Month 2 of 2024, can we believe it?! A lot is happening here at the Ford household. We finally started construction on our new screened in porch which we are thrilled about. I am excited to LIVE out on the porch this year.

I filmed a video in January about the 9 tips that I’m implementing to make sure 2024 is my best year yet and how I’m sticking to my goals, and a big part of that is having a monthly reset. It is so important to hold yourself accountable if you want to stick to new habits or routines this year, and checking in on your progress is often overlooked, but a surefire way to stick to those goals and not fall off track.

It’s also important to remember that you don’t have to be perfect every day- it’s more about sticking to your habits more often than not if you want to implement positive change in your life. I remind myself daily that the small steps, consistently, is the best strategy and I remind myself that it really is easy to follow through with this.

I hope you had a great first month of 2024, let’s jump into month 2!

February Reset Video:

Last month’s favorites:

Books I read last month:

All books linked here to shop through Amazon

• A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

  • Rated 2/5 stars- Book “3.5” of the series, definitely my least favorite although I don’t agree which some people that it wasn’t necessary to read the series… I think a lot happens in it that is integral to the rest of the series and ties up some ends from the previous books as well. I actually enjoyed the point of view from the different characters.

• A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

  • Rated 4/5 stars- The final book in the series and my favorite! I think my top two are this one and the second book. I took off a star from my rating because the first 40%ish was a little difficult for me to get into, and it could be because I took a 2 month break after the 3rd book to finish the series. This one is focused on Nesta and Cassian, and so far I love this story the most! We start to learn what happened to Nesta when she was made by the cauldron. This one is also spicier than the rest of the books which I liked but yes at times it was a bit much.

  • Some of my highlights:

    • She laughed, a sound of pure joy, and she cried more, because that joy was a miracle.

    • The world was beautiful, and she was so grateful to be in it. To be alive, to be here, to see this.

• The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga 

  • Rated 3/5 stars: I rated this one a little low because the writing was a bit advanced for me to enjoy and my mind wandered a lot during the book. I found it hard to follow and I felt like I was reading a psychology book in college.

    • Is happiness something you choose for yourself? The Courage to Be Disliked presents a simple and straightforward answer. Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of nineteenth-century psychology alongside Freud and Jung, this book follows an illuminating dialogue between a philosopher and a young man. Over the course of five conversations, the philosopher helps his student to understand how each of us is able to determine the direction of our own life, free from the shackles of past traumas and the expectations of others.Rich in wisdom, The Courage to Be Disliked will guide you through the concepts of self-forgiveness, self-care, and mind decluttering. It is a deeply liberating way of thinking, allowing you to develop the courage to change and ignore the limitations that you might be placing on yourself. This plainspoken and profoundly moving book unlocks the power within you to find lasting happiness and be the person you truly want to be.

  • Some of my highlights:

    • Why do you dislike yourself? Why do you focus only on your shortcomings, and why have you decided to not start liking yourself? It’s because you are overly afraid of being disliked by other people and getting hurt in your interpersonal relationships.

    • “freedom is being disliked by other people.”

    • The courage to be happy also includes the courage to be disliked. When you have gained that courage, your interpersonal relationships will all at once change into things of lightness.

    • making the switch from attachment to self (self-interest) to concern for others (social interest) and gaining a sense of community feeling. Three things are needed at this point: “self-acceptance,” “confidence in others,” and “contribution to others.”

    • We should live more earnestly only here and now. The fact that you think you can see the past, or predict the future, is proof that rather than living earnestly here and now, you are living in a dim twilight. Life is a series of moments, and neither the past nor the future exists. You are trying to give yourself a way out by focusing on the past and the future. What happened in the past has nothing whatsoever to do with your here and now, and what the future may hold is not a matter to think about here and now. If you are living earnestly here and now, you will not be concerned with such things.

• The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer

  • Rated 5/5 stars: Hands down my favorite book I’ve ever read that has changed my life immensely. I wake up happier now that I’ve read this book. It is all about the unconscious mind and why we think the way we think and feel the things that we feel. It also talks you through how to connect with God and your own divine soul, and how to stop falling victim to “monkey mind”. It was so amazing that I purchased the hard copy on Amazon to have it on hand anytime I need a refresher. I recommend this book to EVERYONE, as well as “breaking the habit of being yourself” which you can read more about in my blog post here.

  • Some of my highlights:

    • There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind—you are the one who hears it.

    • Worldly means that you think the solution to your inner problems is in the world outside. You think that if you change things outside, you’ll be okay. But nobody has ever truly become okay by changing things outside. There’s always the next problem. The only real solution is to take the seat of witness consciousness and completely change your frame of reference.

    • Just decide that no matter what the mind says, you aren’t getting involved. You don’t fight the mind. In fact, you don’t even try to change it. You just make a game out of relaxing in the face of its melodrama. You simply learn how to release the tendency for getting drawn into the energy. The root is where the consciousness is aware of the pull of these energies.

    • God is ecstasy. God is as high as it gets. If you want to be close to God, learn to be joyful. If you remain spontaneously happy and centered, no matter what happens, you will find God.

    • People say that God cries when He looks at this earth. The saint sees that God goes into ecstasy when He looks upon this earth, under all conditions, and at all times. Ecstasy is the only thing God knows. God’s nature is eternal, conscious bliss.

YouTube content from January