Week 1 Check-In

It’s been a week since New Year’s Eve. How was the first week? If you made a resolution, how is it working? If you chose a word, how did the word show up in that first week?        [Answer goes here, it’s a fill in the blank.]

"Magic Process" from Scott H. Young's blog

Here’s the post on choosing a word. If you haven’t read it yet, looking at the suggestions people made is a great brain boost.

Did you go for the negative in your answer to the question? Did you list your failures? How others sabotaged you? It’s a pretty common reaction. If you did, give an equal amount of time to the successes of this first week. No one’s watching. You can focus on some successes for a few minutes. Write them down. (If you don’t have a journal, use an index card).

How did the word you chose for 2011 help you see your life in a different way? If it was a verb, what action happened around the word? If it was a noun, what action happened to that part of your life? What decisions did you make using your new word? I got some emails from people who wanted to use adjectives or colors as a focal point. There aren’t rules, you know. It’s a way of helping you pick out something to look at, compare, use as a set point, goal, focus.

If you can’t remember your word, pick  new one. It doesn’t have to be life-changing. The most useful change is the one we choose to keep making. The one we make hesitantly at first, almost discard because it’s hard, then see the value in.

You might go as far as to write down the word on the top of your next five journal pages, as a reminder. Write it on a small slip of paper and put it in your pocket, so you run across it several times a day. Write it on several pieces of masking tape and put one on the toothpaste, one on your computer, one on your car key. That will let you see it and think about it at different times of day.

If you are ambitious, you might even have a jeweler engrave your word on a charm to wear around your neck or put on a keyring. In a few years, you would have an interesting collection.

We are one week into 2011. How you show up in the world, how people treat you doesn’t cause your emotions. It’s the other way around. The emotions you feel create your surroundings, your view of reality. This coming week, what if you used your word as a place to stand and view the new year? To create a new reality, new way of looking at the world? Words are tools for you to use to build. Build a different year than last year.

Quinn McDonald is a writer, life- and creativity coach. She helps people navigate stormy and difficult lives to reinvention.

Image from Scott Young’s blog here.

6 responses to “Week 1 Check-In

  1. Possibilities. There are so many! I think the lesson in this for me is how to separate the wheat from the chaff. How to choose from the many possibilities, how to choose and then have the discipline to stay with my choice(s). But at the same time, how to stay open to possibilities, evaluating before I automatically decide I can’t. Can be pretty confusing.

    • There’s a difference between choosing and staying open to possibilities. For example, if there is a fruit bowl on the counter and you choose a grapefruit, it doesn’t mean that you throw out the apple, banana, orange and kiwi. They are still available. It means you mindfully eat the grapefruit, and when you are hungry again, return.

  2. Perseverance was my word and so in the past week I took a deep breath and decided to just continue the path of the journey of my life without analyzing every step before taking another step forwards. Anxiety was my frequent companion but joy and fulfillment were waiting for me at the end of each day.
    I know that I have chosen the right word eventhough I had considered many other more pleasant words.
    Perseverance is the one.

  3. [to start]
    using my 2011 word ‘recursion’ I’m going [to start]

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