Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year, readers, listeners, friends, family, and anyone else who happens to stumble across this blog! I think I speak for all of us when I say, “I hope 2023 will be better than 2022, and that all the blessings, luck, fortune, and opportunities will come to all of us.” We need it.

Last Sunday, I was reflecting on everything that had come to pass in 2022. I was wrapping up my One Little Word and PowerSheets projects in anticipation of starting a new One Little Word and goal-setting system for 2023. As I read through my workbooks, rereading all the journaling, reflections, poetry, and quotes I had written and collected, I kept running across little nuggets of wisdom and insight that showed me just how much I have changed and grown in the last 12 months, and I found so much I wanted to share, that I thought I would offer some of it here as a sort of recap of our year together.

Those who’ve been reading and listening to Modern Musings all year probably know that it has been challenging for me. After caring for and losing a dear friend to cancer in January, I had thought the worst was behind us and I was on track to my best year ever. But then, in July, my husband, Mark, was diagnosed with lung cancer, and the tribulations continued to mount. Around the same time, Mark also lost his job of more than 20 years. All the while, I was still struggling to rebuild my little travel agency, and hoping to turn a part-time hobby for fun money into a full-time, bring home the bacon cash cow. And lest I forget, I need to mention my mother, who has Frontotemporal Dementia and who needs to move to a Medicaid skilled nursing home before she runs out of money.

All this to say, “Whew! It’s been a lot!” And I have been quite remiss in sharing with you any sort of progress with my goals or my One Little Word since we first introduced the concept on our podcast in late 2021. Amber, Christen, and I chose words for 2022 that reflected the goals we wanted to achieve in the coming year. We talked about “why”, and even mentioned a number of ways “how” we develop our words, but we never came back to share progress or results. For that reason, I have created this flip-through video to share my personal journey with my word, “now”, which was inspired by my reading of Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth.”

I know you can’t see all the detail in the journal, but I hope this video will help you see the merits of doing your own One Little Word project, whether it’s through Ali Edward’s workshop or even just working on your own. I do feel like it has been a life-changing experience for me, and I highly encourage everyone to give it a try. If you’re still on the fence, here is a recording of Ali Edwards in a Zoom with her instructional team as they discuss choosing their word.

I announced my word back in December, but I actually chose it much earlier than that. After the challenges of 2022, I thought it might be nice to choose something easy and fun. My word for 2023 will be “Light”. What will yours be?

Why Am I Stuck?

If you have been keeping up with the blog, then you will already know several things about me. I am a new mom to a soon-to-be 12-year-old, a career woman who works from home, a blogger, a podcaster, an entrepreneur, and I’m recently married too! So, if I were to tell you that our blogs are in a rotation, that we take turns, that it was all organized, carefully plotted out, and scheduled into a calendar, you probably wouldn't even bat an eye right? I have a lot going on sometimes, and although I am a creature of habit, I have a hard time sticking to my own schedule. Have I ever been late? Absolutely! 

I find that I usually am running late or behind because I lack motivation, drive, or the spark that will get me moving. That applies to anything from getting out of bed in the morning to completing a challenging project. I am a procrastinator by nature, and I will wait until the last minute to start a project. Doing so usually backfires, but I still continue with this unpleasant behavior. 

I have learned my lesson, though, and have tried many methods to create better habits, but have not found anything that has stuck with me for long. This year, I have been working in the  Cultivate What Matters PowerSheetsⓇ Goal Book, Ali Edwards One Little WordⓇ, and I use a Happy Planner from Me and My Big Ideas, as well as a Rocketbook planner. I have set S.M.A.R.T. goals and even have accountability partners. There are so many tools out there to help dream up an idea and turn it into a reality, but I struggle with the physical act of actually doing the smaller tasks. 

Using S.M.A.R.T. goals and tending lists with Cultivate What Matters, I can turn a project into smaller action items. The idea is that when you start a project, you break it down into smaller chunks that you can knock out easily and get the motivation needed to keep going because you can see and feel the progress. Celebrating the small victories is important, because you can look back at each accomplishment, celebrate a little, and then continue to move forward. That's why S.M.A.R.T. goals need to be measurable, that way you can see your progress as you go along. 

