Fresh Start

January 1st never quite seems like the real new year to me. Being a student, the new year starts in late August/early September -- at least that is the way I think of it. I tend to go into each new school year with strong feelings, goals and ideas about the way it will go. At the end I always look back and think, wow, I never could have predicted that.

So, my fresh start. Will officially begin September 3rd. My fresh start involves spending more time with nature. This idea with nature was inspired by a long walk with a good friend late last night - perfect, beautiful and calming. I think nature is food for the soul, and my soul is hungry. I could grow a plant in my room (I've been bugging my Mom for a bamboo plant); I could go for evening walks; I could go for morning runs; I could bike around the countryside; I can work in the organic garden. I can choose whatever I like!

Other parts of my fresh start...I will begin to intentionally live joyfully and with love in my actions, thoughts and words. I am naturally a joyful person, but over the past year I feel that somehow I have lost some of my joy. I will identify little specific ways to help me grow again in this area.

I think that this blog will help me to record my thoughts and growth in positive ways. I chose my blog name to be beautypeace because I feel that those are things I look for and strive for in the world and in my life. Plus, the name ties into my "fresh start" goal: joy.

"I do it for the joy it brings, cause I'm a joyful girl. 'Cause the world owes us nothing, we owe each other the world." -Ani Difranco, lyrics to Joyful Girl