This year, MY ONE WORD is HONOR. For the past few years, I've picked one word to shape my year. We'll see where it pops up over the course of 2010. The purpose of my one word is to provide clarity and focus. We all choose resolutions - things to do and not do - each year. I've found that choosing one word is a motive check. It digs into the intention behind that list of to-dos. It focuses in on the more important person we want to be. Click Here to help find your one word for 2010.
Of course, that word played a part in what I would give up this year. Every year since 1991, I've given up some thing. I think the first year was fried foods. [I was in college at Peace and remember wondering if fried rice counted.] Mostly, I've given up food: chocolate (big mistake), wheat thins, soft drinks, diet coke, beer/wine/liquor, gum. Last year I gave up all candy but gum. I've also given up Wal-Mart (which lasted nine years), gossip, cursing. I've even given up giving up - and taken a few years off!
This year, I wanted to give up something different. Amy suggested giving up something new each month. I liked it: a retrospective of twenty years of giving up. I thought about doing something new each month: a new recipe each day for January, a different outfit for every day in February, a movie a day in March. None of those felt quite right.
I hit on the right thing on January 1. As I was cleaning up Christmas decor, I thought: why am I holding onto these broken lights/used ribbons/crushed boxes/burned candle? My idea: get rid of them all and give up something new each day. I have given up the boxes, candle, ribbons and lights, plus, a pair of Asics, an unopened board game and a bag full of socks. Yesterday, I gave up two pairs of pants to a friend. Today, I gave away two journals to Suze and Jacob as they left on an adventure halfway across the country and encouraged them to write, draw or scribble about their journey.
In the process, I've organized three drawers and half my closet. But, most important, I realized that it is an act of honor. The words associated with the Hebrew word for HONOR are abundance, riches, splendor. If I can honor someone else by giving my blessings away, then I am becoming the person I want to be.
TaTaForNow
1 comment:
Love it! If you run out of things to organize, you can come to my house.
Post a Comment