When it comes to writing my weekly blog post for Modern Musings, I have a hard time getting myself started and completing on time. I have a set deadline; my S.M.A.R.T. goal is set and easily obtainable. There is accountability – my counterparts depend on me to complete my work on time. It is so routine now, that it has become a weekly activity for me. I may have an idea already in my mind for what I want to write about, but I will find ways to procrastinate and push it off onto another day so that I have to hyper focus at the last minute to complete my writing. I have tried methods to keep me motivated, like changing my writing environment, creating fun incentives when the task is completed, Making myself write it all at once, and only writing a little at a time. Nothing has seemed to make a lasting impression, and so I am still in search of ways to motivate myself. 

What do you do when desire and necessity are not enough to get you moving? I would love to hear what your methods are in the comments below, and be sure to listen to the podcast on Wednesday as each of us discuss our struggles and share the methods and tips that have helped keep us motivated when we struggle to stay focused and finish difficult or daunting tasks. 

My Struggle with Poetry

 I have always struggled with poetry. I understand that the words are chosen specifically to get a point across, and that people have been crafting meaningful messages with poetry over the centuries. I respect it, I just don’t grasp it, therefore making it hard to enjoy. The funny thing is that I have tried and tried over the years to immerse myself in poetry and have yet to succeed. When I read poetry, the message goes over my head or does not hold the same meaning as the poet intends. I have read critiques and dissections of poetry, and I often find myself scratching my head, wondering how they got to that conclusion, or why the poet chose to go in the direction that they did.

I can see where some people might feel the same way about art. You might look at a painting and wonder “what the heck was the artist thinking?” or “what were they trying to convey?” and “is there a hidden message or purpose?” I get that; I can look at a painting and see the dramatic emotion. Although I cannot say that I understand all art (that would be absurd), I can say that it speaks a language that my mind can interpret. Poetry on the other hand…I have to focus and try really hard. 

I am constantly trying to stretch my creative abilities. I think about my skills as if they were muscles, training in a gym and getting buff. As I mentioned, I have tried to understand poetry - I sometimes beat myself up about my inability to comprehend a poem. I have tried reading as well as writing and have found that it is easier for me to write a poem than to read one. Knowing that my poem is just for me, and no one else, makes it easier for me. I’m not trying to write a manual or a recipe, I can use an allusion that makes sense only to me. I am the only one who needs to understand it.

Just like with painting or other forms of art, most of the time, the starting off point is the place where people get stuck when it comes to creating. That first stroke of the paintbrush, or finding the subject matter of interest to photograph can be the one thing holding someone back from creating a masterpiece. I was lucky that in the month of March, there was a poetry prompt for my One Little Word® project with Ali Edwards that I have been working on. If you are not familiar with that, I encourage you to check out my previous posts and our podcast on the topic. I don’t want to give away the prompt as it is a class that you have to be subscribed to, but I think it would be ok to just give you an idea of the lesson. 

The lesson for the month is to have a conversation with your word of the year. This activity anthropomorphized my word by giving it a human reaction. I sat down and answered the instructor’s writing prompts such as “how I am feeling”, and then in turn my word, RISE, responded back accordingly. It took a while for my word of the year to take shape, but once I was done I found that my responses were on one end of the emotional spectrum and my “word’s” responses were on the other end. I ended it up with a poem with two parts. The first part is set at a time of day when I - seem to struggle the most – the mornings. I express how I am impacted by my mental state. My word Rise picks up in the second part, sending me encouraging words to lift me up. I was really surprised that my melancholy response was answered by something so uplifting. 

RISE

I’m sitting, pondering my next move. 

Ideas roll around as to what I should do, 

Want to do, need to do, can’t do, afraid to do. 

My body aches, tired, overwhelmed and uninspired.

Physical pain manifests. 

The breaker switch blows a fuse. 

Nothing’s getting done now. 

Escape is necessary – fight or flight always becomes flight or flight. 

