Joy in 2011

Today's video comes from Box of Crayons and Michael Bungay Stanier.  He's got some hip short films including: Find Your Great Work: The Movie and The 5.75 Questions You've Been Avoiding. Not only do they have sweet graphics and catchy jazz in the back, but also quotable, thought-provoking, and challenging messages that -- let's face it -- we can hear time and again, and still need reminding to discern where we are most able to love and live wholeheartedly. 

 

 

- Savor  - Laugh - Explore - Rest - Proclaim - Discard - Embrace - 

- Partner - Provoke - Love - Flow -

The video ends with the question: "What will your words be for the year?"

And that got me thinking...



My 11 would probably consist of:

- Reverence - Rejoice - Learn - Affirm - Love Nonposessively - Appreciate -
- Mystery - Collaborate - Listen - Embrace - Authenticity -

These were the first 11 words that came to me. I think I'll spend the next 12 months thinking about why. :) Love it.

I was never really big on New Year's Resolutions... or New Year's Celebrations at that. I'm not a night person: I'm usually comatose past 11pm, and if I know I'll be up late, I'm sure to take a nap in the afternoon to make up for the time I'll lose later.  However, one time I can remember intentionally staying up for that midnight toll was when there was the anticipated Y2K meltdown. Our family stored up water, dehydrated and powdered food (including eggs and cheese... which my younger siblings are STILL using), 30-gallon containers of lentils/beans/peas, and emergency kits years in advance-- we even planted a dozen fruit trees in the back in case we needed  them.  That night, I remember, I was in 8th grade and spent the night praying that we wouldn't have to eat powdered food for the year 2000.  I must have prayed really well, because thanks-be-to-God, the computers did not crash as some predicted. ;-)

New Year's resolutions were half-hearted, if that... I never needed to lose weight, so that was out of the question.  One year it was to not fight with a certain sibling- that was depressingly unsuccessful after mid-February.  I do remember once wanting to do something creative, something challenging-- so one year I was set on learning how to juggle, solve the Rubix cube, and learn stunning card tricks.  I was a complete failure with the first two, although I can whip out a stunning card trick or two when encouraged.  I think the only two completed New Year's resolutions I accomplished were: read all of Jane Austen's novels and (when I was a shy high school first-year) challenging myself to be more sociable.  Another year, I resolved to simply have no goal at all.

And so a few weeks ago, I decided, it's high time to set a resolution and stick with it.  I needed something that I could do often, something that would promote growth, something that would encourage me to rest/reflect, and something that I could share.  Gardening was out, since I'm moving in May, as was cooking through Julia Child's cookbook (already been done!).  So this year, I'm committing to doing a full-year meditation book.  I ordered "A Year with Thomas Merton" and "Bread for the Journey" the same day last month and left it up to the postal service (and the Holy Spirit) to decide which one I'd do this year.  On December 28th, this was in the mailbox at my family's home in St. Louis:

So Henri Nouwen's "Bread for the Journey" it shall be. I'll be blogging periodically on how it's going, and I'm really looking forward to it. Today's was on Successfulness vs. Fruitfulness: Fruitfulness grows in vulnerability and brokenness, whereas successfulness is about power and control.  Nothing really to share on that, Henri lays it down and there's not much I can add to it, other than I needed to hear and reflect on it.

And in the meantime, Thomas Merton will just have to wait until 2012. :)

And I still need to blog about my learning and sharing experience at the CTA Conference in November! Sorry it's taken so long! Perhaps that will be another goal-- have it finished by February.

In any case -- Welcome, 2011! 

Peace to you and your families, 
-Mish