Fiona writes: At the beginning of every year, I like to choose a word to live by.This word represents something I'd like more of, something I aspire to, or a philosophy I'd like to become more intimate with.
For 2011, my word was 'faith'.
This word carried me safely through launching a new company, getting married, and not being able to write my work-in-progress.
I wrote courses, and articles, and blogs, but I didn't make headway on my novel. The words got stuck in my pen. I could have panicked, but instead I trusted that my words would flow again in their own time. I trusted that if I continued to make space for myself, either to write or to read other's writing, then I'd find my way again.
They did.
For 2012, my word will be 'enough'.
I've already written a critique of the concept of 'abundance', and this seemed to strike a chord with people.
What I'd like to get better at is being grateful for what I already have.
Can I stop eating when I've had 'enough'? Can I feel grateful for the house we live in, the free time I have, the money I already have, without wanting more? Sometimes, yes, and sometimes, of course not ; ) This is what I'll be working with during 2012. It feels especially relevant in these difficult financial times. And it will be the gateway into praise.
So how will this word affect my life as a writer?
I'm publishing my fourth novel in February, and (as with my previous novels) I'd like six million people to buy it and enjoy it. I'd like it to be made into a Hollywood movie. I'd like to be more famous than J. K. Rowling.
Instead, I will aim towards accepting the sales I get (and the feedback I get) as 'enough'.
I'll still do whatever I can to market the book. I'll still have high hopes. But I'll accept whatever comes as 'OK'. It will sell lots, it won't. Either will be 'enough'.
Just thinking about things in this way makes the whole affair feel less fraught. Less desperate. More fun. I can do my best, and then relax.
I learnt so much in 2011. And I have so much to learn. I'm looking forward to working with my new word, and to being a writer (and a wife and a psychotherapist and a friend etc) in 2012. I hope you are too.
Are you going to choose a word? Do share it in the comments below. Here's to the New Year *cheers*
*
We have two courses starting on Monday the 9th - my Year of Questions and Kaspa's Writing Towards Healing. Will you join us?
*
Image by Matthew Petroff, via Creative Commons, with thanks.
57 comments:
I'm going to go for 'believe' as my word this year. I choose to believe that I am good enough to build up a business, that my forties will be the best decade yet, that things can change for the better in our world and that my marriage will be every bit as wonderful as I dream it will be.
Unless the heatwave here breaks soon, my word will be 'sloth'.
I've been a word-for-the-year person the past 3. 2010 my word was simplify. And last year was visible. Both look different on this side than when I started.
2012 is Discipline. NOT a word I'd have thought, but then...
I've been writing about it, exploring its possibilities, and I'm quite liking it, I must say.
Discipline has 4 aspects that I have built a foundation upon: Train, Develop, Encourage, and Practise. Having this way into it has allowed the word itself, DISCIPLINE, to shine.
My word for 2011 was freedom. I travelled, roamed and explored from Europe to India back to South East Asia and under the sea.
This year my word is focus. After another year of freedom it’s now time to focus on what I want to create in my life and focus my energy on activities that support my intent.
I did this for the first time last year, and my 2011 word was 'simplify' For 2012 I have chosen 'peace'.
Savouring, Ordinary and enough-ness . . . I am having my words memorialized on tiny Rocks by the Rock Fairy, I received a rock at a writing retreat back in the fall of 2011 and fell in love with them. You can find her at http://queen-of-arts.blogspot.com/ ~ I have no affiliation with her, other than my love of her Rocks!!
My word this year is 'tolerance'. It is something most of us want but few of us give.
@BucksWriter the forties is the best it really is.
My word for 2012 is REFLECTION, and it encapsulates my wish to get back to what matters - holding, expressing and giving back the grace and grandeur of this world we are all walking in together. The word comes from the Latin reflex/reflectare meaning to bend, and thus it also expresses NAMASTE.
It may sound odd, but my word for the year is "die to." Meaning I will work towards dying to violence, dying to anger, dying to envy, dying to ...
Haven't thought of this before but it's a marvelous idea. My word for 2012 is "do". And, I think I will take Carmen's advice and put it on a rock as a daily inspiration for this year, and a memorialization in the future.
