My One Little Word for 2022 is Present. Like many of y’all (I’m sure), I’ve spent a lot of time these past nearly two years coming to terms with cancelled plans and disappointments. Tomorrow, it seems, is not a dependable … Continue reading Present | January 2022.
I’ve been looking forward to putting this post together for a few weeks (honestly since November, when I chatted with Carolyn about the series she was putting together to celebrate this OLW practice). Last year’s wrap up is one of my favorite posts to revisit … I love how the review tells a story about the year and about me and my OLW. The monthly check-ins here continue to be one of the most useful practices for me around OLW – they force me to reflect and connect. Some months it makes magic, and some months it barely holds together. … Continue reading Choose 2021 | Wrapping Up.
Hello friends! It’s the last Tuesday of November and time for another check-in with my OLW – Choose. If you’ve been reading along with me this month, you know that I’ve focused on Choosing Gratitude. I’ve shared a deep dive into four aspects of my life that regularly inspire gratitude (Dark Early Quiet Time, a Morning Walk, Fiction Matters, and Family). You might also recall that this year’s OLW and the “Choose Gratitude” idea was inspired by Diana Butler Bass’s book Grateful and the Thanksgiving Prayer she shared last year. She shared another thought-provoking post this Thanksgiving suggesting we broaden our … Continue reading Choose | November 2021.
Hello friends! The calendar tells me October is nearly over and it’s time for another OLW update. Way back on October 4, I chose to focus on hope this month. One of my favorite Instagram follows @sharonsaysso posted a series of slides about hope that resonated. Hope was my OLW back in 2019. 2021 me is proud of the work I did back then and it felt good to revisit some of those lessons (2021 me is also really in awe of the frequency with which 2019 me posted!) One of the biggest was that Hope is a muscle – it needs to … Continue reading Choose | October 2021.
Hello friends! Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post; it does seem like Autumn is a favorite and most-welcome season for many of us. This past week has been full of delightful blue skies and cooler temperatures. The photos spread throughout this post were captured on various morning walks (and yes, leaves have started changing, even this far south!) My week away (from this space … I still haven’t spent a night away from home in over a year!) was definitely much-needed. I’ve been looking forward to writing this post since yesterday, and that’s the surest … Continue reading Choose | September 2021.
It’s the last Tuesday of August and time for this month’s OLW update. The month started off on a high note when Holly visited the groomer and the vet on the 5th and the vet joked with me that he hoped he wouldn’t see us again this year. My knee was feeling better (it still is), and I started playing a little tennis and walking in the mornings with Marc. and then things just stopped being ok. Maybe it’s an August thing for me because it felt a lot like last year (except for questioning my Enneagram type 😉 ) Thankfully, … Continue reading Choose | August 2021.
This month’s check-in with my OLW might seem like a bit of a sharp turn from previous months. (it did to me at first.) I honestly didn’t even see the connection with Choose when I listened to the first season of this podcast last October. but Season 2 started this month and the connection seems clear … in an unexpected way. Here’s the “jacket copy” for the podcast: “How do we transform and transcend our biases? From judgments made unconsciously to complacency in systemic evil, we must learn how to see if we are to learn how to transform. Center … Continue reading Choose | July 2021.
Another month has flown by and once again it’s time to check in with my OLW. This month I’m revisiting gratitude. I’ve written about gratitude before (a LOT!) It was my OLW in 2008 and that year I made a little book and started filling one page a week with short, almost daily entries. The pages are filled with mostly little things about work, family (Katie was in college, Sara was in high school, and Marc traveled a lot), friends (including family who are friends), and crafting. I traveled a bit, too – mostly for work, and sometimes to see … Continue reading Choose | June 2021.
Today is the last Tuesday of May … time to check-in with my OLW. In our fully-vaccinated bubble, choices abound, as do opportunities for connection (as I wrote about last month). My Friday morning prayer group met in person (mostly – we did have one woman joining from Texas via Zoom … it worked great having her “there on the laptop”) last week. and last Saturday, our Atlanta family gathered at my brother’s house to celebrate May birthdays (my brother, my nephew, and my sister-in-law’s mom all celebrate this month). It was the most people I’ve seen indoors unmasked since last … Continue reading Choose | May 2021.
Hello friends and hello to the April update for my OLW Choose. Last month I wrote about all the choices that post-vaccination life was going to present. Much of my family and many friends are now fully vaccinated. I’ve watched them navigate those complicated choices and arrive at different decisions, some I’m comfortable with and some I’m not. Thankfully, I am seeing a lot of that “grace & space” attitude, which helps. Of course the choices and decision frameworks (and risk tolerance) will continue to evolve. It’s helpful for me to see the word Choose every morning with my coffee to … Continue reading Choose | April 2021.
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