Category: New Moon Goals

Aquarius Goals: Organization & Planning for the year(s) ahead

24
Jan
2023

So the moon has entered the Aquarius constellation over the weekend (Saturday night for those within the Central time zone in the US), and I’m several days late with the post. This is the first new moon of the year, and I can hope that things will start to mellow over the next few months…I’m not going to hold my breath though (I gave that up as a child—it never got me what I wanted)…

Is 2023 going to be better than the past few years? One can hope, there are so many problems going on in the world—that the only thing we can control is our responses…and I am working on better control of my emotions (especially when in stressful situations).

Looking at “Moonology: Working with the Magic of Lunar Cycles” by Yasmin Boland, there are again several things that one can do during this period:

  1. Detach ourselves from things that are no longer serving us
  2. Be true to ourselves
  3. Be inventive
  4. Be charitable
  5. Be social

So, I’m still somewhat semi self-isolating. I leave the house only a few times a week—and that is to go visit my mother (who is still in a hospital). I do try to meet up with a friend once a month for lunch (but haven’t gotten around to that so far in January). Other than those few times—I’ll walk at Boomer Lake (but I try to avoid sharing the sidewalks if possible).

I’m still working on trying to detach myself from negative self-talk and stories, diet culture and mentality, and various other aspects of society that just really do a number on my mental health.

Being true to myself, also requires quite a bit of work—mainly on figuring out who I am…I’ve realized that I spent a large number of years, burying parts of myself to blend into the surroundings/background and not call attention to myself…so at times it is hard to be true to myself, when I’m not sure who I am.

Aspects I’m working at being ‘true’ to—my spiritual health (I’m more Wicca/pagan than following a monotheistic religion), my career direction (freelance writing), mental health (dealing daily with burnout, anxiety, depression, stress, and a dollop of PTSD), and personal/professional development path(s).

I’m trying to be ‘inventive’ in those areas—foraging my own paths (while asking for advice when needed from people I trust and respect).

How do you go about trying not detach yourself from things that no longer serve you? How do you ensure that you’re being true to yourself?

Then I turn to see what zone (or house) the moon is moving into in regards to everything. Remember there are basically three ways to determine which house/zone the moon is in for any new/full moon: your star sign, your rising sign, and your moon sign. I usually go with my rising sign, which is Scorpio; while my star sign is Virgo, and my moon sign is Pieces. 

So this means that the moon is entering into my fourth house, or the home and family zone. So this can also be a time when one can spend cleaning (getting rid of things), possibly moving, and spending more time with family. So there are several suggestions from “Moonology” on what one can do during this time:

  1. Have a garage sale
  2. Hug your parents
  3. Sort out your photo albums/digital photo files
  4. Invite friends over
  5. Renovate or redecorate so you’re more comfortable at home
  6. Sell your home and/or change locations, or even countries
  7. Ask your grandparents about your family’s history

So, there are several things from the above list for my fourth house that I probably won’t be doing this year:

Well, if I feel like hugging my parents—it is fairly easy to hug my father, but hugging my mom is another issue (she’s in the hospital in an ICU unit).

Inviting friends over—hello, we’re still in the middle of a pandemic, and if I’m going to be meeting up with friends, I’d prefer a ‘neutral’ location that neither of us has to clean.

Both sets of grandparents are deceased, but we do have some family history from my father’s side (my grandfather started putting together a family tree), and I have a letter he wrote me back in the late 1990s that talked about life during the Depression, ‘Dirty Thirties’, and fighting in World War II.

I don’t think we’re going to be selling the house, and I currently don’t have plans for relocating anywhere (yet).

Things that might happen this year (not necessarily during the new moon):

Garage sale—there is a talk of doing a garage sale at some point this spring, to hopefully earn a little money back in terms of what we’re going to be having to put into the house to semi-remodel a bathroom (or two).

I’m in the process of rearranging my bedroom, and semi redecorating it—just need to finish organizing the desk area and closet.

I do need to sort through my digital pictures. I have way too many Gbs of pictures on my one external hard drive (and I haven’t downloaded the handful of pictures I’ve taken up at Boomer Lake this month).

I noticed that sorting digital pictures has been mentioned for a couple of years in a row—and I do sort through some and slowly get rid of them. My problem is that I take so many walks at Boomer Lake, I literally have probably four or five dozen folder of pictures from my walks up there and I have trouble deciding which pictures to keep and which ones to delete.

Since I’m a few days late in posting my goals for the Aquarius new moon, I’m going to keep the goal list fairly short:

  1. Continue working on my three-to-five/ten year vision/plan
  2. Continue going through my clothes and decide what I’m keeping and what can be either sold in a farage sale or donated
  3. Finish organizing the desk area of my room so that I can hopefully start working from said desk (at least two or three days a week).