A light inside me is still glowing.

Burning warm enough to feel it, 

It does not scorch, 

It urges and guides my way. 

To flip the switch.  

The comforts of my inner hiding space no longer seen as a place of enjoyment, 

But a crutch, addiction, self imprisonment. 

For a short moment, I want them.

But I know that there is something better

Enlightened

Light from within

When I RISE.

I felt that my poem needed more than just words on paper. As I am custom to do with any of my journaling, I added collage and photography together to create something visual. I enjoyed exploring the words, getting to feel them deeply, and finding words that resonated with my emotions regarding my word. Being more present with my word allowed me to put truth to it, and choosing the right words helped me understand myself more. 

As for my next poetry plans, in light of my comparison to art, I thought it would be fun for me to take art work that I have seen in the past, and write a poem about them. I am excited to see where that takes me. I was thinking of the fur cup, Object by Méret Oppenheim, that drives me up the walls. Have you dabbled in poetry in any form? I would love to hear what you think!

Writing My Own Poetry

Hi! It’s Cindy again, and I’m celebrating our week of poetry with a few poems I have written for my One Little Word projects. I was very excited about the prospect of writing poetry for my OLW because I am a writer at heart. I’m sure that desire must have been put in my head by The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer,” and I remember writing poetry and short stories for fun as early as the fifth grade. There was a time when I seriously wanted to be a novelist. The love of creative writing has stayed with me my entire life, and I happily journal long stories in my scrapbooks and other projects.

The first two poems I’m sharing today are from last fall when my word was “Explore.” I was so excited to write poetry, I actually went off prompt to create one on my own just to test out my prowess. The second poem uses the “Mad-Lib”-style fill-in-the-blank format suggested by Liz, the instructor for that month. I will say that the first was much easier to write than the second, because I started with no specific format or intentions, but simply let my mind go where it must. The fill-in-the-blank format was much more challenging, because the questions and blanks didn’t really seem to go with my word, so it wasn’t until I deconstructed the worksheet and reassembled the lines in a different order that I was able to make the poem make sense. Overall, I’m quite delighted by the results, and it was a fun challenge, so I thought I’d share both poems with you, as well as a similar worksheet so you can make your own poem like this.

The Girl

She’s still there, the young girl,

Traumatized by poverty…abuse…neglect.

Longing for love, looking for acceptance.

Desperate…anxious…alone.

Always trying to be seen,

To be heard…to be valued.

Never knowing who to trust. Is it real?

Afraid, afraid, afraid

Of being let down…disappointed…

Abandoned yet again.

So many mistakes.

Unwilling to change it

For fear of losing the good.

Forgiving, but wary.

Tired, but energized.

Going, going, going

Moving…searching…exploring.

Damaged and yet so resilient,

So optimistic…so hopeful.

Working…waiting,

And trying, trying, trying

To build the life

She thinks she deserves.

I AM

I am a map unfurled,

Open, inviting, and calling

To the adventurer in my soul.

I hold the weight of the world

And the hope

For a better tomorrow.

I am crafting beautiful moments,

Laughing with my family

Until my sides hurt,

And planning more joy

In our everyday lives.

I reach toward the sunlight

Glinting through the trees,

The carefree splashing of the river

As it wanders through the canyon,

And the peaceful solitude

Of being here…now.

I am hopeful and afraid.

I hold cherished memories

Of friends and family,

Realizing that now

Is all that truly exists

And that the purpose

I am searching for

Is already in me.

And I am learning

How to understand myself.

This year, we once again have a poetry prompt, but for this one, we are being called to hold a conversation with our word and then use a worksheet questionnaire to grow the “bones” of our poem. I really enjoyed this process because it pushes me into a different way of looking at my word and a different approach to the poem I wrote.  Here is the one I wrote this year:

Reach

 

In the pitch-black dark of my soul,

I sit…

Alone with my thoughts,

Crowded

By all the tasks I cannot finish,

All the things I cannot do.

Haunted by the spectres of my past,

The ghosts that have kept me silent,

Boxed in,

Oppressed,

Controlled.

