New Moon on January 2nd, 2022 is the time to draw your first wishlist for the year. Read about the difference btw “I must” and “I want” and try going a more pleasant way.
The story goes that even the world leaders start some of their actions on a new moon. This year’s first new moon in January 2022 will occur today, January 2nd, at 21:33 Moscow time.
I’ve always made plans and resolutions. But it took a tremendous effort to get some of them off the ground, let alone to finish. Then last year I went through some lists and plans, and I was rather unpleasantly surprised at the amount of “I must” and “I have to” at the beginning of my vows.
I have never believed men and women were too different. But in the past few years I had to admit that one fundamental difference shines through the modals we use. “Must” and “have to” are typically male; these modal verbs invoke strength and power.
Women are strong and powerful, too – in their femininity. So our expression is “I want”, which is not a modal verb, strictly speaking. However, by merely knowing what I want I can get it quicker than if I went by on “must” and “have to”. It doesn’t mean that I don’t work towards my dreams. It simply means that I love what I want, and this makes it easier to attain.
So, if you have been stumbling in the last couple of years, perhaps you could try writing down what you really want to do in this first new moon of 2022?
First Day of 2022. I wrote a 2,5K words article on Russian Orthodox Christmas gifts.
On the first day of 2022 I wrote 16 thousand characters without spaces on the subject of Russian Orthodox Christmas gifts. Now I could find a present with my eyes closed, literally. While writing the article, I thought of a life-hack: couldn’t we just put down in a notepad what presents we gave to people? It would help to save so much time and money, trying to figure out what gift may suit whom!
Apparently, January 1 and 2 are perfect to draw plans for 2022 and conclusions for 2021. Which is precisely what I am doing now. Even though I no longer write NY resolutions, I do make plans.
What about you? How was your New Year night and January 1st? I keep marveling at just how excellent the calendar is. First, December 25th and 25th fell on the weekend, and now January 1st and 2nd also fall on the weekend.
PS – In the photo is the New Year tree in my Moscow flat. In the past several years we decorated the balcony, hanging the garlands and baubles, and we also set a New Year tree there. It is just two years younger than me.
Years ago I always used to draw conclusions at the end of the year. I also wrote resolutions, which for one reason or another didn’t rush to happen, so I stopped. New Year night 2022 is going to be different.
I write my dreams instead and enlist the actions I should undertake to see them coming true. I also write all fears connected with those wishes coming or not coming true. And then the new year begins.
I came across this technique in the personal growth marathon by Elena Blinovskaya, and I’ve been using it since. I personally like her idea that we don’t need to spread ourselves thin trying to leave no stone unturned on the road to our dreams. Reaching goals and realizing dreams should be nice and easy, and this is precisely what Elena helps people to do.
Informational business is currently on the rise. I secretly déplore the fact that I didn’t have enough foresight, or I’d be blogging a bit differently. But everything has the reason, so I just recall what fantastic dividends I had on all my unmonetised efforts. A film director I interviewed for my community radio program won an Oscar; I was interviewed on BBC 3 months after I’d started blogging in 2006; LCJ was honoured as a Google Blog of Note on its third anniversary; and many more events happened that highlight one point:
Miracles happen when you do things you Love.
There’s no point trying to make yourself do something you’d rather not do. Of course, we need to make a living somehow, but it’s better and less disheartening to earn a modest salary but enjoy what you do than get decent money while knowing you are wasting your lifetime. Especially today, amidst the troubles, doing the job you love is paramount as we need more positive feelings and emotions to survive.
As 2021 is about to end, I wish all of us to stay safe and sane, to nurture our faith and to strengthen the spirit, and to take care of our physical body. We are all here for a reason, and after all, we have already survived a few epidemics, like aviary flu, atypical pneumonia, and Ebola virus. We are still alive, which means we can stay alive again.
I’m sure you’re interested what measures are undertaken in Russia for New Year Night 2021. Restaurants and Red Square close for the night.
I’m sure you’re interested in what safety measures are undertaken in Russia for New Year Night 2021. Here’s a short digest:
shops close at 10pm;
restaurants shut down at 11pm;
ice rinks close at 7pm;
no official street festivities;
New Year fireworks can be watched in the city centre but people have to have hot drinks on them, as no cafes or street vendors work;
underground and public transport work all night;
Red Square in Moscow is shut down for visitors for the night.
New Year in Russia, just as Christmas in the UK, has always been a family holiday. Two or three generations sat down to one table to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new. With time, youngsters began to get together for huge celebrations at the restaurants and regional hotels. Due to virus, the tradition is back, although some families have to celebrate New Year separately for health reasons. My Instagram friend had a baby this October, and then her parents fell ill. So, she is meeting New Year with her husband and their baby daughter. But their New Year Night 2021 will be truly blissful.
We’ve had some sleet today, and some local folks are setting off fireworks already. I’m off to walk my dogs, and then I plan to go out to snap a few photos of the year 2020 as it is drawing to a close. I’m very happy as I’m on the verge of great changes, and I sincerely wish all of us to find happiness and faith, whatever happens in the world.
Overall, I’ve had a fantastic year 2020. For the year 2021, I want to wish us all to be patient and flexible. Happy new year!
