Not Resolutions, compass setting

I've never really been into New Year's Resolutions, possibly because they seem a bit arbitrary to me. That is to say, if you want to change something or improve your life, one could just get on a do it, rather than rely on some fairly arbitrary calendarisation to provide the excuse to do it. (This is perhaps because I tend to love nature's number patterns, rather than man's)

On the other hand, with some Christmas time off work, there's a natural pause to reflect on life's events past and (hopefully) future. Here are a few of my ponderings - I'll use them to set my "compass" rather than create goals I may subsequently fail at. 

More love, laughter & happiness - this is pretty much the standard one, who doesn't want this? It comes in many many guises. 

Skype my niece more often - it's so easy to miss youngsters growing up, it happens so fast. Must try to do it weekly. Have installed the latest skype App on my iphone which now supports video.

Achieve more with my artistic photography. Through 2010 brushstrokes has been successful and rewarding, now with a 4-figure fan base on facebook, a gallery of hundreds of images, collaborations with other photographers and amateur models. It has also confirmed my deep love of photography, which has also been recognised this year: I was selected by the photography company Tiffen as their 'featured imagemaker'. In 2011 I'll explore options to expand my Scottish photography.

Get the work life balance under control. Where to live, where to work? Burning questions for the average mid-lifer. It's no secret that I feel a draw to my homeland of Scotland - so in the long term I need to figure out how this could potentially happen. My work pattern is not ideal either.

Keep my weight under control. In 2010 I managed to lose of 2 Stones that had crept up on me. I want to keep this off (have succeeded so far) and get more exercise too. 

I think that's a fairly rounded set and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into them.