Listening: for the still small Voice... And to Avett Brothers and Bon Iver.
Eating: Cutie oranges and maybe one too many chocolate chip cookies
Watching: Downton Abbey, so help me...
Wearing: Yoga pants...and actually doing yoga in them
Finding: Others to share a dream
Accomplishing: My goals. So far so good. The novel is coming along nicely.
Planning: A few tweaks to the goals as I learn what works & what doesn't.
Dreaming: Yes
Thinking: Challenging but positive thoughts
Wanting: To be swept off my feet
Needing: Community
Feeling: Hopeful
Enjoying: Unusually mild and sunny days
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Word Jumble
I'm not one for making big New Year's Resolutions. (I prefer making Goals. Yes, there's a difference...if only in my mind.) But I am one for retrospect, for learning what we can from where we've been. AND for looking forward in anticipation to what lies ahead, as any good wayfarer should. So, I did a little mental exercise over the weekend. (I found the workbook here.) Good stuff.
One of the questions was "If you lived and breathed your word every day in 2012, what would be different for you?" I tried and tried but I just wasn't feeling "Spiral" as my word of the year. I couldn't figure out how to live it and breathe it Every Day.
So, I modified my word for 2012.
Spiral will still be a theme. I still very much want to embrace the spiral journeys in my life. But as far as a grounding touchstone throughout the year, it just didn't hold water to what I really want to be about in 2012.
This year I want to "Aspire." To rouse and awaken. To reach out. On purpose. To mean to do things and then to actually follow through. And in order to do that I need real tangible goals, which are already beginning to take form. They are similar goals as in the past, but (and here comes the spiral theme) they've become clearer and more defined.
I can live and breathe "aspire" every day. Sure the newness and excitement will wane in a few weeks. But then I will come back to this word and remember. Then when it fades again, I will remember again. Remember to not waste time or thoughts or ideas. Remember to think of what glories I may be missing out on in the self-indulgence of laziness, junk food, and bad TV.
I have not been living at my best lately, and lingering there is doing me no favors.
"I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright
But still I'll pray, till Heaven I've found,
Lord, lead me on to higher ground."
One of the questions was "If you lived and breathed your word every day in 2012, what would be different for you?" I tried and tried but I just wasn't feeling "Spiral" as my word of the year. I couldn't figure out how to live it and breathe it Every Day.
So, I modified my word for 2012.
Spiral will still be a theme. I still very much want to embrace the spiral journeys in my life. But as far as a grounding touchstone throughout the year, it just didn't hold water to what I really want to be about in 2012.
This year I want to "Aspire." To rouse and awaken. To reach out. On purpose. To mean to do things and then to actually follow through. And in order to do that I need real tangible goals, which are already beginning to take form. They are similar goals as in the past, but (and here comes the spiral theme) they've become clearer and more defined.
I can live and breathe "aspire" every day. Sure the newness and excitement will wane in a few weeks. But then I will come back to this word and remember. Then when it fades again, I will remember again. Remember to not waste time or thoughts or ideas. Remember to think of what glories I may be missing out on in the self-indulgence of laziness, junk food, and bad TV.
I have not been living at my best lately, and lingering there is doing me no favors.
"I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright
But still I'll pray, till Heaven I've found,
Lord, lead me on to higher ground."
Friday, January 6, 2012
Instant Favorite
I know I'm late to the game on this as season 2 is about to start on Sunday. And I may or may not have only seen one episode so far. But OH. MY. GOSH! This show is incredible. I was hooked in the first 5 minutes. The story, the writing, the cast -- all of it. Perfection.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
New Year, New Word
First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I went home to Alabama for Christmas, and it was nice and relaxing and all kinds of good for my soul. Writing and blogging and pretty much everything else was put on hold for heaps of family time. It's hard to do much else when you have THESE turkeys to contend with.
(How did they get so TALL?!)
Anywhoo...
Last year I implemented the idea of having a "word of the year." And it was good. So good in fact that I'm keeping the word, LOOK, and adding another word. It sounds kind of silly, but hear me out. It's "SPIRAL." And it's inspired (sort of) by a line from T.S. Eliot.
(How did they get so TALL?!)
Anywhoo...
Last year I implemented the idea of having a "word of the year." And it was good. So good in fact that I'm keeping the word, LOOK, and adding another word. It sounds kind of silly, but hear me out. It's "SPIRAL." And it's inspired (sort of) by a line from T.S. Eliot.
"We shall not cease from exploration,
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
I've noticed over the past couple of months (or maybe decades) that I'm resistant to covering the same territory twice. Like driving to work by one route, but coming home another. Not wanting to retrace my steps. Thinking I've gained that understanding or seen that thing already. I want to be challenged with something new. I want adventure and exploration. Both physically and emotionally... mentally...spiritually.
And yet, I constantly find myself in circular journeys, like Eliot says, arriving right back where I've started. Only not exactly. My journeys feel more spiral than circular. More like overlapping routes that seem to cover the same ground, the same lessons. Except that they are never exactly the same because I am never exactly the same.
With each new turn I bring along a new layer of knowledge and experience that I didn't have the first or second time around. And the scenery or the instruction or the truth or whatever it is I'm supposed to be learning this leg of the journey gets pressed a little deeper. Like an artist with a painting, more color and shape are added. More detail and dimension. The picture grows clear and vivid with each new round.
And so this year, I will try and stop fighting what seems to be sameness. And I will "look" a little deeper to see what new thing there is to see in that spot or on that path I've crossed a thousand times. I will embrace the spiral journey, absorbing each new layer, allowing it to take root and be Gain. Allowing the new details to take hold and become more...me.
And yet, I constantly find myself in circular journeys, like Eliot says, arriving right back where I've started. Only not exactly. My journeys feel more spiral than circular. More like overlapping routes that seem to cover the same ground, the same lessons. Except that they are never exactly the same because I am never exactly the same.
With each new turn I bring along a new layer of knowledge and experience that I didn't have the first or second time around. And the scenery or the instruction or the truth or whatever it is I'm supposed to be learning this leg of the journey gets pressed a little deeper. Like an artist with a painting, more color and shape are added. More detail and dimension. The picture grows clear and vivid with each new round.
And so this year, I will try and stop fighting what seems to be sameness. And I will "look" a little deeper to see what new thing there is to see in that spot or on that path I've crossed a thousand times. I will embrace the spiral journey, absorbing each new layer, allowing it to take root and be Gain. Allowing the new details to take hold and become more...me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)