My One Word

I was inspired by a fellow blogger to come up with a one word focus for the year. It is an interesting concept that lends itself to bettering the world and bettering my personal universe. This one word is supposed to be a guide or a goal for making progress on a daily basis.

Over the past year, I have committed myself to making many changes. In the process, my one word for last year naturally became CHANGE. In the wee hours of a January morning, I was rocking my new baby to sleep and found that I had been “going through the motions” with my life. Much of the busy things that had filled my life had lost their joy and meaning for me. I tried to recall when it was that I lost it, and couldn't. So I knew it was time for CHANGE.

The good news is that CHANGE allowed me to reconnect with God in the language of my heart (through Nature) and find myself more in tune with who I really was, what was important to me and what I needed to do protect it. I set new goals that were in line with my true self and made lots of CHANGES including my career from Public Relations’ Director to Mom, losing 104 pounds, getting back into the wilderness, and abandoning anything that hindered who I really am.

This year, I have found that my environment is a bit contradictory to the positive effects of last year’s one word, and I am discovering that I need to be a lot more INTENTIONAL about my decisions. With the transition of the move and the harshness of the Arctic, I am losing my connection to God through the wilderness. It is here in rare spurts, but I often get mixed messages because I am not built to thrive up here. I must now be INTENTIONAL about seeking Him out and finding His path for me through the blinding, biting cold and isolation of my new home. I have also lost my resolve to lose the remaining 30 pounds and must be INTENTIONAL about staying active and eating right in an environment that is not accommodating to either.

Another neat aspect about the one word INTENTION is the fact that many times, I still miss the point of what I am doing. I have committed myself to focus on the meaning or the INTENT of the actions that I take as well as really listening and seeking out the INTENTION of others’ actions. This has required that I really listen with a spirit of discernment and love. It takes a lot of energy to truly understand the meaning behind an action or a word.

Since I began seeking out the INTENTION and aligning my INTENTION with what I feel in my soul to be truth and right, I have been more grateful, more humble, more patient and a lot more in tune with what is going on around me. It has deepened my friendships and expanded my compassion for others. It has served to protect me from being taken advantage of and has served as a guide to understand and even appreciate the complicated symptoms of the depression I fight every day. It has allowed me a glimpse into God’s INTENTION for me and given me the opportunity to align my life with Him. By seeking for God’s INTENTION in my trials, I am better able to recognize the issues at hand, battle the root of the problem and more effectively escape the chains of misery.

INTENTION is my one word for the year and I hope that everyone will take a few moments to identify a one word that inspires them to make positive changes and find meaning in their lives over the course of the next year.