OODLs (Observations on Daily Life)

The last few days of 2019 have been unsettling. Not because of the state of the world - though that is cause enough to feel unsettled - but because for the first time in my adult life, I am entering a new year - a new DECADE! - without: Resolutions Goals Plans A theme A word for the year Expectations 527 days ago, I started a daily meditation practice. I’ll probably rhapsodize about that in future entries. For now, suffice it to say I have decided to take mindfulness to the next level and enter a new year without any of the things I thought brought order to my life, but instead just caused undue stress. This decision has, of course, stressed me out. Don’t misunderstand: I still have daily successful actions - like my meditation practice - I will continue to complete. But I am letting go of any desired outcomes for these successful actions. Instead, I will strive to simply be. We’ll see how this goes. Personally, I’ll be surprised if I make it to mid-January. ...

My name is Billie Anne, and it’s been 10 years and 29 days since my last blog post on this platform. If I’m being completely honest, I actually forgot about OODLs for...well, years. I remembered it quite by accident as I was contemplating starting a Facebook page for my random thoughts. Thoughts of a Facebook page morphed into thoughts of starting a blog, which then morphed into the memory of a blog I had abandoned quite unceremoniously “a few years ago.” My, how time does fly. I thought about scrapping OODLs and starting over.  But I still like the name, and reviving what I’ve already started is so much easier than starting again from scratch. And so, here I go again.