It's going to also serve as a writing prompt.
Thank you Fiona
dk
I think my word will have to be 'produce' with the intention of having a more productive year with my writing - I must try to finish that novel!
Mine is retreat, with all the things that implies: sinking into practice, finding balance/my middle path, inviting rest, and undergoing transformation.
For 2011, my word was "fearless" - and though I was thinking of it primarily in how I wanted to approach writing, it came into play for other parts of my life, as well - I wrote it on a post-it note and stuck it on the frame of my bulletin board at my desk, where I could see it every day.
This year, the new post-it note reads "balance."
My word is Believe. Truthfully I am not sure why! That was the word that came to me and it won't let another take it's place.
2011 was a hard year. My 94yo old mother became sick in May went into a nursing home and died December 10th. Because I had been her main caregiver for 6 years another word was in my mind but Believe is the one my inner voice wants so I guess I will learn why as time goes on.
My word is emerge I am doing an art journal and i stamped some butterflies and this word came to me and seems to fit as I want to emerge a more creative fulfilled person :-)
"enough" what a wonderful word. with so much to give and so much to teach.
"acceptance" was my word last year and i came a long way with it.
it's taken me a few days for it to come to me but this year it is "mindful"
in my clothes, my food, my belongings, my spending, my time with my children, my life....
I chose "believe" as my word for this year.
Great idea. It's like an endless resolution for the year ahead without weighing oneself down with unrealistic 'musts'. My word shall be ACCEPT - I will accept that I cannot always do as much as I want and live with what I can; I will accept that others may not live up to my standards but that doesn't mean they are deliberately trying to hurt me and I will accept that I will be 50 and live with it.
Last years word was balance. It is amazing to see the depths of one word. This year the word, pause won out over trust and joy. On the third day of my word- I am thinking I may tend to use it as a cop out... until it grows into itself. Here is a link to yesterdays blog post- where I call on my word on New Years eve at 11PM.
http://terihoover-crystal-iris-images.blogspot.com/2012/01/lit-from-all-angles.html
My word for 2012 is going to be "Rejoice" for I really hope and wish that I can achieve all my targets this year ^^
My word for 2012 is going to be "Rejoice" for I really hope and wish that I can achieve all my targets this year ^^
My word this year is PRESENCE. Living more in God's, giving more of mine to my family, my friends, my writing...living and breathing each moment.
My word for the year is: Endure
Fighting Depression takes endurance. So, 2012 is for Enduring.
I'm going for 'adventure' not because I can see my way to travelling long distances just now, but simply to be more playful and break through self-imposed constraints.
Thanks for the suggestion of one word, Fiona. It's a valuable focus.
Better. Be a better person, a better wife, a better mother, a better human being. striving always to be better.
Simple. That's my word. And I'm sticking to it. (Or at least I'm going to try!)
Happy 2012 Fiona & Kaspa!
I'm going with 'calm' - to remind me to take a breath and enjoy the moment whenever I feel I can't. It will be a challenge in Sydney's traffic - but it'll give me the focus I need to not let it matter! And I am hoping from calm will come greater creativity and results! I'll team it up with Judy's 'better' - I like that idea too!
I've never done a word for the year -- & somewhere in the last week of December, the word 'devotion' started to arise.
I haven't figured out devotion to what. But devotion. I see it written out in a lovely cursive hand. BIG & kind of overarching for the year.
We'll see how this word reveals itself over the year.
My word for 2012 is 'courage'.
I was once full of courage,but seem to have lost it somewhere on life's journey...
....I think I'll write about this in detail.
My word is "Let Go". Okay, that is two words. I'd go with discard but that seemed a little abrupt. It is going to be a great year!
My word for 2011 was 'connect'. For most of the year, it was a goal, but not realized until the eve of November.
This year, my word is 'responsibility'. to be there, to listen, to act when action is needed, to be solid and do those things I know to do.
My word is actually two: stay positive. I've had so much negative in my life, that I have decided to consciously repeat these two words throughout my day. I will look for the glimmer of positive in each encounter, in every situation.
