One Little Word® 2014
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Make your word visible: Order your own word from recycled matericals created by artist Colleen Attara here.
My One Little Word for 2014 is thrive.
This year, more than any other I can remember, I'm starting off the year with questions. What does it mean for me to thrive? What does it look like? What does it fee like? Are there areas in which I'm already thriving? What's realistic vs. visions of what I have in my head of what it means to thrive?
Open was an awesome word for me last year. It was a touchstone as I navigated my way through growing pains and man oh man did it work in a million different ways I could not have imagined when I started 2013. More often than not when faced with a decision, I chose to open more rather than closing off which was my number one intention last year. That said, I feel like I've been spinning in circles a lot this past year. I've been reacting vs. being proactive and have been dealing with a variety of issues related to stress and growth (totally all part of my own life journey).
To me thriving is optimal living. It's being present and awake and stepping up to be my best self physically, emotionally, spiritually, creatively and within my relationships.
It's not a quest for perfection. It's an opportunity to continue choosing to let go of things outside of my control and to figure out who that best-me-right-now really is.
It will be a whole new journey and I'm here to tell you I welcome it wholeheartedly.
Bring on 2014.
This year I invited my friend Elise Blaha Cripe to film a little video about her experience with One Little Word. One of the reasons I admire Elise is that she is awesome at follow-through and documentation. I've loved reading about her experience with her words over the last few years on her blog and she inspires me consistently with her projects and her real-life reflections.
Here's Elise in her own words:
Thank you Elise for sharing about your own journey here.
Are you considering selecting a word for yourself (or letting one find you)? There's no right or wrong. The main thing to remember is that this is your word. It's not for your child, parent, partner, spouse, sister, etc.
And what do you do with this one little word?
You live with it. You invite it into you life. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads. There are so many possibilities.
SHARE YOUR WORD THE COMMENTS | I’d love to read what word you’ve chosen or are considering for 2014. In the comments feel free to simply leave your word as your comment or write a bit about why you are choosing this word. In a couple days I’ll combine all the words into a single post – super inspiring to see all the words in one place.
If you’re new to the concept of One Little Word, you can read some of my previous posts here: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
ONE LITTLE WORD® 2014 |To help keep your One Little Word® more visible throughout the year I offer a year-long workshop featuring one prompt per month. Read all the details and sign up here. Registration is $5 off until December 31.
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938 comments
Grow.Do.Be
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My work is RESPONSIBILITY. In 2014 I am going to take responsibility for my own life, for all those little things that I always look at and think "if only..." I considered trust and believe and positivity as my words, but taking responsibility for my life means that I will find each of those things for myself.
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Nice! Responsibility is now on my short list!
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Past OLW's were Wisdom and Focus and they helped me grow tremendously. This year my word is....EnJOY. It feels good and right.
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Faith
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That's mine too!
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Find.
This year I'm hoping to find what it is I need to do, feel and be. I feel like it's not going to come to me, I need to go and find it.
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LOVE IT!
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enough.
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Me, too! Love how this word can go either way!
I much prefer inavimftroe articles like this to that high brow literature.
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Deliberate.
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Ali and Elise are the first two blogs I read each morning. I love seeing you together! :-)
This is my third year with the class -- my word is Fearless.
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This is my first time doing One Little Word, but I am very excited about it. Up until about a week ago I was going to choose the word "Less," but then after going through some of the old lists for OWL I found a word that encompasses what I am trying to do even better: "Curate." I want to spend this year cutting back so I can appreciate the things I have more fully.
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Ooooh, I like this one. Thanks for sharing!
I have been tossing around a few words including Simplify, but I LOVE your word "Curate". Beautiful way to simplify and focus on what is important. Thank you for the added inspiration.
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Hello...I love it. So many possibilities and I plan on incorporating it into my title cards of project life each week. Can't wait. First page. Hello Everyday.
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[…] You may not know of Ali Edwards if you aren’t a scrapbooker. She was my inspiration to do the December Daily project. She’s amazing and inspires me to be more than I am. A few years ago I embraced her One Little Word philosophy and I was happy to see her blog post today about it. Read about it here. […]
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Two words have come to me for 2014: action and enough. Action is something I need to do more of in many ways: Being physically active, as well as acting on tasks at work and at home as opposed to procrastinating or putting off.
Enough came to me in the last week or so. Having enough "stuff" is something I want to be more conscious of in the year ahead, and reminding myself that I am enough is something I need to do more of.
Thanks, Ali, for sharing this concept with us and for the inspiration you provide to those of us who follow your blog.
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Courtney,
ACTION is my word as well for all of the reasons that you mentioned and more. So inspired and excited for 2014.
Kathy
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My word is FINISH -
This marks my 6th year of doing a simple word. I read Elise Cripe's blog post today and I agree,knowing how influential my words have been in guiding me through the years. I love how they are a constant reminder, how they keep me authentic, how satisfying it is to reach year end and realize I followed my word through-out; one of the best personal exercises ever!
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Finish is my word, too. This is my first time doing One Word & I'm hoping this will help me finally follow through & actually *finish* all sorts of projects I have lying around as well as finishing or at least following through on various life goals.
I considered many words, like organize, but realized they were all more like New Year's resolution words than ones that resonated with me. Then all of a sudden I heard "Finish" & realized that overall my life is really good -- except for all the things I haven't finished. I want to get better at actually finishing the projects I care about & also learning to let go of the ones I don't. I also hope to learn to tell the difference between the two so I will be less likely to start projects I end up abandoning!
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Strong!
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MY 2014 OLW is Forward. I blogged about it recently - http://bit.ly/1d3b9mW
Love this practice, Ali!
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As much as I am resisting it, I think Fitness needs to be my 2014 word. :)
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Gratitude
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Live
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My word for 2014 is BELIEVE.
I hope for a lot of things to change for me in 2014, to make some daily struggles a little bit easier. I am choosing to BELIEVE that everything will turn around for me if I stay positive and work for it.
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This was my word in 2013. You will be amazed at how this will affect your whole life. I kept my word visible all year long. It was the screen saver on my computer, it was printed and placed in strategic locations - my wallet, on my bathroom mirror, as a bookmark, and I even set up emails that I sent to myself that I pre-programmed so that I would receive them all year long. I even received a Christmas present with my word in a frame, and this person knew nothing about OLW. I hope your experience with your word will be as rewarding for you as it was for me.
Good luck and happy new year.
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Choice.
This year for the first time in 33 years how I spend my time and days will be up to me. My choice.
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