This is a guest post by Joanne Miller. She is my wife and affectionately known as Queen Mother in the 48Days community. She writes, serves the needs of others and spends time with her grandchildren. She doesn’t use Twitter or Facebook but has more connections than anyone I know. If you’d like to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
This seems to be the year for people to latch onto a specific theme word for their lives. Just one descriptive word they envision as a thread running through their daily busyness. One simple, yet powerful word.
Our daughter and son-in-law have chosen to live with AWE this year. To open their eyes and their souls to experience AWE in everything they do. They rarely let a moment of AWE pass by their three young girls. If it is important and exciting to those girls, it is important and exciting to their parents. And each discussion reflects the AWE of life, adventure and gratitude and becomes a learning experience.
The interesting result in choosing a word for your theme is that you tend to see more examples of how that word plays out in your life. It’s becomes a reticular activator. For example, if you buy a red Volvo, suddenly you are amazed how many red Volvo’s you see because you have released the trigger for seeing red Volvos. Ashley and Nathan are now finding AWE creeping continuously into their lives in amazing proportions.
My friend, Jill Davis has chosen the word JOY to fill her life this year. It sounds so simplistic, yet when you have experienced a number of devastating losses in your life, finding JOY isn’t as easy as it may sound. Jill is choosing to let JOY trump the sadness of loss and hardship, finding ways to see the positive outcome rather than allowing the negatives to creep into her life and permeate her outlook. Suddenly she is finding JOY in unexpected places and you can see the glow in her countenance.
Since the first of the year, I have had a strong urge to purge. I think the idea first got into my head when I visited Cliff Ravenscraft’s home office and was struck by how he had several computers and electronic gadgets at his streamlined and uncluttered desk. I saw no piles of paper, notes-to-self or cabinets full of files. Not even a waste basket. When I later commented on this phenomenon, he said he went paperless a long time ago. He sounded like, “You mean you haven’t?”
I have also been reading the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown. Asking myself what is essential and what is just clutter in my life has been top of mind lately. The word PURGE means more to me than clearing out my office and other parts of my house. There are things in my inner life I need to purge. There may even be a few relationships I need to reevaluate.
Going paperless is a very scary proposition to me. It was just a year ago at this time when I reluctantly switched to putting my schedule into my iPhone instead of carrying around a small schedule book. That was a big deal for me. In fact, I still have at least ten years of schedule books in a cabinet…..just in case I ever need to look back on what I did on a specific day six years ago. Ok, I know it’s silly. Believe me, my kids have already told me they will throw them away soon as I die so I might as well save them the trouble.
So since the beginning of the year the word PURGE has become my mantra. I have cleaned out drawers, cabinets, closets and I am now working on my desk, file cabinets (yes I have several), and the piles of papers and books I have in every nook and cranny of my office. I am tired of the “paper jungle”. I have two computers to hold everything I need. This is a new era for me (ok….I’m a little behind schedule). I can now throw out the pages of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott because if I want to read it (I haven’t in years) I can go on-line and see it in seconds. I can throw out the files of revisions and rewrites of the children’s books I published years ago. I am eager to see the clear top of my desk without dozen’s of notes-to-self and piles of papers I will get to “some day”. Now, I am not delusional. I will likely not never have an office like Cliff Ravenscraft’s. There are just some papers and files I have to keep. It’s in my DNA. But the purging I am doing is a beginning and I am happy to have this year be my year of PURGE.
Dan says his word for the year is, “Find the Music”. “That’s not one word,” I told him. He told me, “I don’t follow the rules.” Well, that’s an understatement!
What is your word for the year? What would you like to be your reticular activator? A word that is the underlying thread of your days?
Here are some ideas: Play, Laugh, Explore, Believe, Intentional, Listen, Grow, Gratitude, Beauty, Possible. Find a word that resonates. The possibilities are endless.
Joanne – love your attitude of letting it go – when we do this, it just makes room for all the greatness that is trying to come our way. Way to go – love it!!!
Hmmm….if I were to have a word this year it would be Ta-Da – living life with a sense of wonderment, appreciation, gratitude, celebration, and reaching into akwardness/out of comfort zone/fear for greatness, all while embracing my wonderful imperfect self.
Thank you for sharing this post!
Jen, Ta-Da fits you perfectly Jen! Love it! And you!
My words for the year are “Destiny & Purpose”. Ok, I know that’s two words, but like Dan, I don’t play by the rules either 🙂
Both are excellent words Melvyn and playing by the rules isn’t all it’s cut out to be! Hope your year holds a new depth of discovery and purpose!
Word of the year is such a great concept. I may have to take purge as mine for next year – I have ten years of datebooks too.
Ha! So glad I am not the only one with all those date books. Purging them is still on the bubble, Jill! hugs!
Oh, you know I love to simplify Joanne! It feels like breathing in spring! Love this and you!
Aww..thanks Claudia! I do know you love to simplify and I’m working that direction. Little baby steps! Hugs!
