One Word for January

Two bloggers, Christine Kane and Ali Edwards, advocate choosing a word to focus on for the year rather than making New Year’s resolutions. I did that along with them last year. My word was “Trust.” They recommend journaling about the word, doing collage or scrapbooking, writing a poem or whatever will help you express your word and keep it in your mind. I did very well focusing on Trust during the first few months, and then it drifted out of my thoughts until the end of 2007.

I like the idea of focusing on one word, so this year I proposed to my Journaling group that we each choose a word to focus on for a month and choose a new word at the beginning of each month in 2008. They liked this idea, so Monday we all chose a word. We wrote an entry on what the word brought to mind, and it was so serendipitous that every person’s word fit something that they needed or had been thinking about. I love that!

The word I chose is “Heal.” Here is what I wrote for my entry:

Heal. This word is already taking place in my life. I’ve begun to write 30-minute entries on focused issues and exercises from Writing From The Source, by Allison Price. I’ve had the book for a few years and never read it. One day in November, the book just caught my attention on the shelf, and I picked it up, read it and started doing the exercises. I wrote 21 days in a row. Then I re-read and thought about the entries. I’ve also written about Christmas, an assignment my friend Sherita gave me two years ago in order to heal my angst about Christmas. I put it off until now. And I’ve started writing long entries about money issues also.

I think, feel and believe that I’m in a place of being ready to heal. And the healing is taking place.

A big part of the healing is using the focused writing prompts. I feel kind of stupid in some ways—I’ve been teaching journal groups and classes for years, teaching other people to use their writing as a healing tool. Yet somehow my head knowledge didn’t translate into real knowing until I started writing these entries. And all the things I’ve been teaching are true—just continued deep writing brings all sorts of things into my awareness. And being aware brings healing either through change, new choices, or acceptance. So I will continue to write, and I will continue to heal.

Healing also comes from allowing in the love and kindness that is there in my world, from becoming aware of it, and accepting it. From being thankful.

Here’s to a healing, thankful, wonderful 2008!