Finding a new normal is one of the big goals for this year…but also remembering that it may be slow, winding, and at times possibly even backtracking slightly—but if I keep striving to making forward progress and focus on my strengths it will lead to this being a year of happiness and prosperity.

When doing long term planning–vision board, goal lists/to-do lists, or something else?

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Reflecting on 2022, planning for 2023: Sagittarius New Moon Goals

24
Nov
2022

So the moon entered the Sagittarius constellation yesterday, marking the eleventh new moon for 2022. That means there is a week left in November (today is Thanksgiving), and then it’s December…and then 2023.

The SARS-CoV2 virus isn’t going to be going away…it is here to stay (unfortunately)—but there are vaccines, and booster shots—so folks, go get your vaccine (or booster), try to continue practicing social distancing where you can—and wear a damn mask in the store, it’s also flu season.

So what are some of the things that one can do during the time of Sagittarius new moon?

Looking at the book “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland, you can:

  1. Get away–travel
  2. Study
  3. Search for meaning
  4. Laugh
  5. Be grateful

Well, I’m slowly starting to research/plan a trip for sometime in either mid-to-late 2023 or 2024. Since the SARS-CoV2 virus isn’t going away—I’ll just wear my mask when traveling…

In terms of ‘searching for meaning’—I’m viewing that as figuring out what I want to be doing with my life and where I would like to be in say fifteen to twenty years. This is a slow work in progress…hopefully making a little headway this coming week.

I’m starting to ‘study’ again—I have numerous different e-courses that I need to be working through. I just need to buy a couple of notebooks—I’m ‘old-fashion’ and I learn better when I actually writing things down.

With the moon entering into Sagittarius, this is also my second house or the “cash, property, and values” zone. I’m totally not in the holiday mood this year—I mean today is ‘turkey’ day, and then we’re just over a month from Christmas…and I’m in a totally bah-humbug type of mood currently.

This year has currently been a year of ‘whiplash’ with various things going on—and I’m heading back towards burnout. I’m realizing this and will be putting together a plan to hopefully stop the backwards slide in its ‘tracks’.

One thing I’m aiming for in 2023—starting to live a much more minimalistic life. I have three boxes of shirts (so far) that I need to donate, numerous DVDs to sell back, and crafts to create/gift/sell. Anyway, back to the second house—the cash, property, and value zone.

So some of the things that you can do during this time include (again, according to “Moonology: working with the magic of the lunar cycles”):

  1. Start a savings account
  2. Pay your bills, taxes, debt, etc
  3. Hire an accountant if it’s all too much
  4. Showcase your talents
  5. Get a neck and shoulder massage
  6. Invest in an expensive neck cream

My savings account is there—just not as ‘large’ as I would like (but hey—I’ve been on a reboot break for the past few years and surviving off of it), and I’m working on getting the bills/debt paid off. There is still no reason to hire an accountant—since I’m still currently unemployed.

In terms of ‘showcasing’ my talents—I’m in the process of starting the second blog/website (dedicated to science/medical/health education/communications), in addition to brainstorming ideas on how to showcase the various crafts that I’ve been working on as well.

  1. Develop a ‘fluid’ daily/weekly/monthly schedule for getting various things done
  2. Reflect on 2022 (to-date), and determine what went well, what didn’t go so well, and start planning for 2023 (and beyond)
  3. Put in the order for the numerous journals and notebooks needed for 2023
  4. Finish setting up the dedicated work station, craft station, and semi-dedicated meditation area in the bedroom

While I managed to accomplish numerous goals over the past few months—I also realize that my inner critic/imposter syndrome has also derailed me several times as well (not to mention life in general)…but I need to just keep reminding myself: ‘progress over perfection’. In addition to not taking to heart the negative opinions of others.

While 2022 hasn’t been going the way I wanted, hopefully the last week of November will be mellower than the previous months have been.

What are you doing to ensure that 2023 starts on the right foot?

No Comments Astrologybullet journalscareerfinancesfitnessHealthLifestyle Challengesmoney saving challengesNew Moon Goalsno spend challengesPersonal Developmentprofessional development

Scorpio Goals in Review: slow, steady, & continuous progress on all fronts

22
Nov
2022

So the moon is going to be transitioning through the Sagittarius constellation in a day or two—which means it’s time to look back at the goals that I set for the Scorpio new moon and to see how I did with each of them.

The goals that I had set for the Scorpio new moon included:

  1. Working on healing my relationship with food and movement. This includes having random dance parties in the living room on a 15-minute break between task, or getting out of the house with my dog for a quick 20-minute walk through the neighborhood.
  2. Work on getting the second website up and going (focusing on science/medical/health communications), in addition to also focusing on trying to get a remote communications position as well.
  3. Start working through various finance e-courses that I’ve bought over the years
  4. Continue to unplug at night (putting the computer to ‘sleep’ by 8pm)
  5. Continue figuring out my personal/professional brand

So how did I do with each of them?

