purposeful life

I picked up a little book when I was traveling with my daughter and set it next to my bed when I returned home.  It is called Design Your Day by Claire Diaz-Ortiz.  It is maybe 100 pages.  I didn’t pick it up for weeks and honestly I only moved it to dust, which means I didn’t move it at all.    So a couple of nights ago I read a little of the book and I got to a point and stopped: it really had me thinking.  Don’t you love books like that?  Books that, with a few paragraphs, make a huge impression on you.

In the book , Diaz-Ortiz talks about picking one word of the year.  The year might not be a year: it might be a season or a time period, like before my son’s wedding, or this fall, or before the holidays.  But, I like the concept of the word.  So I started thinking about what my word should be.  I had a few in mind, but it took some time to zero in on just the right one.

My first thought was…freedom.  That’s what I am trying to accomplish in my personal life certainly…attaining freedom.  But, it wasn’t quite right. Then, when talking to a friend, a young man, someone I wouldn’t expect to get it, he said, “Good, but every time you think of the word freedom it will remind you of a time that you didn’t feel that freedom.”  Wow, that was deep.  So freedom was out.

My next thought was the word success.  But that felt too final.  Like something you’ve achieved, not something you work on every day.  While I like finding small successes in my daily life, success comes at the end, not the during the journey.  And, if I have achieved success, then what?  Not quite right either.

So, here it is, here is my word for now (drum roll please)…forward.  My word for the next, I don’t know, 6 months to a year is forward.  That is what I am about and that is where I want to go and that is who I want to become, someone who is always moving forward.  To me it means that what I think, say or do should be helping me to achieve forward motion.  And, if I feel like I am off track or if I feel like I am moving in the other direction, I can shift my focus and get going again.

That is as far as I read in the book.  I wanted to wait to continue until I had my word, so now I can read on.  This is not a book recommendation since that’s as far as I read, but just that piece itself has helped me get some perspective on my direction and I plan to read further.

What’s your word?   If you are not moving in the right direction for you, maybe you need a new word, one that reflects who you are or who you want to be.  Once you have it, you may be more clear about your life and your goals and can plan how to get there.