Past Year Questions
List your 3 top wins for the year.
- Admitting that I need help in navigating grieving my past spiritual life and embracing a free, creative spirituality that does not run away from anything.
- Regaining some consistency of income stream via the Bookbright OVIC overview updates after being saved by gigs.
- Accelerating my growth in writing, photography, walking, and spirituality by meeting archetypes and nurturing my relationships with them (including Louise, Froi, and Andrew).
What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned in the past year?
- Never feel guilty protecting your boundaries.
- The right archetypes will accelerate your growth.
- Contentment is a choice. You can choose to be contented no matter what the situation if you have faith.
- The best place to look for a job is one’s existing network.
- Use writing workshops and contests as tools to force you to work on or get feedback on your personal projects.
- It is okay to let go of the desire to work on some creative projects (writing in Pangasinan, poetry, etc.). Try to focus on what works and what you truly enjoy: writing in English, writing vignettes, improving photography, and getting better at walking.
- I am a river. I could change.
- No matter how solitary my work is, I can and should always include the other in it. Considering public life is necessary and inescapable.
- Upgrade only when necessary. Don’t try to fix what isn’t broken.
- Introduce changes slowly.
- Art is never finished.
- What I desire for myself is a free, subsistent spirituality.
- I would like to treat writing as my new ministry: to use words to help me live a rich life and to help others do the same.
What were the risks you took?
- Applying for that writing project with Krys (writing an email application then doing the interview).
- Dedicating some time writing that essay for ANWW20 even if I still didn’t have a consistent source of income.
- Presenting an intimate and sensitive personal story to an audience of strangers.
- Asking Lea to subsidize a significant amount of my couple fund contribution.
- Dedicating a lot of time writing entries for workshops and contests while still without a consistent source of income.
- Emailing Cinque and asking for a possible part-time role in Bookbright.
- Emailing Andrew to ask for help.
- Joining Miki Nakura’s seiza meditation classes and attending several times.
- Hoping into a call with Andrew.
What was your most loving service?
Writing more about my spiritual past. Confronting it and bringing that confrontation into my work.
What is your unfinished business from the past year?
Now that I have some measure of income consistenct, I need to establish income resilience.
Also, I need to begin my book project.
What are you most happy about completing?
Roots x Gravel
Who were the three people that had the greatest impact on your life in the past year?
- Andrew (for helping me solve my spiritual crisis)
- ANWW20 people, particularly Jesa
- Cinque (for bringing income consistency)
What was your biggest surprise?
Getting accepted at ANWW20, being heard and yet receiving useful feedback, and learning more about the literary community.
What one word or phrase best sums up and describes your experience this past year?
Faith
What stories from the past year are you letting go of?
The story that I need to sacrifice my boundaries to accommodate friends who don’t enrich my being and who have consistently erred.
The story that I should feel guilt in protecting my boundaries.
The story that I need to contribute to saving Pangasinan literature.
The story that I will let Lea’s mom dictate how we live our lives.
Coming Year Questions
What would make 2024 the best ever?
- Solidify the kind of writing I want to master.
- Really grow in my photography through the help of a mentor like Louise Far.
- Make significant progress in the LB book project.
- Make significant progress in the Baguio Walk.
- Register to BIR as a non-licensed professional.
- Do a walk that feels explorative (i.e., outside LB, Baguio, and Pangasinan).
- Live in an inspiring and beautiful house.
- Add a second source of income for resilience.
- I’ve directly helped someone using my strengths (e.g. used writing as a ministry through the AWA method).
- Deepened my free religion practice.
What new habits can you cultivate that will help you to achieve your goals stated from the previous question?
- Eating better.
- Reading a material that helps cultivate my most authentic voice and the work I want to create every day.
What bad habits can you remove that will help you to achieve your goals?
- Eating after dinner.
What are your immediate next steps to achieve these goals?
- Finish reading Writing Alone and Together.
- Catch up with Louise Far.
- Read and study Nightingalingale.
- Do Baguio walk.
- Read the BIR registration guide sent by Lea.
- Look for possible apartments around.
- Hire a house cleaner.
- Buy sofa.
- Return to studying editing.
- Prepare for my second call with Andrew.
What would you like to be your biggest win?
- Finish at least the first draft of the book about walking in LB.
What advice would you like to give yourself?
Identify your top five must-do goals. Then focus on accomplishing them during these first months of the year.
What are you planning to do to improve your financial results?
Look for a second source of income to improve my resilience.
What are you looking forward to learning?
Really getting better at photography (e.g., using manual mode, using different lenses, )
What do you think your biggest risk will be?
Doing this LB book project an no one wants to read it.
Who or what, other than yourself, are you most committed to loving and serving?
Lea My newsletter subscribers Close friends who may need help
What about your work, are you most committed to changing and improving?
I’m committed to improving my writing.
- This involves really focusing and getting better on the kind of writing I want to do (right now, that seems to be vignettes in English). This focus means letting go of writing in Filipino, Pangasinan, and poetry, at least, for now.
- I’m committed to reading as much as I need to read to identify how my voice is different and what gap I could fill.
- I’m committed to practice writing every day.
- I’m committed to strengthening the foundation of my personal writing practice as both a spiritual and expressive practice.
- I’m committed to exploring the possibilities of using writing as a form of service or ministry.
- I’m committed to reaching out and nurturing relationships with writing archetypes that could help me get better with the writing I want to do.
- I’m committed to creating the book about LB.
- I’m committed to exploring writing about walking in Baguio City.
I’m committed to improving my photography.
- This involves working closely with a mentor, like Louise Far.
- Creating a plan to practice deliberately, perhaps using Ultra-learning.
- Doing more shoots this year.
I’m committed to improving my walking.
- I would schedule more walks this year (aspire at least one walking event every month).
- I would also try facilitating Walking and Talking events.
I’m committed to improving my free religion practice.
- I’m committed to deepening my seiza practice.
- I’m committed to listening more to myself.
- I’m committed to opening more to others.
- I’m committed to exploring existing in a kyokai.
What is one as yet undeveloped talent you are willing to explore?
Connecting and interviewing people in my walks.
What brings you the most joy and how are you going to do or have more of that?
Working on projects where I have the most creative freedom.
I’ll do more of this by returning to my core first and always asking myself what do I want to get out of my art practice and life. Then, from there, design a portfolio life that fulfills those wants and needs.
To have this, I also need to strengthen my income flow. Now that I have some measure of predictability, I need to build resilience.
What one word or phrase would you like to have as your theme?
Authenticity and Focus
Set Your Intention:
This 2024, my main intention is to do everything necessary to find and listen to my most authentic voice and to use it in writing my story and truth.
A secondary intention would be to cut unnecessary goals and to focus on the most authentic, exciting, and life-changing ones.