Healing my relationship with food and movement:

Well, healing one’s relationship with food and movement is an ongoing process. Since colder weather is slowly settling in—I’m mixing up breakfast by also having oatmeal (with fruit) or waffles (not the healthiest—but hey, progress); and I’m thinking it could be more solo random dance parties in the living room this winter than walks…

I’ve always been more of a fair weather person—though I will go for nature walks in the winter with my camera (to try to get pictures the winter birds that are around), so I do find it difficult at times to get in a workout in the winter. Though there is always yard work that needs to be done—though we’re going to be leaving more of the leaves on the ground this year instead of mulching them (mainly because we’re in the middle of a drought—so currently no reason to try to put down grass or clover seeds).

I’m trying to find that ‘sweet point’ between not working out and overdoing the workout. I find I do sleep better after doing some type of workout—but if I overdo it, my sleep cycle is crap…so yeah—I’m still working on this as well…

Working on getting the second website up and going:

I’m still working on the second blog/website. For whatever reason—my inner critic/imposter syndrome has been derailing me (especially when it comes to writing the about me page)…but I managed to write my functional resume two weeks ago—so I’ll be using my professional summary as a jumping off point for the about me page.

Working through various finance e-courses:

I still need to start some of the finance courses that I’ve bought over the years—currently I’m focusing on the writing courses that I’ve bought.

‘Unplugging’ at night (by 8pm):

I’ve been fairly consistent at putting the computer to ‘sleep’ by 8pm—and usually it’s by 7 or 7:30pm. There may be one or two nights when I put it to ‘sleep’ past 8pm.

Figuring out my personal/professional brand:

In terms of the personal/professional brand—I’m still working on this as well.

I’ve been told that I shouldn’t be too much of a generalist, as I won’t get as much organic traffic to the blog(s), so I’m still working on figuring out both the ‘niche’ and the ‘generalized’ topic(s) that I want each blog to focus on. Then I need to work on posting to both sites (and other social sites) in a more consistent manner.

Then I will need to figure out my logo, fonts, colors, and all those other fun things.

The temperatures are bouncing all over the place—last week we were in the 30s, and this week we’re going to be in the 50s/60s—which means I can try to get outside to do something (aiming for at least a partial walk at Boomer Lake this week), without having to bundle up due to the weather.

I did okay with these open-ended goals…while I didn’t start a finance related e-course—I did start watching a business writing/editing one. Progress currently is coming down to trying to silence my inner critic/imposter syndrome daily so that I can get some work done.

There is less than 40 days now in 2022—which means I also need to start looking ahead to 2023 (and beyond) and figuring out the different personal/professional goals that I would like to accomplish over the next 365+ days.

Slow and steady wins more races than pushing to the point of burning out.

Curious question for the week—are you a fall or winter person?

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Scorpio New Moon Goals: emphasis on personal/professional development

25
Oct
2022

So the moon is going to be transitioning through it’s new phase tonight, and moving through the Scorpio constellation. It was also a partial eclipse today as well. That means there are only six days left in October, and then sixty-one days left in 2022.

Looking back at what I wrote the past two years for the Scorpio new moon (in terms of SARS-CoV2 cases):

2020—the world had over 54 million cases, the US was topping 11 million, and there were over 1.3 million dead.

2021—the world had almost 248.5 million cases, the US was almost at 47 million cases, and there were over 5 million dead.

2022—the world has almost 632.8 million cases, the US has over 99 million cases, and there are over 6.5 million dead.

I don’t know if we’re ever really going to be out of the pandemic/epidemic roller-coaster for this virus—but that is a post in and of itself.

So, what can one do during the Scorpio new moon? Well according to ‘Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles’ by Yasmin Boland, you can:

  1. Get sexy
  2. Invest wisely
  3. Make inner peace
  4. B-r-e-a-t-h-e
  5. Drop grudges

In terms of the above items—the only one that I’m uncomfortable trying to do—is the first. Though, it can also refer to doing something to boost your self-confidence—which is how I’m going to be looking at it.

This moon is also moving through my first house or my image zone (how one presents themselves to the world). While the Aries new moon is the start of the zodiac calendar—when the new moon passes through your first house, it can also seem as the start of a “new year” (we can have a “new start” twice a year if necessary).

