Good morning! I know that many people are keen on resolutions for the New Year but I have also been reading on blogs, Facebook and even on Pinterest about taking your inspiration for the year from one word.
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I have been pondering this, and have been trying to come up with just one word. A word that I would inspire me or guide me like a beacon through the good and the bad of the next year and propel my life in a new direction. Is that too much to ask?
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Perhaps hope? Hope for people to be more kind. Hope for a better world with less violence. Hope for me to be less sensitive and quick to try to solve all of the worlds problems or at least the problems in my little world.
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Or maybe simplicity? To simplify my life and rid it of clutter, be it stuff or people that are weighing me down.
Then again, maybe transformation? To transform myself from a sugar loving, Coke Zero addict to a more conscientious eater who springs from the bed every morning to go for a morning walk.
I could chose any number of words but I think that they would be too limiting to one aspect of my life, be it my mind, body, spirituality or growth.
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Therefore this year my word is gratitude. Grateful that I have a wonderful life, with a loving husband and family that are always just a phone call away and a beautiful pup that has given me more love and joy in the last twelve years than I could ever imagine.
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Grateful that I have my health, and have the ability to go to the doctor, something that many do not have. Something that frankly that I took for granted until this past Summer when I thought I might have cancer.
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I want to enjoy all of the simple, little things in life that I often take for granted; the ability to get up every day in my comfy home and to have a cup of cocoa as I sit and watch the birds enjoying their morning breakfast. To walk and enjoy the sand between my toes at the beach or the feel of the cobblestone under my feet as I walk in Paris each December.
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I want to look at each day and savor the moments and time spent with people I love, or doing what I enjoy, like blogging, reading or baking.
I know that real life will throw me a few days where it will be a struggle to be grateful; when I have no heat, when someone is mean or critical, when little children are gunned down in their school and I cannot not find the answer why. When life hands me lemons I will try to be grateful for the lessons not just the lemonade.
This year I know I have so much to be grateful for. I have my health, my family, my life, my education, my blog and so many wonderful and inspiring blog friends. These strangers who have reached out and offered me kind words on a bad day, inspiration, an education and the wealth of their knowledge on everything from antiques, textiles, books, travel, food and more and in the process have become trusted and great friends. How could I not wake up everyday and be grateful?
Do you have a word for this year? I would love to know what it is and why you chose it.
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Enjoy your day!
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My chosen word would be "Happiness". I've always believed happy is a choice not a gift. Smile more, laugh more and try and see the funny in what life throws at you. I know there are times when the funny can't be found. At those times choose to focus on something else. Your unhappy feelings can't change horrific situations but you can choose not to focus on it. This may sound selfish but I believe it is a survival technique.
Hope you can live by your chosen word.
Di
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Di you could not be more correct. Happiness is indeed a choice and I think if more people made the choice to be happy life would be so much more pleasant and peaceful.
I hope you are having a great week, Elizabeth
I think gratitude is a perfect word. To take time to think about our blessings and give AND SHOW thanks. I think we all are guilty of getting so caught up in the hectic pace of life that its easy to put our gratitude aside……when we are more conscious of it, I think we are more aware, empathetic and kinder to the world around us. Thanks for a great message to start my day!
Life is a challenge some days to be sure and I have decided that instead of dwelling on the little pain in the but things I am really going to try to be grateful for the little lessons and pleasures in life. Easier said than done to be sure.
Have a great week!
Gratitude is such a lovely word! I love thanking people who do things for me – it's something that is very important to me. But, I need to learn to have more gratitude towards the blessings in my life…it's easy to fall into the "taking things for granted" trap.
Have a lovely day!! xoxoxox
Sandy you are so very right, it is easy to take the little things in life for granted.
my word is the same as last year: healing.
how i love your word though. it's the secret to well-being. to spiritual maturity. to depression. thank you for sharing your heart and wisdom in this meaningful post.
smiles.
michele
Michele, healing is a beautiful word! It truly is the secret to all of the above.
Good afternoon my friend! My morning started off very late and I am barely coming here, but the message is just as powerful and meaningful, no matter how late I am in receiving it. Gratitude is the word I would pick for myself. Yes, gratitude, that's it. By focusing in on this, I just may be able to see my next journey for the year for what it really is: A LIFE LESSON and not necessarily a failure.
You are just the best….the doorbell just rang and guess what I got?I need to open it….
Anita
Hello! I hope that you take some time to savor your time off from teaching…you have had a golden opportunity that few are afforded! So many life lessons to propel you in the direction of your true dream and passion.