So the moon will be entering its latest new moon phase some point this weekend (either Saturday night, or Sunday night—depending on where you are in the world)—therefore it could either be the second new moon of April, or the May new moon. But before looking ahead to the Taurus new moon, I should look back at the goals I set for the Aries new moon and determine how much of each I’d managed to accomplish.

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

1. Making a 12-month plan. I know what I want to be focusing on in terms of my career transition (remote writing and/or freelance writing/copywriting), and I have my other focal points (personal development, health, and hobbies) to also focus on—now I just need to turn those points into a yearly plan, and then break it down to quarterly, and then weekly and daily goals.
2. Start with my intentional movement program (weight lifting four days a week, cardio once to twice a week, with a walk and possibly yoga or Pilates thrown in there as well).
3. Start having yogurt with fruits and nuts for breakfast again, and possibly have some more veggies throughout the week as well
4. Read a book on positive thinking, positive psychology, relaxation, or mindset
5. Continue to meditate nightly

So how did I do with each of them?

I will fully admit that I’ve fallen off the mediation wagon again. This is in large part due to not having a fully working daily schedule. I’m still in a tug-of-war with my inner critic/imposter syndrome throughout the day and week when it comes to getting things done in a timely manner. So at night, I feel like I need to possibly be writing in the journal instead of sitting quietly for a few minutes to end the day.

Aside from improving my mental health—the biggest tug-of-war has been trying to figure out what topics within the huge scientific, medical, and health fields to ‘niche’ down into for writing.

I realize part of my ‘fear’ is that I’ll get bored with the subjects—but I think I can keep that ‘fear’ at bay if I have say three subjects (or niches) that I’m exploring. I can explore them and have a ‘cycle’ in the writing, where one week is scientific (say cell cycle/signal transduction), next week is medical (signal transduction in cancer), and the third is health (microbiomes), and cycle that way.

I also haven’t really been eating yogurt with fruits and nuts for breakfast either—this is in part due to allergies (the thought of yogurt or something else ‘soft’ just doesn’t sit well with my stomach in the morning). But I do need to do better than a blueberry muffin or part of a piece of tiramisu.

But for the other goals I did a little better:

I did finish a couple of books on ‘positive’ thinking/mindset and they were:

1. The Finnish Way: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness through the Power of Sisu by Katja Pantzar
2. Lagom: Not too Little, Not too Much: The Swedish Art of Living a Balanced, Happy Life by Niki Brantmark

I’m realizing (slowly), that I’ve ‘outgrown’ certain aspects/views of life. I’m putting more thought into items that I buy (though as far as I’m concerned—you can’t have too many tarot/oracle card decks or books). I’m slowly developing my own vision of minimalism, and one aspect is to investigate my cultural heritage.

I had started my intuitive movement workout program this month—and realized one important thing—when it comes to starting to do bicep curls again, I have to stick with five-pound weights. The reason—I keep forgetting about my abnormal bone structure, and the past two times I’ve done these workouts (chest/triceps and then back/biceps), I’ve managed to put a little too much strain on the elbows.

So, when I start the calendar again—it will be five-pound weights for the curls (no matter how much I want to go up in weight), and possibly stick with the five and eight-pound weights for the different triceps exercises as well.

In terms of the 12-month plan, I have my ‘broad’ idea of what I would like to accomplish in terms of personal development (finances, continuous learning, and developing my ‘vision’ of minimalism), health/fitness, and hobbies. I have a ‘broad’ idea for my career and professional development (I just need to do more research into possible companies looking to hire remote writers).

I now need to break these broader ideas down into three, six, and nine month, and then ‘end-point’ (twelve-month) goals. I’d mentioned earlier—this is where I usually ‘fall’ off the planning stage. I usually get a little too ambitious on the goal setting and trying to get everything done at one. Breaking them down into ‘quarterly’ goals will also help me in creating a personal/professional development plan as well.

So, I guess I could say that I managed about half the goals (I drafted my 12-month plan—just need to flesh it out and turn it into a 12-month personal/professional development plan; I read two books on positive thinking/mindset, and ‘started’ an intentional movement schedule). I need to restart my meditation routine again, and work on having a more well balanced breakfast in the morning.

In addition—I need to sit down and write daily, whether it is a blog page/post (photography, throwback travel, or a science topic), working on one of the numerous in-depth science topics, or brainstorming ideas for short stories, blog posts, or just taking some time and journaling.

The main thing I have to remind myself—I don’t have to work on every project at once. I can have a list of ideas that are of interest to me, and I can bounce between them—the main thing is to sit and just start writing.

There hasn’t been much change to the level of insanity in the world, since I published the Aries New Moon goals earlier this month—but I will continue to send happy vibes, thoughts, and good feelings to the people of Ukraine who are managing to repel an invasion from their larger neighbor.

Happy, safe, loving, thoughts, vibes and prayers sent to everyone who is struggling.

How did you do with your Aries New Moon Goals?

Namaste…