So what are some things that one can do in reference to their first house during this time? They can:

  1. Surprise friends with the ‘new you’
  2. Throw out all your old make-up and start again
  3. Get married or meet someone new
  4. Good time to move
  5. Splurge on something in a vibrant color
  6. Have a facial
  7. Get your sight checked

Looking at the above list—there are a few things that can still be automatically crossed off—throwing out make-up (currently I don’t wear any make-up, since I really haven’t left the house in like two years, and currently all the chats I’ve been doing have been virtual); getting married or meeting someone new (with the various things that are going on right now—literally don’t have the time for this); getting a facial (can do it at home for a fraction of the cost); and moving (on-hold for quite awhile currently).

I’d love to surprise people with the ‘new me’—I just have to figure out who she is—though I know this can be a simple as getting a new hairstyle.

So what are the two to five things I’m going to try to focus on for the Scorpio New Moon? Well, they are:

  1. Working on healing my relationship with food and movement. This includes having random dance parties in the living room on a 15-minute break between task, or getting out of the house with my dog for a quick 20-minute walk through the neighborhood
  2. Work on getting the second website up and going (focusing on science/medical/health communications), in addition to also focusing on trying to get a remote communications position as well
  3. Start working through various finance e-courses that I’ve bought over the years
  4. Continue to unplug at night (putting the computer to ‘sleep’ by 8pm)
  5. Continue figuring out my personal/professional brand

All in all—focus on progress and not perfection. All of the goals are ‘open-ended’—including the e-course goal (mainly because I’ve forgotten the exact number of finance related courses I’ve bought over the past three or four years).

That means—even if I only manage a few days (or even a just a week) focusing on each one—that is progress, baby steps forward is progress—and that is what I’m aiming for—the slow steady progress that would result in finishing a marathon.

Though there are some that are more ‘internal’ work than other–such as figuring out the personal/professional brand, and healing my relationship with food and movement.

But we’re also getting into cooler weather–which means hot chocolate, apple pies, apple cider, and all things fall. This is one of my favorite seasons–if we could just somehow take the cooler temps of spring and fall and meld them with the longer days of summer I’d be extremely happy.

Curious to know: what is one of your favorite things about fall?

No Comments AstrologyfinancesfitnessHealthLifestyle Challengesmoney saving challengesNew Moon Goalsno spend challengesPersonal DevelopmentPersonal Development Challengesprofessional developmentReflections

Progress…Not Perfection: Review of Libra New Moon Goals

24
Oct
2022

So we’re heading towards the next new moon—which means there is a week left in October, and then only sixty-one days left in 2022. The end of this year is going to be turbid, up-and-down, and I just need to figure out the time blocks that will work best for research/note-taking, writing/editing, reading, crafts, and everything else in life.

But before I fall down that rabbit-hole, I should look back at the goals I set for the Libra new moon and see how I did with each of them—before looking ahead to the Scorpio New Moon.

So what were the goals that I set for the Libra new moon? Well, they included:

  1. Unplug at night
  2. Continue working at both regaining my identity and developing my personal/professional brand
  3. Facing a fear–specifically work at getting my freelance/remote/contract science/medical/health communications/consulting business up and running

So how did I do with each of them?

Unplug at night:

I managed to do this one fairly consistently. There were some nights that I didn’t ‘unplug’ right at eight, and then there were other nights that I unplugged earlier than eight.

I actually started a new cross-stitch project a couple of weeks ago–and when I unplug at night, this is what I’ve been working on:

Latest cross-stitch project

The cross-stitch project is turning out to be an abstract microbiology project…or just a bunch of shapes. Should hopefully have it finished in a couple of weeks.

Regaining my identity and developing my personal/professional brand:

This dual ‘project’ is still in the early ‘stages’.

I know who I’m ‘not’—I not the bench scientist anymore, I’m not the person counting calories, containers, or the person who’d mentally beat herself up if she didn’t push play on a workout.

I’m a science/medical/health communicator who is still looking for her group of people.

I’m that multipotentialite individual that needs to have at least two projects going to be happy—but at the same time I’m that anxious individual who is worried that she isn’t giving full attention to anyone project.

I’m working on giving myself grace and catching the negative stories that I tell myself—and also reminding myself that life currently is going every which way—so it’s perfectly fine that I’m not getting in a huge workout—if I can manage at least 4k steps a day—I’ll be happy.

So–yeah, now it is a matter of still trying to define my ‘brand’ and then merge everything into something ‘cohesive’.

Facing a fear:

Fear: getting my freelance science/medical/health communications/consulting business up and running.

Status: Ongoing.

I’m still working on getting the website up and functioning (it is ‘live’—just currently as a skeleton website). I’m figuring out the direction of possibly niching (cancer biology) in terms of the portfolio, while contemplating keeping the ‘blog’ portion more eclectic (different science/medical/health topics).

