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I don’t make New Year Resolutions.  Certainly not ones that have capital letters, anyway.

This year is different.   Things feel more pressing, there’s greater urgency, some always-important things mattering even more. They have an edge to them. They feel ‘life saving’.

For sure it’s the hysterectomy and having scans for possible bone cancer.  Turns out all that stuff is very (very) focusing. A definite rite of passage, a heat experience, a threshold, a crucible moment. It’s also because of the shocking events that happened in the wider world.

With all of that, without effort from me, some things have changed.  There are some deep internal shifts that need attention, and intention.

And these intentions – for the first time, I’m writing them down and making them public. Not to lock me in.  More about helping me keep them front-and-centre.  More in line with Rilke’s invitation for us to ‘live with the questions’:

‘Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.’

In line with experiments, stepping into new ways of being and doing as a practice. Being curious.  ‘What might happen when I …?’  Doing to learn.  Trying things on for size. Seeing what happens. Researching.

No glass slippers.  More about tightening up on some things and really loosening off on others.

So, in 2026, what happens when I …

1. Get super clear on what work really brings me alive, and do more of it. Life is too short to do work that doesn’t light me up in some way.
2. Have a stronger No. Including to work I don’t want to do. Care less about consequences and what people might think.
3. Do more of the work I am uniquely placed to do. And if not offered it, create it.
4. Move to the edge of the village.  What really matters in the third third of life?  Explore ageing, death and dying, elderhood and the shift towards Crone. 
5. Play with ‘working part time’.  Reduce how much I work – develop a pattern and rhythm that works better for me. Say:  I’m now working part time.
6. Soothe my nervous system and listen to what my body really needs.  Daily practices. Legs up the wall.  4-7-8 breathing. Humming.  Gentleness. Softness. Tenderness.  
7. Play with ‘doing nothing’ Hanging out.  Daydreaming.  Wasting time.  Getting bored. 
8. Spend time with nature and the more-than-human community.  Not in it.  With it. 
9.  Slow. The Fuck. Down.  Slower.  No, even slower.  Pause.  And pause again but for longer ….that’s it … better. 

 Let’s see 🙂

H x

More about me on my website, with a monthly Newsletter sign up here. You might like the look of my Acts of Love for Tough Times workshops (monthly, online, free) and The Love Lab with the next date of 24 April in London.