Chose Your Words and Create Beauty in the New Year

Written by Barb Greenberg

I have a love/hate relationship with resolutions. It’s commendable to create plans to improve ourselves, but when we don’t follow through the way we think we should, by the time February begins, most of us find ample reason to berate ourselves, feeling frustrated, disappointed and guilty. I don’t know about you, but I can do all of this very effectively without the extra pressure of resolutions!

A dear friend of mine no longer makes resolutions. Instead she chooses four or five words to guide her through the upcoming year. She choses from words like love, gratitude, joy, peace resilience, kindness, inspiration, adventure.

Once her words are chosen, she writes them with her favorite colors in random spots on a large poster board, making sure there is a lot of space between each word. She keeps the poster board where she can see it and now and then takes her colored pencils and doodles designs around each word. She doesn’t think or plan what she is creating, but simply let’s the patterns
emerge.

Over the course of the year, her doodles turn into flowers and ribbons, and swirling intricate shapes develop. By December these beautiful patterns connect all her words to each other.

By allowing these words to guide her during the year, they have created the same beautiful patterns in her life and given her a strength she could not find in any workout routine at a gym.

Each us has our own list of special words that inspire us. What will your words be for this new year, and how will you connect them to your heart and create beauty in the new year?