I’m also working on the always dreaded editorial calendar for both blogs and LinkedIn (because that is part of my online portfolio after all)—which would mean actually looking at something other than my to-do list—as I told someone the other day, I’m more of a paper and pen kind of person in terms of organization—I can use the computer versions—I just don’t like them.

So, all in all it was a good Libra ‘season’—all of the goals were ‘open-ended’, and all were focused on during the past few weeks. While it is nice at times having a cut and dry goal (something that can easily be stamped as ‘finished’)—having the open-ended goals also give you that daily sense of accomplishment and knowing that you’re slowly turning things into a habit (like unplugging from the computer at night).

Therefore—there has been ‘progress over perfection’. Could I have gotten more accomplished? Probably—but I’m granting myself grace and acceptance with acknowledging my inner critic/imposter syndrome did come out to play for awhile this past month—but I’m slowly making that forward progress.

These goals aren’t just going to be fading away—while they may not be ‘front-and-center’ as we move into the next new moon—they’ll still be around.

One big goal for the last two months—getting the website up and running, and hopefully landing either that remote communications position or possibly my first one or two freelance clients.

How are you moving towards accomplishing that one really large ‘fearful’ goal?

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Reflections: Personal/Professional at the heart of Libra New Moon Goals

25
Sep
2022

So we’re going to be entering the next new moon phase tonight—which means there are five days left in September, and then ninety-two days left in 2022 (as of the upcoming Saturday). I’m hoping that the last quarter of 2022 goes smoothly—though I also know not to hold my breath on the turbidity of the upcoming weeks and months.

With the moon moving through the Libra constellation over the next day or two, there are various things that we can look at or work on over the next few weeks and they include:

  1. Look at how you’re relating to other people (are you helping more than asking).
  2. Look into your partnerships (any issues that need addressing?)
  3. Negotiate–try to bring things into balance if needed
  4. Look gorgeous–work on improving your self-image and self-love
  5. Regain your identity–figure out how to resolve any unhealthy co-dependency issues if needed.

This is how I’m viewing the above ‘tasks’:

  1. I’m trying to help/give value more than asking for help (especially on LinkedIn)—though there is also a time when we all need help, and should ask for it. I’m still in the mindset of semi self-isolation (the SARS-CoV2 virus is still around), therefore I’m really not around that many people (though that has changed a little over the past few months due to the ongoing family medical issue).
  2. Well, I’m not in a relationship with anyone right now. In terms of family ‘partnerships’, I’d say that everything is about as ‘normal’ as they would be within the family
  3. I can’t think of things with other people that need negotiating—I know that I probably need to negotiate quite a bit with myself
  4. I’m slowly working on improving my self-care/self-love routines, plus how I see myself (self-image).
  5. I’m also slowly working on trying to regain my identity—mainly from the negative thought patterns surrounding body image and my writing ability

The Libra new moon is also moving through my 12th house—or my secret zone. This is the time/house when you really just want to retreat from the world and work things out for a while. In terms of self-care/self-love what are some of the things you could focus on during this time?

They include:

  1. Practice yoga
  2. Take a break from social media and/or numerous social obligations
  3. Start a dream journal
  4. Face one big fear
  5. Trust your intuition
  6. Buy a meditation CD and use it every day for a month
  7. Write poetry from the heart
  8. Share one of your secrets

So once again, this new moon is urging me to focus on finding a balance (or harmony) between social obligations and self-care/self-love. Since I’m still semi self-isolate, this will probably be fairly easy to handle. While I might have a monthly lunch meet-up with a friend, every other ‘obligation’ is usually via zoom or Google chat—and most of those are only for like a half-hour or so, the ones that are longer, are social chats.

I’m going to try to get back into a yoga routine–but I’m not going to add it to the goal list, as I’m wanting to try to keep it ‘short’–as the items on the list aren’t exactly ‘easy’ to accomplish.

The goals for the Libra New Moon include:

Unplugging at night (and possibly throughout the day):

This will help with time/project management. If I’m off the computer after a certain period (say 8pm)—I can either read (try to get back to reading nonfiction), or working on craft projects (cross-stitching or possibly creating some jewelry; or even doodling). Unplugging at night would also encourage me to reflect on the day, what I got accomplished and what I would like to try to get accomplished the next day.

Work at regaining my identity and developing my personal/professional brand:

While I’m working at resolving the unhealthy diet mindset that I held on to for too many years, I’ve also realized that I need to resolve how I see myself professionally (if I’m no longer a scientist at the bench—who am I?).

Facing a fear: getting the freelancing/consulting/remote business up and running

The savings account has pretty well dwindled down to almost nothing—so unless I want to be stuck at the bench—I need to get this ‘dream’ up and running. It is something that I have in my ‘risk and die’ zones on my comfort diagram—I figured it is risky trying to set up a part-time business, and an anxiety inducing dilemma trying to set up a full-time business. I’m going to try—the worse that comes of it, I keep it part-time, the best that can come of it—I manage to double (if not triple) what I was earning in academia within the first year of doing freelance writing.

