Tag: career

Peaking around the corner at 2023: Gemini Full Moon Goals

09
Dec
2022

So, we’re entered the full moon for December on the 7th, and I’m a couple days late in posting…This means that there are now only twenty-two days left in 2022. I have no idea how I feel about that fact, nor do I have any idea how I feel about 2023…other than hoping it goes (or at least ends) a little better than this year is going to be ending.

As I’ve been reflecting back on the past several years—there may be a ‘economic gap’ on my resume—it isn’t a ‘experience gap’—I have added in the science/medical/health content creation, blogger, and writer to my resume (and acknowledged the creative blog as well).

Before I get carried away in the direction of reflections and what I may or may not have accomplished this year (that will be the topic for at least one or two posts at the beginning of the year)—back to the topic at hand: December’s full moon.

Wednesday, the moon moved through the Gemini constellation, and there are questions that one can contemplate during the days surrounding that transition. If one looks at “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland, those five questions are:

Have I been gossipy, superficial, or flighty this month?

Have I been glossing over other people’s feelings?

Have I been too quick to change my mind, or too restless?

Have I been too much of a silver-tongued hustler?

Have I done enough reading to keep expanding my mind?

If I were to number the above questions one-to-five, my answers would be as follows:

  1. Well, I’m still self-isolating for the most part—so I don’t think I’ve been gossipy or superficial this month. Flighty…yeah, I’ve been a little flighty this month, but considering the ongoing family medical drama (that is still ongoing and acting like a roller coaster)…not surprising that I’m a little flighty.
  2. I don’t think I’ve been glossing over people’s feelings either this month.
  3. This depends on what we’re talking about—I haven’t changed my mind in terms of pivoting into remote/online/contract writing and/or data analysis position and trying to start my own freelance company. Being restless—maybe a little, but hey—dealing with a family medical issue (which has entered month four), the damn SARS-CoV2 virus is here to stay, and I’m not sure which way is up anymore.
  4. Nope.
  5. Working on this—I’ve realized this year that I go through cycles when it comes to reading non-fiction. I have enough non-fiction books that I really shouldn’t buy any new ones next year—or at least make sure that I’ve read at least three books for every book I think of buying.

So I’m also going to see what house the moon will be transition through during this time. Using my rising sign (which is Scorpio), the Gemini constellation is moving through my eighth house—the focus of this house on “death and rebirth, reinvention and transformation”.

Thanks to the SARS-CoV2 virus, I’ve spent majority of the past three years doing serious self-reflection and personal/professional development. I’ve decided the direction I want to head in for my career transition—remote science/medical/health communications, with the long-term goal of having a successful freelance business within both that realm and creative/hobby side as well. Therefore, I have allowed the ‘bench lab scientist’ to ‘die’ and I’m going to be reinventing myself in 2023 as a successful science/medical/health communicator.

So this is the time to try to find balance between slowing down, rushing to learn things, being real with people, money, and determining one’s self worth.

Therefore my small goal list for the last few weeks of 2022 (and the first few weeks of 2023), will include:         

  1. Setting up my master 2023 habit-tracking journal. I had fairly good success with the 2022 master habit-tracking journal (just had to remember to take time towards the end of each month to finish setting up the next month—especially towards the end of the year)
  2. Continue reading one of the many non-fiction books that I’d started during the last half of 2022
  3. Finish getting the second website/blog up and running, as it will be one of the major parts of my online portfolio for science/medical/health communications
  4. Get the ‘writing/working’ station setup in the bedroom…aka rearrange the room
  5. Figure out an schedule/calendar for various sites (LinkedIn, the creative blog/website, and the science/medical/health website), plus figure out the other social media sites that I want to use to promote both blogs

But above all, remind myself—that I’m making progress and that is what I should be striving for: progress over perfection, the ‘okay’ draft over the ‘polished/perfect’ never published draft.

Here is to the last full moon of 2022, and sending out happy thoughts and vibes to everyone, and fingers crossed that going into 2023 and beyond—things calm down, and we all figure out what our individual (and global) new ‘normal’ looks like.

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Anxiety strikes again…but managed to edge into the stretch zone: Gemini Goals in Review

27
Jun
2022

The moon will be transitioning through the Cancer constellation tomorrow (or maybe tonight—depending on where you are in the world), which means its time to look back at the goals I set for the Gemini new moon and see how I did with each of them.

