My word for 2020…COURAGE.
Choosing a word for the year is something I’ve done since I saw Jon Gordon write a post or article (I can’t remember which), to pick your word for that year to focus on. It struck an immediate chord with me and I knew that was going to be something I incorporated into my life. Words are very powerful and purposeful to me (imagine that…being a writer, Ha!) Margaret Atwood said “A word after a word after a word is power.” If you’re scratching your head wondering who is Margaret Atwood I am going to give you 3 words and I bet you’ve heard of them and will now know the author behind the words…”The Handmaid’s Tale”. I recently watched her documentary and it was fascinating but back to the power of words, or just one. It hasn’t been like oh, hey Michelle…let me scroll through these words and pick one randomly to dial in on for this year. I would compare it to how our animals choose us when we go to a shelter or they show up at our doorstep out of nowhere (Yes, that has happened several times to me) or really how most anything comes into our life the way I believe…conscious manifestation (or unconscious…that’s a whole other article). Put quite simply without all the Dr. Strange quantum physics and consciousness talk…We create the space for what shows up in our lives with every choice in every moment. That includes words that come into our thoughts and out of our mouths or written on paper or as I type now.
I’ve had the words LOVE, GRACE, FORGIVENESS, COMPASSION, PATIENCE, and HUMILITY in the past…and this year COURAGE chose me. Or I chose it. I’ve learned over the years the word that decides to take that journey with me isn’t looking for how I can beat myself for past choices. It is about reflecting on what that word means to me now in the point in my life where I am. I get to rewind the movie reel of my life to observe what I see for what I want to keep in my life and what I want to change. You see, we change every day of our life…if we want to. We can stay in the same patterns, again very simply put, by either repeating choices that don’t make us feel good or recognizing those choices in that feeling and saying I don’t want to choose that anymore. That’s where the courage comes. Change can feel hard but really that’s just fear creating a mirrored fun house for you to walk through to try and keep you dazed and confused so you never get out of your fear pattern and never take different actions. You do have courage to change the way you live…and you have the courage to take the action to make the change that follows.
Courage + Action = Change.
So…What does Courage mean to me right now?…
Courage means sharing the link to my blog. To not be afraid to share a part of me…to share who I am completely. This choice isn’t about me sharing to gain external approval, gratification, praise or even receive criticism. Do I welcome those too?…sure. But not to feed my heart and soul to validate my worth or lack of. This is about whatever fear that has been holding me back from sharing a part of who I am. I write not for any type of validation but because it is an extension of me that comes from the heart and soul of my being. I created this Blog because I stopped denying a part of me and took action to feed my soul. 3 years ago that is what I had the courage to take action on and not deny the passion that was inside of me anymore…so I took action to create a Blog and start writing. I have been writing since I was a little girl, whether it was in a journal or lyrics to a song. So, even if it was just for me to start 3 years ago, I chose courage to take action and walk through the steps, challenges and all the whispers from fear trying to stop me to create the platform and start. I had never created a Blog or new the first thing about doing something like this. There were plenty of moments I could have given in to fear and trust me, there were challenges from learning computer applications and how to do all of this but I chose courage instead. The courage to not deny anymore what was inside of me, to get off my rear and start feeding my soul. Why haven’t I shared it until now? Well…because as I said, it’s not all or nothing across the board in our lives. Every moment has its manifestation in how our words and actions will write the next page of a chapter in our lives and now in this moment I found my way out of the fun house.
Courage in this moment is choosing to share my experiences, words and authenticity and for any that choose to venture down the road of my life, with each mile and see what I create when I hop on and off the exits of my life that become a creation of words and an extension of my soul, well…then I welcome all who want to ride in the passenger seat or just following along to know where we stop off next. And if any of what I share touches something in you to help you in where you are in your life, that’s a bonus. My editor is on permanent vacation so there will by typos and all kinds of ungrammarlike phrases, run-on sentences and something dangling off a word somewhere. But what I can tell you is that I write from my heart and soul and feel every word that comes from my being.
Life is constantly flowing around nooks and crannies every day. Courage (or insert any other word you choose) can show up in any moment in any life situation. It doesn’t always mean you are going to choose it. I’ve learned that through my life experiences. It may start showing up in your relationships and you have courage to say no to something that is not healthy for you when you would have said yes before to please everyone else. Courage could show up in choosing to change one thing in your food choices to make you a healthier person or choose to start exercising once a week or heck even once a month to start when it was a big fat zero before. Having the courage to go on a journey with yourself to get to know you if you don’t recognize who you are in the mirror anymore. The courage to start loving yourself more even if you were conditioned to believe from whomever that you didn’t deserve love.
There are so many things we all go through in our life that create our own story. And you get to keep writing the chapters in facing any of those fears. That means that the magic wand doesn’t always wave and everything across the board in your life is suddenly something you have the courage to take action on. And that’s ok. The point is…you are focusing and becoming aware of what you DO want to change. So keep writing those chapters. I keep writing my chapters and change is constant…the practice doesn’t end; it just changes and may take a different form or have a new backdrop in that new chapter.
I am grateful to have found Jon Gordon and he has been one of many inspirational beings along my journey to impact my life. The first book I read of his was The Energy Bus. I can’t even remember the specifics on how I stumbled across him which again…manifestation works by creating your space from within – attracting what you ARE not what you WANT…(that’s a whole other article too)…but the beauty in finding him went on to me reading more books of his for the lessons in my life at that time. That led to me reaching out to him to ask if he would personalize a book I wanted to gift to a very dear friend of mine with a hand written note from him. Not only did he personalize her book but also sent one for me and wrote a personal note in my book as well. Jon’s authenticity through his actions was true to what he writes and speaks about in his messages for life and what a beautiful gift in not only the books but to show by his actions how he embodied the words and beliefs he writes and speaks of. That is inspirational.
My journey has led me to this moment now, and boy I had no idea what this year had in store for myself and all of us. Courage is a great one for this year and I am grateful for all the choices in courage that have brought me to this day.
Cheers to a year filled with more…
COURAGE.
Stay strong Sister!
Thank You Vinny!