2009 - The Year of Alignment

I have declared that 2009 is the Year of Alignment for me. When I say this, I mainly mean body alignment: maintaining good posture, not crossing my legs, keeping my feet pointed forward and not outward, being aware of where my body is in space and making a conscious effort to keep everything aligned as it was intended to be. Doing so will make me feel better about myself as I look thinner and fit better into my clothes. Case in point: I am wearing my size 10 jeans that I was able to fit into a year ago, but had not worn in the last 6 months. When I stand/sit up straight, they fit very well, and my muffin-top belly mostly disappears. When I start to slouch, the muffin top comes back and the pants start to give me indigestion. I realize that losing a few more inches in my mid-section will help this as well, and I intend to do that. But it sure does feel good to get back into them. Anyway, I digress a little. Alignment also means to me getting my priorities set appropriately for this stage of my and my family's lives. Aligning my goals and actions with what I believe God has in mind for me to do. Saying yes to things that are fun and/or interesting to me because they are in alignment with my God-given gifts and talents. Saying no to things that are not in my best interest or in that of my family. Alignment means having a basic structure to my days that allows me to fit in some sort of exercise, time with my husband and kids, prayer/devotion/scripture study time, and time for me to do my Helen-things like blogging, for instance. It also means keeping a perspective that when my day/body/priorities are out of alignment, I accept it with God's grace and simply readjust as best as I can and go on. Lastly, I want to align myself with others so that I am aware of what is going on in their lives and make choices that benefit them as well as me - both people I know and the rest of the world in general. So, as I adjust my posture and seating alignment in this chair again, I will carry on in my Year of Alignment.