[Main Blog Post] A Boast for 2024

[jprussell]

Though I mentioned it last time, I wanted to give a full post to the boast I am making for 2024.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Jeff!

I'd love to give it a try but I don't want to run short of my boast and run foul of the gods. My problem has to do with uncertainty of my goals.

Is there a Heathen way of clarifying one's true goals in life?

Jon

[jprussell]

Hi Jon,

Fair enough! I've spent much of the past year working on clarifying what my own goals are, so I can sympathize. From my own experience, and your mileage will almost certainly vary, there's a few things that might help.

First off, it's helpful to set shorter term, smaller goals and pursue them whether you're sure they're perfect or not. On the way to achieving them, you'll figure out more about what you want to do and what's less important. That's one of the things I'm doing with these annual boasts - there's value in sticking to something for a year whether or not the thing itself is important in the long run. For example, after a year of reading only books by dead people, I'm more mindful of what I read and why, even if I don't have a hard and fast rule anymore about what to read.

Second is prayer. Call upon whichever Gods you have a relationship with and explain where you are and what you're not sure about and then "listen" for an answer. Whatever comes into your mind, whatever promptings you feel are likely at least worth checking out. At first, this will likely be very faint, so you may not want to start with huge, life-changing questions. As with the first point, start smaller, learn what it feels like to get some guidance, follow it, and see what happens. If you're happy with how it turns out, you'll know what it feels like, and you can move on to more important questions.

Third is meditation. If you don't have a meditation practice, John Michael Greer's instructions in this series are a great place to start. Taking some time every day for a few days (or weeks, or months) to think in a systematic way about what you want to do can be helpful, but it might also start to feel like you're spinning your wheels. If so, you might find it helpful to meditate on other spiritually relevant themes. If you want a particularly Heathen way to go, the poems of the Edda are fantastic meditation material. The reason I bring this up is that sometimes the direct route of "what should my goal(s) be?" won't get you where you need to go, but developing yourself spiritually will make it clearer what you care about and why and how best to go about it. Some of my clearest goals (like this year's boast to write a book) have become clear to me while ostensibly contemplating other things.

Fourth is divination, the most Heathen method of which would, of course, be the Runes, but I've found Ogham and forms of Kinesiology, like muscle testing (as given here, for example) also helpful and perfectly compatible with Heathen practice (I call on Woden, Frige, and the Wyrds when doing all of the above). As with the other methods, if you're not already comfortable with any kind of divination, I'd start small. The method John Michael Greer recommends, and that I have followed, is to begin doing some kind of daily read. Ask something like "What do I most need to understand about what happens in the coming day?" and then pull either one Rune/Card/whatever, or a three card draw (past/present/future), or something similar. My daily practice is to ask that question and do a three card draw with the Ogham, and weekly I ask about the coming week with Runes. Once you feel like the divination method is working for you, you can ask bigger questions, and a format for those I find helpful is "setting/context, work/action, outcomes."

Fifth would be affirmations. Obviously, if you've figured out a goal, you can use an affirmation toward that goal (something like "I write and post a blog post every week"), but you can also use an affirmation to help you figure out a goal. You can set an affirmation like "I know what goal will be most helpful to my life" or something of the sort. If you're not familiar with affirmations, they should be stated in the affirmative, in the present tense, and should be fairly straightforward. Don't make any negative statements ("I am not afraid" doesn't work, but "I am brave" does), don't put anything in future tense, and don't get too complicated/nuanced. Once you have an affirmation, either pick a time of day where you say it a set number of times (10 times whenever I brush my teeth) or just make a habit of doing it whenever you find yourself with a spare moment. Even better, do both. The traditional method is to say any one affirmation for a year and a day, but anything that's at least a few months ought to do you some good.

I know that's a lot to lay on you all at once, but hopefully some bit of this is useful! It can be hard to pick a goal, especially if you are interested in a lot of different things, but there's real value in just picking something (anything!) and pursuing it until it's done, and getting over the fear of picking the "wrong" goal. Good luck, and if you'll have them, my blessings to you in your efforts!

Jeff

[jprussell]

Hi Jon,

Apparently my reply has been screened these past couple of months, sorry about that!

Cheers,
Jeff

[deketemoisont]

(Assuming I may share efforts with you for only 5/6 of this year.)

No poem this year! I boast that, for the rest of this year, I'll exercise physically, spiritually, linguistically, and musically at least 6 times/week each.

And I wish you success in everything, and in writing a book in particular.

[jprussell]

Thank you, and hear, hear! Luck and strength in your work!

Jeff