So, what were my Gemini New Moon goals? They included:

  1. The creation of a multi-prong personal/professional development plans (including health/fitness, finances, spirituality, career, and hobbies/crafts), as I’m confident in the direction I want to pivot in, and I’m not getting any younger. This will also tie in with my personal/professional development game (creating different types of content based on the ‘square’ I landed on).
  2. Continue with my daily intentional movements and nightly meditations/sitting quietly moments.
  3. Start getting out of my comfort zone and interacting more on different sites (LinkedIn for example). I’m great at ‘lurking’, but need to start trying to interact and comment on what others post; and possibly start trying to do more ‘zoom coffee chats’
  4. As always—reading, reading, and more reading.

So how did I do with each of them?

In terms of the personal/professional development plan:

I started creating my multi-prong personal/professional development plan…and had an anxiety attack.

A day or so later, I realized what I did ‘wrong’—I basically was throwing everything down onto paper (again)…

So how am I getting around that problem (of throwing everything onto paper)?

I’m making a list of goals (initially without dates attached), and then will be breaking those down into action items or smaller goals…I know everyone states you need to have a ‘deadline’ in order to meet the goal—well when I try to set a deadline…it gives me anxiety (because I either set it too soon or so far into the future that I forget about it).

In terms of daily intentional movement and nightly mediations/sitting quietly moments

Summer is here…and I’m sure you’re rolling your eyes and saying…’Uh, yeah it’s June’…well—it also means that I’m indoors more often than not these days due to high temperatures and moderate humidity (which makes it even hotter)…

Therefore, my intentional movements/exercise routines have been somewhat nonexistent lately…Still trying to help the other two dogs develop a ‘normal’ routine after we lost Rolex last month, which means that it is difficult to do a workout in the bedroom, when there is a 100 pound dog sprawled on the floor.

I need to get back to trying to sit quietly in the evenings…the past few days I haven’t mainly because I’ve been in a really irritable mood…

In terms of getting out of my comfort zone:

I am slowly getting out of my comfort zone and interacting more on LinkedIn…I’ve been participating in different social Saturday threads, and growing my network. I’ve been posting daily (usually trying to post three-to-four times a day), and interacting with other people’s posts.

One thing I’m still working on—is setting up more ‘coffee/water’ Zoom or Google chats.

In terms of reading:

Reading is never a ‘problem’—except when it comes to reading non-fiction. While I have a ‘huge’ to-be read digital pile of nonfiction books, and I fully admit to bouncing between books (fiction and nonfiction)—some are easier to read than others…

The ones I find easiest to read: are on topics I find of interest (anthropology, archaeology, paleontology, and so forth), ones that aren’t ‘badgering’ or ‘harping’ on things that you ‘have to change’ to be successful, and ones that are written in a more conversational manner.

Does this mean I’ve bought books I might not finish reading…. yep, though I may try to finish them—it may just take several months (if not years) to get through them.

Take home message: read what you enjoy, and when reading for personal/professional development—don’t be hard on yourself if it takes longer to read one of those books than it does to read a fiction book.

So, I managed to meet probably about seventy percent of my goals (reading, interacting more on LinkedIn, sitting quietly, and starting the personal/professional development plan).

Have things been perfect? Nope…not even close, the anxiety levels have been hovering around a EF2 level (tornado level 2) while at times peaking at a EF5 level (which was last Friday).

I’m trying to get better at controlling how I react to situations…such as Friday when the supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade allowing states to decide on whether or not abortion is legal—which FYI: it’s the woman’s choice (and it isn’t an ‘easy’ choice for anyone to make)…abortion care = women’s health care =basic human rights. But that is a rant for another day…

Tomorrow is another new moon—which means another chance to look at an area of life and try to set some goals, and also realize that it’s time to figure out how to become a little more active in politics (without actually running for office)…

Namaste…

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Time to make plans, read, and write: Taurus New Moon Goals

30
Apr
2022

So the moon is going to be transitioning through the Taurus constellation this weekend (either tonight or tomorrow night—depending on where you are in the world), bringing us our fifth new moon of the year, and either the second new moon of April or the May new moon. We will more or less be a third of the way through 2022. It seems each year, the ‘roller coaster’ ride of life is getting a little more ‘insane’—I’m personally ready for things to settle down, but I’m pretty sure that it won’t be happening anytime soon.

Looking back over the past year or two—I didn’t set any goals for the Taurus new moon during 2020 (I was in an angry haze due to the pandemic and the anti-science/vaccine movements), and I set them last year (when I had my hopes that everything was turning around).

Are things turning around? In terms of the pandemic—slightly, there are vaccines but there are also new variants that may be able to escape the immune system. So, I’m afraid that we’re going to be living in a world where one will have to make the decision on whether or not traveling; working in an office, and so forth is worth the risk (however slight) of contracting the virus.