Dampening my light

And keeping me frozen

In this safe place.

Unmoving.

Somewhere out of reach

In the dark

Are all the things I want.

I try to reach for them,

But the way is treacherous.

“Look for the joy,”

A voice whispers beside me.

“There is joy in everything,

Even in this dark.

Embrace this moment,

Feel the life that is here

All around you.

Trust that you are 

Exactly where

You are supposed to be,

And that whatever happens

Is supposed to happen.

Be here – now.

Because now is all there is.

There is only now.

Relax and let your light shine.

Let it light up

Everything around you.

No one has the power to control you.

No one can silence your cry.

Everything you need to heal

Is already inside you.

And everything you desire

Is within your reach.

Reach.”

I encourage you to give this style of poetry writing a try. It’s much easier than you think and I know you’ll be surprised at the outcome. To get you started, I have created a fill-in-the-blank worksheet similar to the one I used to write last year’s “I Am” poem. Give it a try and share your results on our MMC Chat group. I’d love to see what you wrote!

Heard It on the Podcast - March 23, 2022

 

Did you miss a link we mentioned on the podcast? Here's a quick post we'll do every Wednesday to share any links or information from the podcast. We'll also keep a running post on the "Links from the Podcast" tab so you can refer back to any previous episode. Here's the links for this week:

23-MAR-2022

S2E13: Manifesting

• One Little Word by Ali Edwards:  https://aliedwards.com/projects/one-little-word
• Cultivate What Matters and Power Sheets:  https://cultivatewhatmatters.com/pages/about
• Christine Kane:  https://christinekane.com/about/
• The Secret (Book):  https://amzn.to/3sIokef
• The Secret (Movie):  https://amzn.to/3ChRfsL
• M. Night Shaymalan's Signs:  https://amzn.to/3hJ2h0I
• What Kind of Clutterbug Are You? (Quiz):  https://clutterbug.me

* *Please note, as an Amazon Affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Magic of Words

Hey, this is Amber and I want to ask you one question: How can one word impact your year? As an English teacher and a writer, words are, in a sense, my life. Words can be a powerful thing. They can lift a person up or they can bring them down. Words can be magical and they can be detrimental. Choosing one word to motivate you can have a lasting impact that will set the tone for your year.

Years ago, when I first started teaching, I was looking for an enlightenment exercise to do with my students in January. Later, I will talk about the goal-setting exercises that I do with my students in January, but in the process of teaching my students goal-setting, I ran across a book by Jon Gordon called “One Word that Will Change Your Life” (linked below).

Jon Gordon’s idea came as an alternative to the endless New Year’s resolutions that people make every year. Instead of making resolutions, you pick one word to drive your year. The word is meant to be a motivational power word to impact all the dimensions of your life: mental, physical, emotional, relational, spiritual, and financial.

So, I challenge my students to come up with ONE word to drive their year every January. Afterward, we do activities and writing assignments that incorporate our words. One thing that Gordon talks about is making a sort of vision board or painting with his word and hanging it in his house to remind him of his yearly motivation. One of the activities that I do with my students incorporates their words and I add them to the classroom word wall. Students have to make a small poster/vision board incorporating their words. They cut out or print pictures that inspired or had to do with their word. After implementing this in my classroom, I also choose a word and make a vision board of my own for the classroom. We will be talking about Vision Boards in an upcoming “Goals, Girl!” episode as well.

My word for 2021 was “forward” indicating that I am always moving forward in my life. After a long, few years of moving backward, I decided that I never wanted to move back again and always move forward.

My word for 2022 will be “inspire” because I want to inspire people by sharing my past experiences on this blog and our podcast.

I look forward to hearing from you. What is your one little word?

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

One Word - 365 Days of Change

 One little word. Sometimes one little word is all it takes to change the course of history. Yes. No. Maybe. Stop. Go. Attack. Retreat. Or change an attitude. Live. Laugh. Love. Dream. Be. One little word can even change your life. Forgive. Believe. Learn. Begin. Heal. So much is carried in those words. Such power. Such potential for change. I’ve witnessed the power of words in many ways, and have seen the results – in myself and others.

