So 'practice' is my word this year. I have been choosing a word of the year instead of making resolutions for a few years now and I find the process fascinating.
I have been learning a lot of new ideas over the last few years which hold a lot of promise. What I have found is that I throw myself into the books, courses, apps, whatever and then once it is finished I very quickly fall back into my old habits and ways.
My chosen words from the last few years include: value; create; believe and abundance and I have learnt so much from each of them. This year I feel it is time to deliberately focus on putting some, if not all of the ideas into practice.
And so I have a list of habits I intend to practice this year including meditation and exercise. I am starting small and am being encouraged and supported on the journey by the amazing community of people who use Lift and by the app itself.
I have used Christine Kane's word of the year tool for the past 5 years and this year I have also signed up to Ali Edwards 'One Little Word'. This is a monthly journaling prompt and a creative exercise to help make my word more visible. I'm very excited to have a year long journey into 'practice' especially as it is challenging and at times down right uncomfortable changing habits, beliefs and thought patterns. And I can do it.
On December 31st I sat with my brother as usual (and we recruited our brother-in-law to join us too this year!) and we went through Christine Kane's tool for gaining clarity around why you are choosing that word and what you want from it.
And I was so sure and so clear that I needed 'practice'. It just had to be my word for 2014. Then a few days later just as I was about to write my blog telling the world, I had a little wobble. A little doubt.
Practice. Really Vick? Is that the best you can do? How dull! No one will be interested in hearing about practice as a word of the year. Everyone else knows how to apply new ideas and it's just you who is lazy and stupid and incapable.
(Yep really I talk to myself like that sometimes. More than I would like to and that is one of the things I am going to practice this year - kinder self talk!)
Anyway this little doubt crept in and I started toying with the idea of 'courage' as a word of the year. Now I consider that I have shown courage a few times in my life - going off to live in Zimbabwe for a year aged 18 springs to mind for starters. But 'courage' as my word of the year? That sounds better. BOLDER even. Like I ought to write courage instead. And I put off blogging about my word of the year.
And I put off starting the One Little Word exercises too.
And I spent a good few days thinking - now courage is just what I need this year....
And then I went back to Christine Kane's tool. And looked at the questions. And read through my answers. And realise that actually no. I do not need a showy word I can blog about. This year I do not need a bold word. I need a more intimate word. I need a word that holds my hand every day and says "don't worry that you didn't do that yesterday, today is a new day, try again"
Practice
That's what I need. And so I decided to stick with it.
And then yesterday an interesting thing came up for me. I started the journaling prompts for the One Little Word course. And one part asks you to consider a quote that supports your word. And so I looked up quotes to do with 'practice'. In fact I googled it. And do you know what I found?
Quite a few of the quotes on 'practice' talk about needing courage. I breathed a big sigh. It felt like the answer to a riddle. Yes I need 'practice' this year. And yes I need courage to help me on this journey.
Courage over comfort. There it is again. That little phrase that will help me to make the changes I need to. The phrase and the word together will get me through the challenges and the triumphs of the year ahead. Thank you for choosing to impart your wisdom on me little word. I am excited for our journey together.
2014 - Practice