Looking to the book ‘Moonology’, there are several things that one can focus on during the Taurus new moon, and they include:

  1. Make a financial plan
  2. Love yourself (i.e. Make a list of your values and ask yourself if you’re living your life in a way that allows you to honor those values. If the answer is no–figure out a new plan to allow yourself to honor those values)
  3. Be sensual (i.e. Ask yourself ‘What would/could make my life better?’)
  4. Character check (Ask yourself–Am I being too stubborn or too lazy?)
  5. Persevere–remember that there is more to life than racing ahead, there is also the journey that should be enjoyed as well (or as much as possible). Slow and steady will win the day.

In addition, the new moon in Taurus is also moving through my seventh house, or my “love zone”. This zone can also be referred to as the relationship zone as well. So what are some of the things that one can do during this time in regards to the seventh house?

  1. Go through old love letters and get rid of at least some of them
  2. If you’re single and feeling brave, try online dating
  3. Ask your parents about their ideas on how to make love (aka a relationship) work
  4. Recommit to your partner
  5. If you hurt a past lover, admit you were wrong and apologize to them
  6. Make a list of the qualities you look for in a partner

Since we’re still in a pandemic (I don’t care of states and countries are opening back up, when there are still over half a million (plus) new cases worldwide a day—it’s still a pandemic), I’m going to focus more on the financial/personal development aspects of things. While most would say it isn’t good to totally ignore the current house—I’m not ignoring it per say—I’m just not putting all my focus on it.

I like what I wrote last year, and therefore am going to ‘recycle’ it:

Yes—there is online dating, but that isn’t something I want to be focusing on right now, instead I’m going to focus on improving myself and then worry about possible dating issues. Also, I don’t have the time or energy to put into the dating scene and finding someone. In terms of relationships and being with someone—I seem to be one of the odd ones that doesn’t mind being alone and unattached. I also know that I still have other things to work out on my own before even attempting to stick my toes into the dating pool.

So my goals for the Taurus new moon include:

            Making a financial plan. I’ve been on a reboot break for over two years now, and the savings account has dwindled down to almost nothing. I still have a couple of ‘high’ credit cards that I need to pay down—therefore, the financial plan will have a ‘role’ in my personal/professional development plan I’m also going to be putting together.

            Start writing daily—I have the ‘hobby’ areas of the blog (photography, travel, and crafts), plus the ‘areas’ that I’m thinking of branching out into for remote writing: scientific, medical, and health communications and copywriting. This means I need to start developing a ‘portfolio’ of different types of pieces (basically—have a ‘landing’ page on the topic & these posts linked to them).

            The topics I’m thinking of writing/learning about: oncology (clinical trials, drug development, pathways—specifically for breast cancer, brain cancer, and liver or pancreas cancer), antibiotic resistance (diseases and how bacteria can obtain resistance), microbiomes (specifically gut and vaginal), and then some basics—molecular cloning, the cell, biofuels, GMOs, and vaccines.

            Continue reading various personal/professional development books.

            Go through the clothes and box up t-shirts that no longer fit well and figure out where to donate them.

            Continue with daily intentional movement, and getting back into a meditation routine.

While the goals seem to be on a repetitive loop from year to year (new moon to new moon; or full moon to full moon)—there is progress that is made, steps that are so small they may not be noticeable to the stranger’s eye. When I started this blog almost five years ago, it was with the intention of self-accountability on this journey of rediscovery—so while others may not notice the progress, trust me when I say progress has been made—and sometimes that progress is to admit that I’ve fallen off ‘track’ and am working my way back onto the track.

What are your goals for the Taurus New Moon?

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Pisces New Moon in Review: Reflections and a Writing Goal

02
Apr
2022

So the moon has transitioned into its fourth new moon phase last night—so I’m going to be a day or so late in posting the April New Moon goals. I talked about how the first quarter of the year was my ‘testing’ quarter—hopefully will get back into some type of consistent posting this month.

But before I look ahead to the April new moon, I should look back at the goals I had set for the Pisces new moon, and see how I did with each of them.

So what were my Pisces new moon goals?

Well, they included:

  1. Work on indulging in more creative work during the day
  2. Spend at least part of the day mind-mapping different ideas (creative writing projects plus expanding the writing portfolio)
  3. Create an intentional movement board game (include weight lifting, yoga, Pilates, cardio, dancing, walking, and so forth)
  4. Continue with an evening meditation routine and also try to meditate in the morning as well.

So, how did I do with each of them?

I would like to state, that only two (creating mind maps and the board game) are ‘one-and-done’ goals, while the other two are ‘continuous’ goals.