The motto for the last quarter of the year is going to be ‘progress over perfection’. I know that the last quarter of 2022 isn’t going to be an easy one—therefore, I need to make sure that I’m unplugging often enough that I can reflect on the day and/or week and readjust the upcoming schedule as needed.

What is something you’ve always wanted to try to do, but haven’t done yet?

No Comments AstrologycareerfinancesfitnessHealthLifestyle Challengesmoney saving challengesNew Moon Goalsno spend challengesPersonal Developmentprofessional development

Virgo Season: Time to start planning the goals

28
Aug
2022

So, we’re going to be heading into another ‘new moon’ phase this weekend (and I’m probably going to be a day late in posting).

We’re entering Virgo season…I should be counting down the days until my birthday—but I’m not (and that’s another story for another day)…

So what are some of the things that one can do during the Virgo new moon?

  1. Take an inventory of your life. Figure out what is working and what isn’t and then figure out what needs to change for the things that aren’t working.
  2. Be of service—help out more at work (if able), do the little things that can help make someone else’s day a little more bearable.
  3. Be healthy—see what is and isn’t working in your health and fitness routines and then figure out what to fix—what new habits to start working on.
  4. Avoid nitpicking—this is where the motto “progress over perfection” really comes into play
  5. Get organized—pay bills, figure out the monthly schedule (workout, eating, so forth)—things that can make life a little more bearable going forward

While most would think that the new moon would be moving through my first house (since my star sign is Virgo), it actually moving through my 11th house (or friends’ zone), since I’ve been going with my rising sign (which is Scorpio).

Looking back at what I wrote over the past two years—my ‘new normal’ is still social distancing (with a some exceptions), wearing a mask, and really just being considerate of others…

Some of the things one can do in regards to their 11th house include:

  1. Sign up for an evening class in something you’ve always wanted to do
  2. Ask your friends to introduce to friends of theirs you’ve never met
  3. Wish on a star every night for a month
  4. Introduce a childhood pal to a friend from your life now
  5. Say ‘Hi’ to someone you see nearly every day but never talk to
  6. Thank your best friend for being there for you

Well, besides the fact that we’re still in the middle of a pandemic/epidemic—I’m not getting out that much still. Therefore, there are still several things that I probably won’t be doing in regards to my 11th house.

I’d say that there are probably only two things that I could do in regards to my 11th house: wish on a star every night for a month, or thank my best friend for being around still. I am starting to do more virtual ‘coffee/water’ chats as well.

I had lunch with a college classmate a few weeks ago, and may try to get together again sometime in September (but it depends on a whole slew of other things).

So, since I’m still in semi self-isolation, my goals for the Virgo New Moon period will include:

  1. Take inventory of various aspects of life (research/writing/editing, crafts/hobbies, fitness, and mental health/spirituality) and try to develop a working schedule that will allow me be both productive, but at the same time enjoying time outside as well.
  2. Continue with daily workouts (alternate between weight lifting and shadow-boxing).
  3. In combination with #1—organize the schedule, and block out periods of time (or set certain days to certain tasks) and see if that helps improve my productivity
  4. Work on the outlines/drafts for the following items:
    •  My LinkedIn oncology post series
    • The follow-up(s) to my LinkedIn molecular cloning series: Introduction to biofuels, Introduction to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), and Introduction to vaccine development
    • Digestion, absorption of nutrients, and the nucleic acid biosynthesis pathways
    • Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells: Similarities and Differences
    • Antibiotics and the rise of Antibiotic Resistant Microbes
  5. Continue with the evening meditations

Since the next few months are going to be extremely crazy (and that’s putting things nicely)…my motto is going to be ‘progress over perfection’…which means I need to spend a little time each week working on my other blog, doing research and starting to write on various topics (see fourth goal above).  I also am not going to let the opinions of others deter me from the path that I’m starting on, as I know it will be a windy and bumpy road.

How do you handle things when everything seems to be going to hell?

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Review of Leo New Moon Goals: Progress on time/project management goals

27
Aug
2022

So the moon is going to be making its transition into the Virgo constellation over the next day or so—which will mark the eighth new moon of the year. But before I can look ahead to the Virgo new moon, I should look back at the goals I set for the Leo new moon and see how I did with each of them.

August isn’t panning out to be the greatest month (more about next week in my ‘August in Review’ post), but I’ll be completely honest in saying that it will be a ‘miracle’ if I actually managed to get all the goals accomplished for the Leo new moon.

