New Year - New Me in 2023

Plans for New Year's Eve are under way and our reservation for dinner has been set. We're heading to a new to us restaurant, Kimi's Chop and Oyster House, and we're really looking forward to sharing the New Year with some of our loved ones and partners in business. 

Looking towards this shiny New Year I think of a tradition I began for our household after hearing Kevin Hall speak on The Power Of Words at a business conference we attended years ago. It spoke to my spirit. Since then as the New Year approaches I have been selecting a single word to focus on in the New Year. I see it referred to by others as ONE WORD.

Stephen Covey wrote as part of his forward for author Kevin Hall' in his book, ASPIRE : "There is a language of success and a language of distress. There is a language of progress and a language of regress... Words lead, and words impede... 

What a powerful description...Perhaps the focus of our word/s can make A NEW YOU?!

Cultures around the world and through history have commemorated the ending of one year and the beginning of another. Being inspired by Kevin to focus on ONE WORD has been such a meaningful year long activity. Far different than the experience of myself and many others who make lists of resolutions. Historically as many as 45 percent of Americans say they usually make New Year’s resolutions, only 8 percent are successful in achieving their goals. 

Beginning this New Year I choose to focus my thoughts on one word... I believe it can make a new me as the year progresses. Perhaps you'll choose to join me. This year could mean for you A NEW YOU too.

My One Word For The New Year HEALING

Back in 2010 I heard the author Kevin Hall speak. He shared his personal story and how it led him to write his new book, "Aspire: Discovering Your Purpose Through the Power of Words". I had the honor of meeting him after his talk. What he shared truly changed my way of thinking about using words and using them to encourage myself and others too. 

Later I began hearing about the idea of beginning the New Year differently, choosing One Word to help focus on the New Year and the aspirations we have for it. What a wonderful way to start the New Year. 

I have selected my One Word for 2015 to be HEALING. 

Aside from my family, neighbors and close friends most people would not understand my choice. Of those close to me, they would guess that most obvious reason I selected healing as my word might be that I developed Shingles in November of 2014. It for me has been a slow, painful process and in fact I am still dealing with post herpetic neuralgia. (What that means is the pain continues after the blisters healed.) The choice of the word healing though was not only prompted by the pain from Shingles. I had been thinking over some things. Each of us, as we go through life, experiences things that shape them. It mold us and sometimes changes us, some of us never recover. It might have been a betrayal by a loved one or perhaps a death of a child. For others, something out of their control unexpectedly shook their world. It could even be an accumulation of weighty disappointments.

In any case the pain from Shingles got me thinking about pain in our lives that holds us back and keeps us from enjoying life fully.

Why? Because we are carefully trying to protect ourselves from that pain. I thought of this as I was draping scarves over my face trying to keep the cool air from the fan from causing electric shock type pain on my skin. The post herpetic nerve pain had amplified my pain receptors and confused my nerves. What normally would be a rather pleasant sensation on the skin was no longer pleasant.

Unresolved issues in our life can be much like the nerve pain from Shingles, we hide from certain experiences. 

My One Word for this year is more about THAT healing...for myself and for others. I want to see HEALING!