My word is passion. My desire to feel strongly about my endeavors and act with focused assertiveness is rising up within. Where will the feelings take me? I hope it will reside in nature photography, in laughter, in love.
Hi Fiona, and thank you for this idea! As soon as I read it, I fell in love with the concept. I also knew immediately what my word would be: Expand. Creatively, emotionally, professionally… This year is about expansion. Thanks again, and happy 2012!
http://pdxpagan.com/2012/01/my-new-years-word-for-2012-expand/
As I'm doing several new courses this year my word is 'learning' or, if I were to chose the letters in the word verification box, my word wold be 'sucke'. Hmm!
What an interesting idea ! It is my first year I have chosen a word to accompany myself all year long … I will post-it on my mirror, my notebook but specially in my heart!
“WORDS” through them I will keep myself giving love, beauty, hope…allowing others to dream, to develop imagination, to be and feel like children again, telling traditional legends and recently written stories, tales and poems, looking face to face with each other.
I'd like to suggest for me the word, "Open". Open to listen fully, follow where I'm lead, drop the resistance coming from internal sabotage. Be willing....
For the past two days so many words for this year have come and gone in my head,and I identify with so many others'postings.
I'll take the plunge,commit myself, and dare to write "dare" as my word for 2012.
I accidentally must have checked the wrong circle and my comment was "anonymous.Now that does not fit in with "dare." I'll try again.
I once saw a lady who had 'YES' tattooed on to her arm. I thought that was very inspiring. I'm going with a phrase for the year: "I'll find a way."
My 2012 word is BALANCE. I'm a Libra so it's always seemed like a 'background' word when I've chosen prior years' focus words--not quite as important as 'congruence' or 'surrender' or 'honesty'. It's come into its own, though, this year. I'm committed to living a life--'the life we are given'--more fully balanced between the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical aspects of each day.
I've loved reading all of these. Words have such power... I'm biased, being a writer, but there is something about choosing ONE word & living with it that seems very powerful. Enjoy, all, and thanks for sharing.
My word will be "trust."
Specifically, trust in myself to take risks and make mistakes, and know that no matter what happens, it will be a learning experience that carries me through life.
My word came to me earlier today, Nurture. 'Care for and encourage the growth or development of'.
Nurturing myself,in order to offer nurture to others
I think I have finally discovered my word for this year. In 2010 it was "impermanence". I didn't choose a word in 2011 but this year I think my word is "stamina".
But not stamina in the Western "plunder it till it busts open dead" type of type A stamina. Long-term, enduring stamina.
I think we can all use MORE of your 2012 word! ;D
poetcolette ;)
I like the painting a work on a stone and keeping it within view for a daily reminder to myself. My word this year will be "Breathe". Let go of impatience, anger, frustration, negative emotions in general and just breathe in a fresh breath of peace and calmness.
Trust is my word for 2012
http://blog.charlottebabb.com/2012/01/04/trust-is-the-word-for-2012/
http://wordrustling.wordpress.com/whats-the-word/
More @ the word. Thank you, Fiona, for this idea!
As one prone to rest on my best intentions, I've decided to leave the past behind me and move "FORWARD". I give myself permission to be more aggressive and forge ahead with the gifts so given me.
Mine is activeinspiration... does that work?
My word this year will be bond, as in forming a bond with others. A reminder to myself of the importance to continue to work on strengthening the bond I have with my two sons age 11 and 15, and my husband. I tend to get very task oriented and lose sight of the importance of this. In addition to wanting to shut out the world when I'm tired. I don't want to forget how quickly time is passing and then they will be gone or have regrets.
Good to read all of these. Laurie - yes!
My word is Yes.
This is a new kind of Yes for me. It is Yes to things that scare me but light me up inside. It is No to Fear ruling the day. It is Yes to self care. It is Yes to Surrender. It is Yes to receiving with an open heart. It is Yes to people and situations where I used to want to hide under thetable. It is Yes to this life on planet Earth and embracing all of it.
It is Yes to Now, this moment, and to putting the past behind me.
Post a Comment