So what were my goals for the Leo new moon? They included:

  1. Continue developing my self-care/self-love routine. This includes: meditation, time outdoors, journaling, stretching, and getting back inot weight training
  2. Create an editorial calendar for the blog and possibly even LinkedIn to help streamline projects and have an idea of waht I’m talking about on different platforms
  3. Create my August BINGO card for goals
  4. Continue working on filling out the job search spreadsheet

So how did I do with each of them?

Self-care/Self-love:

Developing a self-care routine will always be an ongoing process. I’ve gotten better at evening meditations, and temps are starting to cool off—so it’s not that bad sitting outside for a while in the afternoon/evenings.

I do journal daily…even if it’s just a few brief notes about how the day went. Still trying to figure out the best timing for getting back into weight training.

Editorial calendars:

I created an editorial calendar for both the original blog and LinkedIn…but then life happened (more on that next week)…and I haven’t been posting (or even writing) as much as I originally planned.

August BINGO card:

I created an August BINGO card…I may not get a ‘BINGO’…but there are several goals that will be getting the stamp of completed…

August BINGO Card

Job Search:

I haven’t even really looked at my job search spreadsheet this month (again—August hasn’t turned out the way I was planning it).

I would say that I managed probably about half to two-thirds of the goals for the Leo new moon. I’m currently striving for just a little forward progress each day, knowing that it can be considered compound progress when I look back at what I’d been trying to accomplish.

Did I put my head in the sand this past month…no—and it wasn’t for lack of wanting, but because I needed to be the adult.

We’re going to be heading into the Virgo new moon—which is my star sign (rising is Scorpio, and moon is Pisces)…so maybe things will be going a little better as I move closer to my birthday…

How did you do in terms of reaching your Leo goals?

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Leo goals: organization, goal-setting, self-care, in addition to reading & writing

28
Jul
2022

Looking at past posts—I didn’t set any goals during the Leo new moon in 2020 (not surprising considering we were still in the beginning stages of the pandemic), and I did set some goals last year. The moon will be moving through the Leo constellation either tonight (or possibly last night-depending on where you are in the world), marking the seventh new moon. There are also only 156 days left in 2022…that means I really need to focus on certain goals…

But, what are some of things that one can do during the Leo New Moon? If we look to ‘Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles’ by Yasmin Boland—we’ll find suggestions such as:

  1. Show off–celebrate life.
  2. Flirt
  3. Be creative
  4. Love thyself–self-love, work on confidence, and leadership goals
  5. Spoil thyself

So there are two things I won’t be doing (mainly because we’re still within the pandemic, and I’m trying to figure out my life)—and those are showing off and flirting.

I will work on self-love, my confidence, and leadership skills while being creative and spoiling myself (within reason).

Working on my confidence may be as easy as publishing more on LinkedIn (posts/articles), or even trying to do a video introduction to the Facebook page for the blog/website or something like that.

These are all good for being within the Leo constellation, but one should also look to see what house/zone the moon & Leo are progressing through as well. For me, that means that Leo is going through my 10th house, or my career zone. This is about my career & reputation (professional brand).

So what are some of the things that one can do during this time in regards to the career zone? They include:

  1. Speak to your boss about how you’re doing
  2. Help a colleague out of a rut
  3. Check that you’re not become status mad
  4. Start a new business as close to the new moon as you can
  5. Apply for new jobs with confidence
  6. When you’re earned it, take the credit
  7. Plan your next best career move

So, we get to focus on our career zone twice a year (whenever the moon moves through our tenth house—which it does twice—new and full moon). This is fitting that the Leo new moon is happening right now, though since I’ve been on a reboot/career break fro the past two years there is one thing that I really can’t do, and that is speaking to my boss about how I’m doing (unless I want to talk to myself), I can try to help ‘colleagues’ out of ruts—as anyone who is job-searching is truthfully a colleague.

Plot my best career move—I’m looking for remote positions within science/medical/health communications (writing or marketing), while also being open to remote data analyst positions (that don’t require a vast knowledge of coding).

New business—I’m working on updating the blog/website (will probably be changing the url within a few weeks) to showcase both my creative and analytical sides. Having a freelance business up and running full time—is my long-term goal.

Apply for jobs with confidence—I’m slowly getting there. I almost have my LinkedIn profile optimized for writing (or data analysis), and I’m working on that ever-dreaded resume. In addition, I’ve been slowly working on creating a portfolio—I have a decent chunk of the molecular cloning project written up, and have outlines for two other ‘basic’ science series almost fleshed up, in addition to working on an outline for several oncology topics.

The writing won’t be the only part of the ‘new business’; I’m also going to do some crafts, photography, and other things as well. The look and organization of the blog therefore change over the coming months.

