Well here we are a little over a week into 2015. We've reached that cold and snowy part of winter - the part I love best of all. It is now in the snow and cold that we welcome the New Year. Did you make a resolution or two for this year? Maybe you like to have a motto or a bible verse that you use to shape your year. Personally I like words. A lot of people like to pick a single word to act as a guidepost for their year. You see words like: Hope or Brave, Peace or Purpose, Care, Authentic, Open and Joy. Every year I think it is hard to pick just one word. There are so many good options. In fact in the past I've chosen more than one. Last year I had four words I used as guides: Read, Walk, Make and Live - they were symbols for the way I wanted to live, I want to live a life were I learn and create and grow. I loved those words and going into 2015 I thought I'd just keep them around for another year.
But then as 2014 was fading I had this thought, a silly thought really, I decided I needed to get up and see the first sunrise of 2015. I just had to greet the New Year at it's first light. So I did, I woke up in the dark, pulled on a sweater and my boots and armed with a cup of gas station coffee I climbed a little hill at a near by nature preserve and I met the New Year at the break of it's first day. In the cold and the wind I shot up prayers like fireworks, prayers of thanksgiving and hope and peace and promise. My hands were red and my nose was numb, but my heart was full. In following through on this one silly thing I was so filled with joy. I had acted on this little thought and it was wonderful.
And then I knew. I knew that I wanted to have this be the thing that I chose to guide my year. I didn't pick a word for 2015, it came to me. Right there in that morning sun:
Action.
When I take personality tests I am firmly in the "thinker" camp, never am I ever categorized as a "Doer". Ask me how to solve a problem and I can give you 17 options. Ask me to actually solve the problem and I can find 17 ways to distract myself from the task. I have a list a mile long or people I'm planning to call or email or get together for coffee with. I have selves of supplies for never started projects and stacks of half finished books. I So you see Action is a good word for me. I could use a little more follow through in my life. So maybe it's getting up to see the sunrise or actually getting that cup of coffee with a friend, it might mean taking a step out of my comfort zone or inviting someone new into my world. I know been writing much lately, but I think in a year being guided by the word Action I'll end up having a lot more to say. I'm not sure how 2015 will shake out, but I'm really looking forward to seeing it unfold!
Love,
Libby
P.S. I have a sneaky suspicion that part of why my word for 2015 is Action is because I've been reading
Annie F. Downs book Let's All Be Brave. If your looking for something to read to help you with your 2015 goals, you might want to check it out!