Sunday thoughts on resolutions, intentions, and One Word.....

It's the new year and I have spent the week reading a lot of blogs about resolutions. Some folks make them, some don't, but almost everyone agrees that resolutions are hard to stick to. In my reading rambles I stumbled across Susan over at Ripplespillers who doesn't make resolutions, she has "intentions". In her own words, here's why:

"Because that feels eminently more doable. They’re still goals, regardless of what I call them; and I’m still serious about tending them until they bloom in my life.
But there’s room for them to move, to grow, to change, to evolve. There’s space if I want to adjust them, expand them, or nudge them up a bit to add to them."

I like that. And her list of intentions for 2013 is really well thought out. Several of them resonate in my heart, they are definitely things I intend to spend more time on this year. Go read her post, I bet she will inspire you too.

As I continued my wanderings around cyberspace I found another concept I really like in place of resolutions. It is called One Word. The idea is to pick a word that represents what you want to achieve in the coming year.

I first read about the One Word over at Successfully Underachieving, where Elizabeth caught my attention with this statement about resolutions:

"Making resolutions for the year can be very helpful. Some are very competitive and so they get excited and invigorated during the new year because so many other people are setting their goals. For me, adding pressure to the mix just makes me want to retreat. I have to make my goals a little more flexible so as to not make my inner 3 year old decide she doesn't want to do them."

I definitely have an inner 3 year old who kicks and screams at being told what to do. It's why I don't make resolutions (or join dieting contests). So, the idea of a less structured focus on the New Year really appeals to me.

Elizabeth also provided a link to another post, Always Well Within, that I found had some very helpful guidelines for picking your word. I won't list them all here because I want to encourage you to go visit the page yourself, But here are the ones that helped me the most:

• Is there a quality you would like to grow in your life?
• Is there a quality that you would like to diminish?  If so, what’s the opposite?
• Can you encapsulate a goal for the year in one word?
• What do you want your year to look like?

I will tell you that Elizabeth's word is " Mindful". I came really close to making it my own word, but then I realized I was cheating because I wasn't putting in the effort to really think about it. So I did....

While I was thinking I stumbled upon a few other blogs on the subject of choosing one word for 2013. Two of them really stood out for me:

Kerry over at smiffbib (which is one of the very first blogs I ever put in my reading list) chose the word "Palpable". I really like that word and she explains her thoughts for it's choice so well:

" I want to be real… Involved… acknowledged… hands on… I don’t want to be invisible"

I think that is something most of us can relate to. Kerry closed her post with this:

"I hope this New Year brings you so much Joy that it is Palpable!"

Palpable Joy! How beautiful is that?!?!

So far I have Mindful and Palpable, both great words. But not my word. I will tell you my word in a minute, but I have one more word to share with you. I found this one over at Periphery, where Tangled Lou choose "Space". The scifi geek in me quickly added the words "the final frontier" before I hushed her and kept reading. I'm glad I did because Lou had some great thoughts on her word. I will give you just a few, but really, don't be lazy; go read her post for yourself. You won't regret it!

"Space: between breaths, between tasks, between thoughts. Relish the rhythm of things
 Space: room. Space to grow, space to learn, space to achieve, space to fail, space to try again. For myself and for others.
 Space: for myself. Not selfish-get-away-from-me space but the kind of space where regeneration takes place before I get to the get-off-me-right-now point."

Lou made me look at space in a new way. I plan to bookmark her post and reread it throughout the year to remind myself of all the things space can be and how important it is.
Now we have Mindful, Palpable, and Space. All great words (intentions), given with a fresh perspective that made me stop and think. So, what is my word? Really, it wasn't too hard for me to come up with. It was right in front of me the whole time. Can you guess?

My word is Faithful.

Button made by Melanie at Only a Breath

 When I stopped to give it a moments thought, the answer was pretty obvious.

• Is there a quality you would like to grow in your life? Faithfulness
• Is there a quality that you would like to diminish? Fear/anxiety If so, what’s the opposite? Faith
• Can you encapsulate a goal for the year in one word? Faithful
• What do you want your year to look like? I want to look back and see that I have followed the path God placed before me. That I have been faithful and He has worked through that faithfulness. I want God to work miracles in me and through me to touch the lives of those I love. I want to be faithful to myself and my beliefs, but open to growing and learning from others. That is my intention for 2013, in one word.

My search for my word was a long and winding road that lead me right back to why I started this blog in the first place, to grow my faith and share my journey. I suppose I could have found my word without ever leaving my own corner of the blogosphere, but I would have missed out on so much! Susan, Elizabeth, Kerry, and Lou gave me some wonderful things to consider. They gave me new direction and inspired me. And that is what blogging is all about, sharing your journey in the hopes that someone else may find something of value in your words. Ladies, I have to say, Mission accomplished!  

I don't know where my word is going to take me in the coming months, but I am looking forward to the journey. I hope you are too. I hope maybe what I have shared today will inspire you in some new way. 

Whether we call them resolutions, intentions, or one word, the idea of new beginnings and fresh starts is a good one. God promises us new mercies every morning. A clean slate every day. I plan to embrace that in 2013! 

Oh, and if you are interested in getting a one word button like mine (with your own word) go visit Melanie over at Only a Breath for instructions on how to get yours! Thank you Melanie for my button, I love it!! :)