Tuesday, January 15, 2013

2013: The year that will be—an idea

[Apologies if you saw this last week—was tinkering with my draft and accidentally hit publish!]
*sparklingly (http://sparklingly.blogspot.com)
{ Soho office  |  14 January 2013 }


I've hinted a little bit about the things I've been thinking about recently—but it took me a while to turn them into words.

The gist of it is, I want to make some changes—and I'm not talking the physical/wellness ones, which you know I've got a pretty good handle on already, but bigger life changes. This isn't just about New Year's resolutions, but anytime resolutions. There are things I want to achieve, to do, to experience, to see, to be...but I let the mundane get in the way. I don't make time for the things I should, and then I wonder why I don't feel fulfilled.

Do you know of the practice of choosing one word to be your "theme" of the year? I've seen it floating around online every January, but never thought about doing it for myself, but this year? This year I shall.

The first word that popped into my mind when I considered what I wanted to inspire and influence my year has been floating around for two weeks, and it still feels right, so I share it with you:


Manifest
adjective: Clear or obvious to the eye or mind
verb: Display or show by one's acts or appearance; demonstrate

It feels right for so many reasons. I know there's something deeper, better, more meaningful in me, and this year, the year that may be one of many transitions for me, I want to dig down and see something that should be manifest to me already,but I've been too blockheaded or lazy to see it. And, I want to manifest feelings and emotions that will help me to be better. A better person living a better life and treating others better.

All this was on my mind at the end of last year and then I read Gretchen Rubin's Happiness books and something clicked: only I can be in control of how I feel and how happy I am. If I'm not happy, guess whose fault that is?

Reading them another super simple thing clicked: I LIVE for to-do lists, for charts and graphs and things I can check off. So why hadn't I written down the things I want to do and then the things I need to do to make them happen? Gretchen does monthly resolutions, but not something as airy as "be nicer", instead actual actions she can take like, "Don't expect praise", "Don't make my husband my dumping ground", "Leave things unsaid", "Sing in the morning", etc.

And to further pet my hyper-organized self, she clumped all of her resolutions into big buckets for things she could work on each month like: Energy, Marriage, Career & Leisure, Parenthood, etc. 

My first thought was, a woman who gets me! My second was: how come I'm not doing this?

[This is getting long, so my "formula" & plan for doing something about this are coming up next!]

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XOXO,
J.