A new challenge to begin my New Year! Chris Brogan explains the concept of selecting single words to help guide you in making decisions throughout the year versus using the standard "resolution" process which is easily forgotten or discarded.
I started to think about this and came up with these three words: "write", "tribe", "mirror".
What can these possibly have in common or what significance do they have in my decision-making process?
"Write" I have longed to write since I can remember. As a young teenager, I would start paragraph after paragraph, however it never went anywhere. Pages were left half-filled and I would begin anew, as though I just could not find the correct words to continue. If I use the word 'write' as a guideline, I will: write down things I need to remember such as witty remarks, noteworthy ideas, snippets of tales that can be enlarged on. I will write down those verses that stop me in my tracks and move me to tears or at least in a different direction. I will learn that as I write, I will be reading more, absorbing more and thereby enlarging my thought process-so I will write, more and hopefully, with more clarity. (I am also hoping if I write the things down I spend money on, I will be appalled and spend less!!)
"Tribe" My tribe is my family and my family's family, my church family, my work family, my social circle, and, well you get the idea. I am a small part of the whole. I will feel less isolated if I begin to learn about my tribe. I will feel more significant if I can understand where I've come from and to what I belong. I will begin to see my part in the tapestry that has been under construction for generations to reach the point where my part shines. My tribe will broaden me, inspire me (maybe even to write!), teach me. My tribe is the total of which I am but one figure. My tribe will teach me more about relationships and how they should operate; what works and what doesn't; when some must be laid down and others revived. My tribe is my springboard to what is yet to come.
"Mirror" Interestingly, I detest mirrors. In fact, within the house I am now residing, you will find a total of 4 mirrors: one in each bathroom (because that is how the house was built!) and one on the back of my bedroom door which is covered by a host of robes, pjs, gowns, etc., so it is not even visable! My master bedroom dresser is mirror-less at my insistance. I am guilty of looking into the mirror every morning, only to be sure I am at least somewhat presentable to arrive at work! Other than that, during the day, you get whatever the wind has chosen to do with my hair, however the humidity has elected to redesign my makeup (scarce as it is!) or the static has opted to pull my clothing into somewhat hilarious contortions. Mirrors, however, are also a reflection. That is what I see as I gaze into one--my reflection or the reflection of anything else within its area. A reflection that reaches out, if we choose to accept it. That is the purpose of 'mirror'. Perhaps I can change a small part of the world if the 'reflection' I project is a more peaceable, kinder, gentler image; more forgiving in nature, accepting in cultural differences or personalities. In doing this, I would hope, I, myself would become the things my reflection is projecting. In that, I would change, however, better than that, the world around me would be changed. All of a sudden, my part to shine becomes a little more brilliant as I become a bit less noticeable!
SO! Write-Tribe-Mirror. My words to filter all that I choose to do, the paths I pick to travel and the people I aim to engage with.
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