My personal experience using a power word started with a 365 art journaling project inspired by a crafty friend. You can read more about it on my Crafty Neighbor Blog. Christen and I decided to try a word of the year project, but turn it into a 365 project to work in our art journals. 365. I’ll let you think about that for a moment. We wanted to do an art journal project EVERY DAY for 365 days. We came up with 365 prompts, then started making pages that tied our word of the year to those prompts. It was hard work, and I can bet you already know how it turned out. I made it through about May, or maybe June, and then it just fizzled. 

Was it a failure? Oh, heck no! I feel like it was a great success. My word for that year was heal and through daily art journaling, I did a lot of healing. And even though I wasn’t working on that project every day, I was still working on it – I am still working on it, and will continue to do so. I’ve tried to keep up with posting the pages from that art journal on my Flickr.com account. Feel free to browse the album, or check out the CraftyNeighbor365 group to see what others have done with this project.

Over the years, I’ve picked other words, done other projects, and found ways to incorporate the word into my life. I chose words like organize, simplify, and heal (I’ve used that one several times over). The words helped me focus on what I wanted to create in my life, where I wanted my focus to be. Mostly I just worked on my own. I found projects that were symbolic of the word or that helped me through the process of living that word. Then a friend introduced me to Ali Edwards and her “One Little Word” project, and the real magic started to happen.

Yes, I know I’m starting to sound like a total fan-girl for all things Ali Edwards, but sometimes a designer just speaks your language, and Ali surely speaks to me. The video introduction on the One Little Word page is powerful, and says far more eloquently what this project means to me each year. It is profound, complicated, and intense, and it has brought me so much acceptance and peace. 

I do the project a little differently each year. Some years I buy the class, some years I buy the kit, sometimes I’m in a 6” x 8” album, or (this year) the softcover journal. The process is part art and part journaling, but there are really no hard and fast rules about how to do it. You could approach it from a completely photo-journalistic perspective, a serious written journal, or all art and collage. My work tends to be a combination of all three. Is it good art? Good writing? Good photography? Does it have to be? NO! This is a project for me and really no one else. This is for my growth, my benefit, and no one else’s.

If you'd like to see a flip-through video of my 2020 One Little Word project, visit my YouTube account here. So whether you take on a 365 project, join Ali’s “One Little Word” workshop, chant your word in a unity circle, or use it in some other imaginative and resourceful way, consider what your word might be. What word could take you from where you are now to the person you want to become – the person you are meant to be? What word could propel you, sustain you, and empower you? What is your “one little word”, and what will you do with it next? Leave us a comment…we’d like to know!

Quick Links from Today's Podcast

Hey friends! Thanks for joining us! Here are some quick links for resources we mentioned on today's podcast. You can hear the full podcast episode: here

Christine Kane: "Resolutions? Yawn! Here's a Better Way to Start Your Year"

Christine Kane: Word of the Year Discovery Tool (Free)

Ali Edwards: One Little Word

Crafty Neighbor: 365 Challenge

Jon Gordon: https://www.jongordon.com/

Jon Gordon: "One Word that Will Change Your Life"

How One Little Word Can Make a Huge Impact

November is one of my favorite months of the year. Although Thanksgiving and my birthday are major reasons why I love this month, there are other things to consider. And no, before you ask, it’s definitely not because of Black Friday. I’m not that kind of gal. During this time of year we really get the chance to live in the past, present and future, figuratively speaking. The year is starting to come to an end, and let's face it, as soon as Thanksgiving is over, the tree comes up and December blows past us like a whirlwind of celebrations. October 31st - January 1st is one big celebration for me. I really try to live in the moment, be mindful, capture every story and embrace the cooling temperatures. It’s the time to snuggle up and enjoy the longer evenings and make the home cozy.

