Happy New Year and Word of the Year

 

Happy New Year! I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful holiday season. For me, the season is a blur. Wasn’t I just buying my Thanksgiving bird YESTERDAY? How is it possible that it really is time to store away all my Christmas décor for another year? Even in the midst of the holiday season, I realized that time was moving at warp speed. I believe part of the reason is that my youngest child is now eighteen. He is a senior in high school, attempting to plan out his future while cramming as much as possible into NOW. Which means less and less time at home. I get it. I really do. After all, it is what we parents do. We train our children to leave us. But knowing that doesn’t make the process any easier. My husband and I are definitely in a time of transition into a new season of life. But I digress…

I have been reflecting on life; like many do this time of year. I gave up listing off resolutions several years ago. I now assign themes to the year. The “working title” for 2014’s theme is Excellent Womanhood. We will come back to that on another day.

This year, I have also decided to add a Word of the Year. Often a Word of the Year and a Theme of the Year are/can be the same thing. You only need one or the other. As I worked on my theme, a word kept popping into my head. One that I knew I needed to pay attention to. One that I need to practice. However, in and of itself, it didn’t make the cut for the Theme of the Year. It is, however, the PERFECT complement to ANY theme. Ready? My Word of the Year is……

 

Present

…..as in being present in the moment. I don’t know about you, but I live WAY too much of my life on autopilot. I pull into the driveway, yet cannot remember the trip home. I look down at an empty plate and barely have a memory of tasting the food. My mind starts wandering—did I check the mail? turn off the oven? when can I run that errand—when I should be listening to what Man is saying to me NOW.

If we are not living in the PRESENT—if we are busy regretting the past or micro-managing the future—all our days will soon become one travelling at warp speed BLUR. And if you have visited here semi-recently, you know that I have decided that I need to actively PURSUE joy. And just let me take a moment to say that a lot has happened since that post that is NOT conducive to joy….

Okay…where was I? Oh, yes, pursuing joy. I am hoping that making a conscience effort to live in the present will also help me to be more joyful.

So…turn off the television, stop the endless multi-tasking and join me in the present. Who’s with me?

Do you have any resolutions? A Theme and/or Word of the Year? Share them in the comments….include a link if you’ve written about them on your blog.

And since EVERY blog post should have at least one photo….here is the scene outside my door….courtesy of Hercules.

You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Until next time….

Sammi