I’ve been looking through my posts here in which I tried to draw a line under the previous year. It was good to see for myself what experiences got me well prepared for the year 2020.
Back in the Day
There was a marriage break-up in 2006, a loss of job in 2008, yet another one in 2009, lots of travelling in 2010 and various events in 2011, more travelling and events in 2012-2013. In 2013, I started teaching. In 2014 my grandma died, the pound sterling rate doubled, and I found myself in a bit of jeopardy because I couldn’t get my books and academic photocopies back in the next six years. I rarely mentioned my extensive translation work here, except when it was literary translation. At the end of 2015 the neighbour upstairs got everyone below him severely flooded, so until 2018 I had to deal with a complete makeover of my flat. I was also an editor-in-chief, then a head of the department, and I started to perform as a singer. I couldn’t always maintain my blogging, so between 2015 and 2017 LCJ was offline. All these experiences, however unexpected and unwelcome, taught me to stay calm amidst any kind of storm, to be agile and flexible, to rely on myself but also to trust others, and to be patient.
My Year 2020
This explains why in 2020, when people were going mad because of distant work and learning, constant home living, and all sorts of restrictions, I was in the position when I could actually give them advice and provide help. I followed my heart, and it always brought me more good.
Some great things that happened to me in 2020:
I translated 4 books, due out in 2021;
I had 5 books published, 1 electronic and 4 printed, The Hammock for the Falling Stars I mentioned before;
starting from summer 2019, I listened to 9 online courses on finance and psychology;
I translated and voiced a course on front-edge technology for aesthetic medicine, orthopedics, dentistry etc.;
thanks to the above, and also my friends Adrian and Marco, I was finally able to get all my books and papers back to Moscow (here’s the mention).
I didn’t travel much, but I happily resorted to following a few Instagram accounts of people who live in countries as different as Bali and Italy and tell us about their everyday life.
Thoughts on Year 2020
Overall, I’ve had a fantastic year 2020. I realise this sounds ridiculous to some of you, so I’ll explain. I’ve had my best results in all my life when I took a complete responsibility for every action. I made my own choices, I followed my decisions, and I put myself first. Now, as far as I know, “I” for many people include their relatives, at the least, if not also friends, job, country and mankind. And this is the problem: we cannot be responsible for the mankind. We can be only responsible for ourselves as a part thereof. We cannot be responsible for our relatives, except for how we interact with them. It’s a totally different subject, but basically, if another person is unable to be happy, we cannot and shouldn’t make them happy at the expense of our own happiness.
My Wishes for Year 2021
For the year 2021, I want to wish us all to be patient and flexible. If it’s true that the virus is here to stay until 2023, then the new year will come “equipped” with more instability and danger. There will be more restrictions, more pressure, and more uncertainty. So I pray that we all stay calm and faithful. This storm is also of spiritual nature, it especially hits control freaks who are very fearful deep inside. As it is quite clear that the events are out of our control, please don’t fear what you don’t know. Instead, build on your strengths and find faith. With faith, we are unconquerable.
S Novym Godom! Happy New Year!
May the year 2021 bring you joy, keep you healthy and let you see the good chances!
Wishing a happy new year to all readers! Let it bring joy and happiness to us all!
Contrary to the tradition of previous years, I’ve decided to wish you a happy new year 2020 on January 1st. In the early years of my blogging I used to write longreads with resolutions on December 31st (see 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), but the pace of life often stopped me from making half of them happen. So even though I continued making plans, I stopped sharing them on the blog.
Instead I’m happy to tell you about what happened in 2019. I published 3 books, 2 electronic where I’m the author, and 1 illustrated paperback where I’m the translator and literary editor. I travelled to a few interesting places and took lots of photos. I had a nomination for a literary award. My photo was published in a local newspaper. Between 2013 and 2017 I won several awards as a translator, a poet and a singer, so I have something to build upon. Altogether, these events have provided me with some ideas that I’m going to explore in 2020.
Publications from 2019
At the moment, at least 3 books have already been scheduled for 2020, so I may eventually outdo my own publishing plan. Most importantly, I’m thinking about the concept for LCJ. Since it started, it has been growing far and wide because its author is a very expansive Sagittarian. It’s become such a beautiful tree that it’d hurt me to cut off any of the branches, especially because they all serve their own purpose. So, I guess I’ve almost found the way to mould all them into a nice composition around the LCJ stem.
Last but not least, while we’re on this topic, I’m going to ask you to spread the word about this blog. It’s been going non-stop from 2006 till 2014, earned a Google Blog of Note nod in 2009, but then from 2015 till 2017 it was put in hybernating mode. I need your help in getting it up and running again. I’ve got some ideas, but the word-of-mouth still does its magick. Also, if there are topics you’d like me to write about, drop me a comment.
To get back to the date, on the first day of New Year I wish us all happiness, health, love, wellbeing and peace. The year of the Mouse always initiates a new Chinese calendar cycle, so it is a good omen for all our great beginnings.
Source: Pinterest
To the wonderful, successful, loving 2020! Cheers!
I wish all my readers a very happy new 2018 year! Let it make our dearest dreams come true, but above all, let it be peaceful, without wars and upheavals.
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