Eight years ago a girlfriend came over to the room I was renting with a friend who was and organizer and cleaned up my life. We spent 35 hours between the three of us and threw out six large hefty bags of garbage. I kept pay stubs from 1992, random article clippings from newspapers and magazines, old bills, etc. Everything left was organized in neat files and my place felt incredible. It cost me $300 for her friend’s help and was some of the best money I’ve ever spend. I’ve pretty much kept the system in place ever since but now I need to get a scanner due to all of the receipts from my online sales business.
I tried to go without my written planner for a couple of years and just bought one this year. There’s something about writing things down that helps me more than anything online can.
Also, I think creative people are prone to using a pen and napkin or scrap of paper to write an idea down. Most creative people that I know can relate to this. My closet has a leather bag full of songs and lyrics I wrote that are in no hurry to be trashed. I remember the old quote: “If a cluttered desk is a symbol of a cluttered mind, what is an empty desk a symbol of?”.
I love this, Sutton. You and I have a lot in common. I DO have notes with writing ideas, quotations, thoughts, etc that I simply have to keep for future reference. Dan can put things like that in his computer. If I put them there, I can’t find them again. I know where my notes are…usually. Being the creative person I am, I will never totally get rid of the paper clutter. I still love the art of writing and the feel of pen and paper. It is a part of who I am. Great comment! Thanks!
I would chose a phrase: Intentional Focus.’ I need to get over my ‘fear of greatness,’ as Jen says below.
By intentional focus, Charlotte, you will become more aware of being in the moment, listening well and seeing more sharply. That is a good way to live for all of us. Great thought!
As a minimalist I love it Joanne! My word for this year is Adventure. I ordered this plaque and hung it by the front door because it just screams adventure!
I LOVE IT, Emily! Just seeing how the word is made with license plates from different states shouts Adventure! As I get older, I want all my days to be filled with excitement and adventure and fun. Life is too short and getting shorter each year. Thanks for sharing this! I wish you many GREAT adventures ahead.
Last years word was freedom. Freedom from carrying around too much baggage, the majority of which wasn’t mine to carry. This years word is fearless. No more being held back by the fear of the unknown, or the what ifs. Going for the Gusto!
Terri, I have seen you break out of some of the bondage you were in mentally and I am so excited for you. You have blossomed so much and I love your word for the year. Going on the Ultimate Advantage cruise with us will be a good way to live with GUSTO and great fun and memories. I know you are excited and we are thrilled you are going. If I were to PICK a word for you it would be “Blossoming!” love you, friend.
Well then, I shall Blossom Fearlessly!!!
Our word this year is “Engagement” – we want to grow deeper with the relationships that matter the most to us. Absolutely love the word “purge” – the older I get, the more simpler I want my life to be. Finding time to “purge” is tricky though 🙂
You are right Pei…..finding the time to purge IS tricky. Sometimes while in conversation on the phone or with Dan at the dining room table, I will clean out a drawer, organize a book shelf or something that doesn’t take a lot of thought or distraction. Little by little I get it done. Recently while I was sick with a sinus infection, I looked in the bathroom cabinet for some cough medicine. While looking I cleaned it out…..didn’t take a lot of energy (I didn’t have any) but I threw out a ton of pills that had expired five years ago and mostly empty bottles and lots of junk. Felt good to have it gone! I love your word, Engagement. So needed in this world of easy distractablility and multi tasking. Eager to see you on the cruise! Great comment my friend!
I don’t think I could ever go completely paperless. I’m still using a wall calender (as well as use my iPhone calender). Something magical about seeing it on an actual calender. And I love writing in a notebook. I’m a pen and paper kind of gal! That said, there are a few piles here and there that could go. My word is CHANGE. I’m changing a lot of things up on purpose to push myself even more out of the comfort zone. I’ve been too comfortable and played it a bit too safe.
The word is “Better.” I can literally use it an any area of my life: health, finances, relationships, spiritual. Only one question to ask about any situation: “What can I do to make this better.” Focusing on one word is a great concept a friend introduced me to a few years back. Maybe I need to
purge some things in order to get better.
My word is SIMPLICITY. I want to live with no debt, decluttered home, work I love as a Mandolinist, loving my family, friends and honoring the Lord and I’m on my way.
My word for the year is Service. A good model of this is Jesus who came not to be served but to serve. Serve gives off an aura of humility and it gets my mind off of myself and onto others. There is also a feeling of giving to this word. So I picked this as a focal point of the year.
My Word: TRUTH. As a big believer in integrity, I can attest to the fact that truth and integrity go hand in hand. In leading other professional women, my goal is to make sure we live our lives full of authentic purpose and truth. People do business with people they know, like and trust. Integrity and Truth is the best way to get there. Thanks for this post, Joanne!
My word is: DISCIPLINE. I need to get more disciplined in life so I have more time to help other people and do the things I want to do.
My word for the year is Priority. After reading Essentialism, I have found that I need to say no to a lot of things, yet it can be extremely difficult to do so. What has worked for me, is to simply ask myself, What is the priority?, when making decisions. This simple word helps me choose the best option every time.
My word for this year is courage. But next year I’ll take a tip from Dan and it’ll be – I don’t follow the rules!