August Balanced Life Goals: Review

A review of August's balanced life goals:

Spiritual:  The goal is to live a spiritually meaningful life.

- Continue with daily prayers and gratitude - On going; daily prayers are part of my routine and I have had many things for which to be grateful.

- Continue to focus on blessings, joy, and abundance - Have been doing so - I know I have been abundantly blessed and there were many joyful things happening this month. 

- Take time for meditation(doesn't have to be an extended period of time;  even 5 minutes of intentional, mindful meditation is good) - I found that sitting in the dental chair while having root canal work done was excellent for praying and meditating!  LOL!    

- Cultivate non-attachment and patience! - Have been trying.

- Attend the monthly prayer gathering if possible - Attended the monthly prayer gathering and gave a ride to a cousin, as well. Will be hosting the October prayer gathering.

Environment:  The goal is a clean, tidy, uncluttered house and a well-maintained garden.

House:

- Do some regular house cleaning in order to maintain what I have been able to achieve - implement cleaning routines to the extent possible - Lots of room for improvement in this area, I'm afraid!  There is a reason why I go by the name of "Bless My Mess", now shortened to Bless!   

- Declutter -  Cultivate non-attachment to things by decluttering at least one item a day during the month of August - Nope!  Didn't do the decluttering. I did put away a few items aside for donating and tossed a few others, but not on a daily basis.

- Do some organizing - Not much; I reorganized my fabric stash a little bit, but that is about it!

Garden:

- Water and try to keep the plants alive as we approach the hottest time of the year (August and September) - Not much is alive at this point, especially with our current heat wave (another rose bush has died, the cherry guava tree looks stressed, the succulents are burned, everything else is looking very wilted), but I have been watering!  We've trimmed and pruned somethings intentionally and the eucalyptus tree has helped by self-pruning a couple of its branches!
- Continue to weed and mulch - Weeding has been on-going; haven't been mulching, though.

Daughter:  The goal is to continue to have a close relationship with her. 
- Daily texts, phone calls, emails , and video chatting!  On-going: as I've said before, we text good morning, we call each other when we get home from work, we video chat in the evening.
- Possible visit at the end of the month?  Yes!  She came home last night (8/ 31) and will be here over the long weekend!  It's lovely to have her home, again!

Family & Friends:  The goal is to keep in touch with various family members and friends.

- Communicate regularly - phone calls, texts, and emails - LOTS of phone calls, as you all know!  Some visits in person, as well, as I met some family and friends at the monthly prayer gathering and one aunt and cousin visited me twice in August.

- Wish aunt for her birthday - Did so when she paid me a visit with her daughter and stayed to dinner; gave her a card I made with a gift card enclosed and a tote bag I had made. 

- Go out to lunch or dinner with a friend - Couldn't quite do with the friend I had in mind, however, did go to lunch at another friend's house and went out to lunch with sister and her family, including her children and grandchildren whom I haven't seen in several years. 

  
Career:  The goal is to continue to do work which I enjoy (for the most part) and which enables me to support myself.
- Continue to do my assignments on time - I have been doing well in this area.  I've worked more days from the office than from home, this month.

Finances:  The goal is financial security.
- Continue budgeting and spending mindfully, with purpose - Did well until that trip to the Sri Lankan store!  LOL.  I had a couple of major expenses this month, as I had to pay for my root canal and to replace the water heater, but, I had money set aside for medical/dental procedures and appliance replacements, so they were anticipated expenses. 

 
Health & Well Being:  The goal is good health.  This will continue to be the focus, this month, as my longer than anticipated recovery continues!
- Attend the appointments with my various medical doctors and dentists - 3 scheduled, so far, in August.  There might be at least one more!  There were 6 medical appointments!

- Continue to go for additional screening tests, as needed - Did them and the test results all said "Normal"!  What a blessing!

- Continue to monitor blood pressure, sugar levels, and weight (now that my taste buds and appetite have returned!) - Have been doing so; weight has gone up a bit, but pressure and sugar levels continue to be good.

- Continue to focus on a healthier diet (more vegetables!), drinking enough water, exercising regularly, and getting sufficient sleep - Have been doing so; another area with room for improvement, though.

Time Management:  The goal is having enough time to do all what I want to do!
- Organize myself and put routines into place so I have a more regular schedule - Continues to be another work in progress!

Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies/Me-Time:  The goal is to relax doing something I enjoy doing for the pleasure of it.

- Do a few things from the Summer Joy list - I did quite a few things from the list; happy with what I have been able to do.
- Do another sewing project - I sewed on two quilt tops

- Work on another unfinished project (and finish it!) - I made progress but didn't quite finish it.

So that was the review of my goals for a balanced life in August. I think I did quite well for the most part.  There are a few areas which could be improved, but I am happy with what I was able to achieve.  Time to move on to September.

Did you make any monthly goals for August?  If so, how did you do?  Are you pleased with the progress you made and what you were able to achieve?