So looking at these two lists, my goals for the Leo New Moon will include the following:

  1. Continue developing my self-care/self-love routine. This will include meditation time, time outdoors, journaling, stretching, and getting back into weight traning.
  2. Create an editorial calendar for the blog and possibly even LinkedIn to help streamline projects and have an idea of waht I’m talking about different platforms. Also should think of creating an editorial calendar for Instagram as well. In addition to finish editing some pages on the blog.
  3. Create my August BINGO card for goals
  4. Continue working on filling out the job search spreadsheet.

Above all else: progress over perfection, and remembering the following words: growth, creativity, and curiosity.

So what is one of your Leo goals?

Namaste.

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Progress made in reading, & meditation/spirituality: Cancer Goals Reviewed

27
Jul
2022

So the moon will be transitioning through the Leo constellation later this week, which means that I should look back at the goals I had set for the Cancer new moon and see how I did with each of them.

So what were the goals that I had set for the Cancer new moon? They included:

  1. ‘Exploring the world’—by researching various countries that I had listed within my initial 90-day content creation/research challenge.
  2. Reading—finishing the following books: ‘UNLIKE A BOSS: Positive Leadership Skills You Wish Your Manager Had’ by Alexander Andrews; ‘A Short History of Humanity: A New History of Old Europe’ by Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe; and ‘Dinosaurs Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution in Paleontology’ by Michael J. Benton.
  3. Starting and finishing (hopefully) at least two e-courses
  4. Doing an evening oracle card drawing and getting back into a meditation routine
  5. Being a little more active on LinkedIn (setting up virtual coffee/water chats).

So how did I do with each of them?

‘Exploring the world’:

Well in terms of ‘exploring the world’—I’ve initially only done research on one country (Azerbaijan). I’d ‘paused’ the content creation/research challenge as time was getting away from me…and I started to feel overwhelmed.

I’m still continuing with the project—but I’m going to try to be a little ‘clearer’ on what I’m researching in terms of each topic/subject.

Reading:

I finished two of the three books:

  1. UNLIKE A BOSS: Positive Leadership Skills You Wish Your Manager Had by Alexander Andrews
  2. Dinosaurs Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution in Paleontology by Michael J. Benton

In terms of e-courses:

I’ve worked through all the modules for the Medical Writers Organization, but still need to finish up the writing and editing assignments (so I’m basically about 80% done with the program).

I did watch a short course on Skill Share in regards to Instagram and how to build a community/following there.

It was a decent short course (I think it was only forty minutes), and touched on different things (such as shout-outs, posting consistently, and building a community).

I’m not as active on Instagram as I would like, and realized that I need to develop an editorial calendar or at least a list of things that I’d like to post about on the site—especially since we can post from the computer and not just the cell phone.

I also started two other courses, one on podcasting—which finishing it up is currently on hold only because I need to try to download a voice-recording app on the laptop to start playing around with; and the second course is on creating an online course and other materials.

That is something that I’d like to really do—but I also need to look into all the legalities of using published figures from research papers in the courses. Basically—I need to have a list of papers that I’d want to use, email the publisher of the journal(s) and inquire if I could use the figures in online courses. They’ll either say no, or possibly require a percentage of the sales (only way to find out is to draft a proposal and see what happens).

In terms of spirituality:

I have managed to do a evening oracle drawing (helps when I’ve put it on the monthly BINGO card), and have managed to meditate nightly for the past month. Besides using a guided visual meditation that I was sent, I also found Soothing Pod meditations, which I’ve been using for the past two weeks or so.

In terms of LinkedIn:

During the month of July, I managed to set up at least one coffee/water chat each week with someone ‘new’, and have also set up a biweekly accountability chat with a friend. It’s been through that accountability chat, that I’ve realized that I’ve been letting my inner critic/imposter syndrome take the wheel from time to time (or a lot more often than I realize). I have also made it a goal to try to schedule at least ten virtual water/coffee chats for the month of August—and so far I’ve schedule two…that means I have a couple more days to try to get the other eight (if not more) scheduled.

So, I made some decent progress—especially in terms of nonfiction reading. The content creation has fallen to the side a little—but only because I was overthinking things (as usual). While the one course I had watched wasn’t on the initial list of courses—it was one that I had saved, so it still counts.

I’ve realized that my ‘roadblocks’ again are coming from myself…I’m letting my inner critic/imposter syndrome pull me away from things that I need to be focused on to move everything forward.

It’s time to figure out what the ‘scary’ weekly/daily goals are—and get those done first. It may be writing/research (finding the three or four reviews on the particular oncology topic), or it could be posting on LinkedIn that I’ve set up a calendly account to make it easier to schedule 30-45 minute virtual chats.

Whatever the ‘top’ one or two scary items are—those are the ones that I need to get done first.

So, I’m curious—how do you decide which of your ‘scary’ goals to tackle each week?

Namaste

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