As I reflect over the past year and make my goals for the next year, I have discovered a few people summing up their year in a single word. This seems like such a great way to focus on my goals, to have one over-arching word of significance to guide my actions. I always include text into my artwork already, but to have a given word to almost become a signature for the year sounds so freeing and exciting.
“A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything.”
Many of my online artist friends have been declaring their words. Dale Anne selected Explore for her word, so I decided to explore more about choosing a word for myself. Christine Kane describes the process in “Resolution Revolution“. In fact, I remember reading this post last year, and I looked into some words, but for whatever reason I didn’t pick a word. (Although I did set some art goals.) Now she has a month of posts about people that selected a word and had a year of success focused on that word. It is exciting to read about people that picked their words from deep emotional places like transition, or ones that pick their word with humor, like chicken. Courageseems to be a popular word, and in this world, it seems we all need a little courage just to get through the day. Another blogger, Ali, not only has a list of word suggestions, she also has a little contest/giveaway for those setting words as a focus.
So far I am looking at the following words:
-
Action: the process or state of acting or of being active
-
Immersion: concentrating on one course of instruction, subject, or project to the exclusion of all others for several days or weeks; intensive, state of being deeply engaged or involved; absorption
-
Journey: a traveling from one place to another, passage or progress from one stage to another
-
Vibrancy: pulsating with life, vigor, or activity; exciting; stimulating; lively
The words on the longer list included challenge, energy, achieve, active, accomplish, strive, release, discipline, but most of them felt to final or had a negative feeling to me. I know that this year will not be the end of my projects and goals, nor are they the beginning. It is important that my word encompasses my fitness goals as well as my art, relationship and professional goals.
Â
I am leaning towards Vibrancy… but I am going to let it sit today and see how it looks in the morning. Then I will print out the one I will focus on and put it in my studio and my home gym so I won’t forget!
Â
what word do you think I should pick?