Celebrate - Live It!*

In a phone conversation with a kindred spirit this past week, we were both weighing in on the good, the very good, and some of the bad, not a place we choose to dwell in, the bad that is from time to time in our faces, and asked ourselves where would we both be if we hadn't risked, stretched, studied, examined, tried, failed, tried, succeeded, etc. etc.?......and again, risked, stretched, over and over and over.

Well, I for one, and I think she also would say, might be in a heck of a depressed and complicated life.  I've learned and when I don't remember, try to remind myself that I am not responsible for everyone else's happiness.  I am responsible for my own life and happiness.  I can't make life easy for someone else nor can I predict, outline, insist upon the way or style in which another person lives, breathes and has their being.    I can only affect my own being, my own actions, my own happiness.

That being said, I can be momentarily – maybe a loooooong momentarily – distracted, derailed, disappointed, sad, depressed, angry, just down right miserable about another's actions AND I know I can not stay there in those down places.  It won't help the other and, shoot, the other probably won't even know or suspect that they've affected me with their actions! 

All of this is to say, what works for me and for my spirited kin is that risking, stretching, trying, examining sometimes seems counter productive yet most of the time brings us out to that beautiful rainbow's end with the pot of gold – our lives –  just waiting to be lived!  

Celebrate - Live It! – Words I'm living by and into this year – this is #3 of the Celebrate – Live It! theme*

2012 Word for the Year

                   

 CELEBRATE

2012

This year could be comfortably lived reflecting on the accomplishments, the occasions, the joy, the experiences of my wonderful year 2011.  So, rather than placing too many plans on the table in the first month of 2012 in order to outdo my 2011, I plan to CELEBRATE the past, the future and the NOW of 2012.

What word(s) will describe your past, future and the NOW of 2012?

Happy New Year!

  "Tattoo Tileworks" - 16"x20"

More Words - Meaningful Intentions

What a nice response I received from a number of readers sharing THEIR 2011words. I won't attempt to share readers' full responses but please feel free to ponder others' words for yourself and/or continue to hold your own words in the forefront of your consciousness.  Simple words can impact subtly or dramatically impact your daily activities!  Maybe you'll want to try on some of these -

Expectation

Procrastination

Bless

Essence

Connections

Integrity

Authenticity

Joy

Fearless

Creative

Energized

You may find that even words you would find puzzling as inspiration are out there in the universe to boost another to learn new habits, live in different ways, recognize inner strengths and raise expectations of one's own capabilities.  We're amazing creatures meant to share in the fullness of our own Creator's blessings.

Any words you want to add to the list? Maybe you've no need to share your words with anyone else  and the words will just reside in your brain or on the top of your desk for daily or occasional viewing:)

Remember, sharing sometimes magnifies the reality of a concept or word's relevance to being and doing.........

January - almost gone

I suspect that New Year's Resolutions are still made by many and even kept by a few for a while.  Garnering advice from the blogosphere, I gave up resolutions a few years ago in favor of a single "word" for the year.  For 2010, the word for me was SAVOR.  Indeed it turned out to be a year to do just that!  Even if only the books I read, the movies I saw, Life Coach Tonya with whom I work(ed), times spent with old and new friends and family, travel, the Big 5K - even if those events were the only ones to be savored (and there were more), the year was a full and rewarding one!

Continuing to Savor the events in my life, this year's words are going under the suggested label (from LC/Tonya:) of "Beacon Words" and they are:

Fearless/Creative/Energized

Working with this combination of words in my head for almost a month now - even as my spouse and I traveled, I recognized that often when I thought the word "fearless," I sort of giggled and thought -"who are you kidding?!" -  THEN ignoring my dopey lizard brain and to emphasize my resolve, I'd say the word out loud......other two words, almost the same reaction.  

This week upon returning from our travel (SE Asia cities - amazing!),  with some trepidation, I stepped into my studio to continue working on the upcoming one woman art show I've scheduled for the month of June and my first thoughts were - "what was I thinking, do I really think I can pull this  event together, I haven't a creative thought in my head?!"  That's fearless, huh?

Then reciting the three word mantra out loud several times, I began - I could give you the brush by brush story, but bottom line is - that was Wednesday, this is Saturday; I have two pieces completed now that I had begun before we left town, one grand re-work going, and two brand new pieces begun that I had only envisioned prior to my last time in the studio.  

I don't mean this post to be about my prolific talent or about brainwashing, or mantras;  it's about reminding myself to believe in my abilities and how with just a few adjustment/suggestions from a stranger (LC/Tonya again), I've set out on a wonderful journey of my own to manifest all the sleeping imagination that has been living inside me for years - thus the fulfillment this year for me will be proceeding boldly - Fearless, Creative and Energized. And you......do you have a word or beacon words for the year?  Could you use a little kick from a stranger to get your brain and act in order?

The Pen, the Paper, the Gift

The pen, the paper, the bounty,
the magical trick
The pen - the wand in motion, consummating the word

Planted, pregnant, bursting
Feast or famine, the mind issues the fruit of its labor

The pen, the paper - the Benevolent or the magical -
 your wrist and pen dancing, scratching,
exposing your meek or plentiful harvest

SAVOR - check in

In January, along with thousands(?) of other bloggers, I selected a word and wrote about its meaning to me as my "word of the year."  I did a journaling exercise yesterday to check in and and see how I'm doing living into that word and maybe, I think, it's working for me. 

SAVOR is turning out to be a perfect word for the this year as I am blessed with existing and near future opportunities in which I can relax, relish, and wallow in the word.  Opportunities of love, travel, mind expansion, improving my well body image for my age (there's a lot of rhetoric about age/activity/what's normal, what's acceptable - wrapped up on that last phrase, but I won't digress into that subject right now!) I want to savor the goodness which I am steeped in every day.  Life is too good to forget!

Embracing and living the word savor on a daily basis means, for me, that my inner self is capable of shining and expanding.  That growth and shine undoubtedly reflects, even if only a little, on those I meet on a daily basis, with their pleasure in receiving often being reflected back to me and maybe even to others.  It seems a small effort with a big return result.

I attempt to live and embody this word by sharing it verbally with those I encounter in and through my blogsite.  By savoring the goodness of one's life, I believe I/we/you can expand and heal ourselves both inwardly and outwardly - literally strengthening our personal brain's capacity and power.

In reflecting upon savoring, I wonder why I would ever shrink from such a word, a concept; perhaps these reasons?

Carelessness, ennui, selfishness, lack of awareness for all the goodness in which I am surrounded; shrinking from the word and idea, for me, is to be unappreciative, ungrateful.  Perhaps I can take steps to raise my awareness  by slowing down, stopping, assessing where I am; by taking those deep bellows breaths that my yoga instructor is always touting; by smiling, my favorite of all exercises.  Smiling, meaning it and offering up a thanksgiving prayer for the ability of recall

I've been given a golden opportunity this year and am living it now; a wonderful time away from home and the cold to being here on the island of Maui.  What more delightful savoring can be done than just being here, sharing physical intimacy with my beloved spouse, feeling the soft breeze, hearing and seeing the ocean, snorkeling with fishes and the huge turtle of the day this a.m., then sharing those delights with you and with each other.

I hope that even if you are still seeing snow come down, or maybe you even have a cold, or as so many are right now - out of work - that somewhere in your day you can find a moment to savor that which is good in your life.  Savor for yourself, share with others, offer up thanksgiving.  

If you have any personal savoring experiences of today or this week or this year, I'd love to hear about them.  In the meantime - enjoy and SAVOR.