Word of the year

Balance…

How did your clothes flinging go??

I have had a (RARE) 4-day stay-at-home, and because “I” am the person leading this, I figure I needed to lead by example.

Combining clothes closet and drawers, my flinging number is up to 92! (Remember, ANYTHING you fling counts. The extra hangers, the hole-y pair of socks, the ones that don’t stay up  -count as one- the orphan socks EACH count as one…)

I can purchase a pair of new khaki’s and a pair of black jeans without feeling excessive! My clothes match. There are no holes, or stains or missing buttons.

I lean toward blues, turquoises, teals, olives, and black. That is proven in my closet. So passing up a fuchsia sweater should be easier, right? Not foolproof, but easier.

But my word for the year is BALANCE.

So therefore, I have not dug deeper, and made more mess, trying to cross off even more of the list while I am home. I could have, sure. But I think it would have lead to resentment on my part for my ‘wasted’ time off. I want to create, too!

I have quilted. Played with my fabrics would be a more apt description. But today, I have quilting at the library, and I have a few things to work on.

I have UFO’s.—(quilt speak for Unfinished Objects.)  Many of them. My goal this year, is to finish twice as many things as I start. A great balance. I won’t feel like I am swimming in old things, but will accomplish great amounts! (I hope.)

If you go here, you can see the quilt projects in all their unfinished glory.

Words. It’s all about the Words.

Words. Language. Semantics. I am not always the most eloquent (the post previous to this being a prime example…my husband’s blog regarding the new year was far more all-encompassing and descriptive…)

…but I LIKE words. I like to read them–far more than one book a week– I like to write them–(last year, my second 178,000 word (fan-)fictional story, someday, the great American novel…. :})

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.  ~Mark Twain

And I understand the power of words. One of the most important skills in my job is being able to choose words appropriately, to convey a variety of (mostly positive) feelings and descriptors.  Think of how many online “wars” could be avoided would that the words ‘spoken’ were chosen with more care? (Not to mention how many real wars, how many families ripped apart)….

“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or evil.”
Siddhartha Gotoma or Buddha (563-483 B.C.)

I have chosen a WORD for the past few New Years Day. (Insight, Inclusive, Deliberate are past words.)

Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words. Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions. Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits. Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character. Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny.(unknown…)

Announcing this year’s word: BALANCE.

Today, on my quilting list, everyone (well, almost) is choosing a word! And oh, what wonderful words, what personal words!

I hope to see that we all focus on the best our words can bring us!

(edited for clarity) AND, I just received another word! I am joining a quilt challenge, where we create an art quilt every two months, utilizing that word….January/February is PUZZLE…

hmmm….

Deliberate


DELIBERATE

 

My ‘word’ for the year. Last year was ’inclusive,’ and the year before that, ‘insight‘.

 

Why a word?

 

Well, think of it like this. Everything has a slogan, or a rally cry, or a battle cry, as the case may be. (“Just do it,” “Just say no,” “Yes, we can!”) A word, thought, phrase, idea–something that helps you define, categorize, and internalize the world around you, and the place you are in it.

 

The Insight year, the word came to me on a box. This artist paints boxes and will mail you one with an empowerment word. My word arrived— Insight. And I ended up using the word to create a quilt that was displayed at Houston’s International Quilt Show, during the last year of the JOURNAL QUILT PROJECT. (you can get silly if you want, trying to follow back through my old blogs, locating the whole story if you like)

 

Inclusive? Well it just came to me. And I don’t know that there is much that I could DO with a word like that… but I think the YEAR itself was rather such, don’t you?

 

I don’t know if I find the word being repeated in things I read or listen to. I don’t know where in my subconscious I latch onto it. However, I do know that I have never before committed to paper (or indeed, ever told anyone) that I had a word.

 

Having the word doesn’t mean that I am now walking around like a student who just discovered a great new vocabulary word. It’s not my default ‘big’ word, or anything.

 

It’s more a meditative kind of thing. More a way of processing the world, taking the time to analyze what’s going on. Odd that the word itself this year represents that. You might look at it more like a resolution, than a word. A different way of approaching life.

 

I know I am flighty. (I could have ADD, I suppose; I swear the cat has ADHD, I don’t see why I couldn’t be afflicted, too?) I tend to putter about on my days off, and I don’t accomplish much (except finishing books…I am a great finisher of books once I start…if I could only move that skill into, say, finishing CLEANING, or finishing a QUILT project, or finishing…well you get the idea.)

 

So, to me, it’s coming to mean more –Take time to smell the roses; and I certainly can’t see the fault with THAT!!!

(Oh, and no matter how ODD you may think I am, look, I’m not even unique!!!

I discovered this blog a few days after the word Deliberate took root—)

De*lib”er*ate\, a. [L. deliberatus, p. p. of deliberare to deliberate; de- + librare to weigh. See Librate.]

Weighing facts and arguments with a view to a choice or decision; carefully considering the probable consequences of a step; circumspect; slow in determining; — applied to persons; as, a deliberate judge or counselor.

Formed with deliberation; well-advised; carefully considered; not sudden or rash; as, a deliberate opinion; a deliberate measure or result.

To take counsel with one’s self; to weigh the arguments for and against a proposed course of action; to reflect; to consider; to hesitate in deciding; — sometimes with on, upon, about, concerning.

To think carefully and often slowly, as about a choice to be made.

To consider (a matter) carefully and often slowly, as by weighing alternatives.

Leisurely and steady in movement or action; slow and even; unhurried: a deliberate step.