Therefore, I would say that the only two that I was semi-consistent were the evening ‘meditation’ (which is currently just sitting quietly for a few minutes at night), and managing some photography throughout the month (though it wasn’t on a day-to-day basis).

While I like my personal/professional development board game, I decided that trying to d a fitness one wasn’t really going to work. I couldn’t decide on how many squares—did I do one for each type of lifting workout, how spaced should they be (one square, three, or more?), and how many of the other workouts (yoga, Pilates, cardio, walking, and say dancing) should be added?

Therefore, I decided I’d copy down (and modify) the tracking sheets from a fitness program I’ve done a couple of times (leaving off the pushups and lunges). I could dedicate several pages within the journal to the tracking sheets, and then I’ll make a list of different cardio, yoga, Pilates workouts that I can choose from for the non-lifting days.

Then I will simply charge the iPod, put it on shuffle and do a workout each day (also taking into account rest days and ‘active’ recovery days [yoga and Pilates]).

I have at least one mind-map completed for a rather large ‘omic’ writing project that I’m going to start on this coming month—in addition to the other large writing project that I’m toying with (melding the ‘troubleshooting tips for molecular cloning’ with the topics of GMOs, biofuels, and vaccines).

I’m still debating on the oncology topic(s) that I’m going to write on (currently I’m thinking focusing on pathways that are ‘disregulated’ by different cancers), and work on the mind map for those topics.

So, I can possibly say I ‘managed’ possibly half the goals? There was time sitting quietly, and there was some craft time, and some mind mapping—just not always constantly or consistently.

As I mentioned last night in my ‘March in Review’ post—I’d let my inner critic/imposter syndrome drive the ‘fear’ train during the first quarter of the year. Changing directions is difficult, and when you live in the ‘analytical’ side of your head for years—its slightly difficult to move into the ‘creative’ side and get things up and going (such as writing, photography, crafts, and learning).

One thing I’m going to do is write everyday. Whether or not I ‘publish’ what I write daily—well, that is a whole other question (and will depend on what I’m writing). But currently I’m thinking of at least a biweekly (possibly weekly) photography page with its accompany blog post (currently would be focused on birds), and then possibly a biweekly travel page with its accompany blog post (currently would be focused on ‘throwback’ vacations, though may add in ‘wish list’ travel blog posts [places I’d like to travel to and things I’d like to see]).

When it comes to my ‘why’—I think I’ve figured them out: I want to help improve science communications between the general public and the science community, I want to help improve science education (show that it isn’t boring or dull), and share my story as I’m rediscovering my enjoyment of learning, writing, and sharing it with others.

So, I will be also be starting a weekly science series within the next few weeks—I just need to make sure that I have enough written ‘before’ hitting ‘publish’. The current two ‘large’ series I’ve already mentioned above (the ‘omic’ project and the molecular cloning/GMO/biofuel/vaccine project).

So, I digressed a little on the topic—but that is the ‘joy’ of free flow writing—you just write, and possibly go back and edit out what doesn’t make sense. Since this is a post on goals and reflections—I think I’ll leave the few meandering paragraphs on how I’m going to work on improving things.

Therefore, I can say that I’ve been embracing the phrase ‘progress over perfection’.

The Pisces ‘new moon season’ has come to an end, and it is now time to embrace the Aries season–which is also the ‘start’ of the astrological year. This means, that I can ‘reset’ my long-term, yearly, monthly, and weekly goals to match the ‘new future’.

What is that future: A future where I’m a both a content creator and a copywriter all rolled into one.

What are some of your tricks for dealing with your inner critic when it gets totally out of hand?

Namaste….

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The full moon–Photo challenge Day 32

01
Feb
2018

I couldn’t see the moon yesterday to get a picture of it. I managed to get one this morning while I was waiting for the bus. I like how it looked through the trees.

The full moon this morning

One of the things I’ve been trying to do is work more on my spirituality. I know for a lot of people, that means promising to go to church more, or read more scriptures, or something to that effect. Well–that isn’t me. Not to say that I don’t believe in a higher power (I do), but I just don’t follow any of the three major western faiths. Depending on my mood, I can vary between being an atheist and a wiccan/pagan (also it depends on which could irritate the person talking to me more–if the topic has anything to do with religion).

Lately I’ve been more in an wiccan/pagan type mood. One of the books that I’d read last fall was Moonology by Yasmin Boland. Basically this book talked about the two major phases of the moon (full and new) within each zodiac sign, and also the twelve different houses. I learned that depending on when you were born, and depending on whether you went with your sun sign or your rising sign, they (the new moon and full moon) could be in two totally different houses. Read More

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