In addition to enjoying the moment, I tend to reflect on the year that has gone by, see the progress that has been made, pat myself on the back for a job well done, and assess areas in my life that could benefit from an up-leveling. During that time of reflection, it is nearly impossible to keep myself from thinking ahead to the upcoming year. I will start to imagine what it will be like, or better yet, what I want it to be like. I start making plans for the upcoming year and visualizing the changes, it's just natural for me. I get all geared up for the transformations, so that starting on January 1st, I’m ready to rock the new year right out of the gate.

There have been many approaches to setting goals and resolutions, but I do something a little different - actually a lot of things differently. You might be asking where I am going with this and why I am talking about it now, in the fall, but just bear with me. Generally people set a goal or resolutions for the new year and it is long forgotten by February. We typically get burnt out or side tracked. I would always lose my focus around February when the Valentine’s Day candy comes out. So the real challenge is finding creative ways to incorporate your goal into your everyday life so that you don’t lose focus.

One of my favorite methods is choosing my word of the year. I started doing that around 2010 when a crafty coworker of mine introduced me to Christine Kane’s Power Word, or Word-of-the-Year. Christine’s technique allows me to select a word that I feel would benefit me throughout the year, and focus on my goals, without making me feel like I am not achieving my goals. I can find ways to incorporate my word into every aspect of my day to day life.

Over the years I have picked words and used my creative abilities to flesh out what my word means to me. The first year I selected “Productive” as my word because I was seeking ways to break old habits and transform my approach to life. My mom and I thought it would be a great way to work in our mixed media art journals by creating a page every day. You can read more about that in Cindy’s article later this week.

As time has passed, my method for incorporating my word into my craft has changed and I have discovered that I really enjoy following Ali Edwards’s One Little Word. She has an awesome class that lasts all year long where she posts exclusive content each month for those who sign up. There are some great products that she designs each year that go along with the project. Each month I eagerly look forward to what the prompt is, and generally work on it throughout the month. She really focuses on journaling with a bit of design inspiration. It’s one of those things that you can transform into your own style and be as elaborate or simple as you like. The take-away is incorporating the word into your life, documenting your experiences, and reflecting on it. It truly is a great add on to your goal setting.

For me, this is the keystone to my goal setting for the year. I start with the following steps:

• Visualize what I want my year to look and feel like.
• Narrow down the feeling into a single word that can be used all year long.
• Set the intentions, create goals, or resolutions.
• Make your word visible.

The first step in selecting your word is to sit down and really think about what matters to you and what you want to get out of the upcoming year. For example, if you have been overwhelmed or stressed out this year, picking the word peace is a great focus word. It is a flexible word with many meanings and great imagery that you can work into your everyday life, whether it is with your family and friends, work, personal space, or even on a grander scale like world peace etc.

I suggest sitting down and just writing out words that resonate with you, or if you feel like you need a pushing off point, there are some great places on the web where you can generate a word. One of my biggest pieces of advice beyond that is to make sure that your word is flexible, verbs and adjectives work best. Nouns can be tricky if they are not multi-faceted. For example, snow would not be a very good choice in my opinion because it is not something that you have much control over, and it doesn't occur all year long for the majority of us. Have fun with your word, try it out for a day and let it roll around in your mind. If you can’t decide between two or more words, that’s ok, just sleep on it and over time you will start to lean into one of them more so than the others. If you get a head start before the new year, then you will have plenty of time to decide.

If you are having a hard time getting started I highly recommend checking out Christine Kane’s downloadable free worksheet. Ali Edwards’s website has a list of words that I like sifting through. You can find it here or you can just do a simple Google search for word of the year list or One Little Word (also known on the web as OLW).

I would love to hear from you on what words you have chosen in the past and any creative ways that you have incorporated your word into your daily life. I especially enjoy getting insight from the non-arts and crafts community who take part in the Word of the Year or similar trends. We will be sure to announce the words that we have selected for ourselves before the new year so make note to check back in. If you are curious as to how I incorporated my word of the year into my mixed media arts, or my Ali Edwards’s inspired project check out the images below.

2020 - HARMONY

2020 - HARMONY

2020 - HARMONY

2021 - LESS

2021 - LESS

2021 - LESS