Did you select a word for 2017?
This is a practice I have took part in for the last several years and I have really come to enjoy it!
Choosing a word for the year can really help us to focus throughout the year. For many, it’s a much better, more feasible plan that making a few resolutions or goals that will be discarded by the end of January. I think one reason choosing a word for the year works it that it’s broad enough to encompass many of our goals.
There have definitely been years that I have chosen a word that I was really excited about, but I let that excitement wear off rather quickly. I did not get a lot out of my word and did not grow from the experience during those years.
Then there have been other years when I have chosen a focus word for the year and have kept that word before me throughout the year, returning to it time and time again. Those were the years that I really grew and got everything I was looking out of the experience of having a guiding word for the year.
Those two simple things that I just mentioned are really the key to getting the most out of the experience of having a word for the year.
- Keep your word before you throughout the year.
- Return to your word repeatedly.
Some ideas for keeping your word before you throughout the year are to have it engraved on a piece of jewelry, create a desktop wallpaper using it, tape it to your bathroom mirror (or better yet…vinyl it to your bathroom mirror), and scrapbook a page for your word.
I created the page above to keep myself reminded of my word for this year, Simplify. I’m printing it out in 8×8 size and placing it in my office area where my computer is. I’m also going to vinyl it to my favorite water bottle so I’m reminded it it every time I take a sip.
I like to go through the store at The Lilypad and choose kits that go well with my word. For my word this year, I just love Sahlin Studio’s Simplify kit and journal cards and Amber LaBau’s Simplify papers, elements and journal cards! They’ll make regular appearances in my “One Little Word” album this year.
To return to your word repeatedly, it is a great idea to make a mini-album throughout the year focusing on your word and how you are using it in your life. Make it a goal to revisit this album at least once a month. And if making a mini-album sounds like a little too much to tackle, just journal about your word several times. These would make great art journal pages!
As an added bonus, one other thing I would add it to share your word with others. Let the people around you in your family and your close community of friends know what your word is and why you’ve chosen it for this year! They can definitely help keep you accountable in focusing on it throughout the year.
Did you choose a word for this year? How do you plan to get the most out of your experience with the word you chose?
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