when life throws us a curve ball like that? Yes, we pray. We dig into God’s Word. We keep trusting Him. Those spiritual practices must be our anchors. We draw closer to God in the hard times than the easy ones, certainly. But what do we do practically to keep moving forward in the day to day? How do we come out of that fog and regain a sense of direction?

For me, I think I need to go back to the goals I made at the beginning of the year. I need to remember the fundamental vision I have for my relationships, my work, and my personal well-being. My situation may change, but the basic desires of my heart are the same. I want to grow in and through trials, and I need to remember that good growth happens slowly, one tiny step at a time. Even though I can’t see very far down the road, I can see far enough to take the next small step, to do the next right thing.

Drink an extra glass of water.

Do a load of laundry.

Read a book or two to my daughter.

Play a board game with my son.

Make extra time for my husband in the evening.

Set up some time out with a friend next week.

Create that new webpage I’ve been planning.

Finish that spiritual growth book I’ve been reading.

These are relatively small things. But they add up to growth. They get me moving in the right direction toward my goals. I have to keep just putting one foot in front of the other, trusting God to lay the path to bigger things before me while being faithful in the small ones.

What do you do when life throws you for a loop? How do you take the next step forward in faith? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. I try to reply to every one!

In Faith Talk, Life in General

Simplify Your Focus: Five Minute Fridays

Author Kiel LemonPosted on 2 Comments

This time of year there seems to be a plethora of self-improvement choices around the internet (and elsewhere). We are bombarded with choices for courses to take, books to read, or programs to join in order to better ourselves in some way or another. Some of that is good. It is helpful for us to have training and accountability in pursuing our goals. At the same time, though, sometimes all this amounts to is more noise, more comparison, more ways to feel like we aren’t good enough or aren’t doing enough.

A few weeks ago, this was how I was feeling—as if all the noise from social media, books, blogs and podcasts was just cluttering my brain and heart to the point that I couldn’t focus on anything. It dawned on me that I needed to simplify my focus. After all, I can only do one thing really well at a time. I needed to quiet all the noise so I could focus on what was really necessary and important. And it helped, as it always does, to clear my head and pray and take a break from scrolling the internet.

As I was thinking back over my goals for 2018, I noticed a common theme, especially in terms of my “whys” for setting those particular goals.  I could boil it all down to two questions: what will help me better serve my family, and what will help me better glorify God? I may have many different goals and ideas for how to accomplish them, but if I really simplify my focus to those two things, God and my family, I will always be headed in the right direction.

This post is part of Five Minute Fridays. To read my other FMF posts, click here, or on the tag #fiveminutefriday at the bottom of the page.