Happy New Year! How do you approach the new year? I’m one of those people who reflects on the year that just ended. How did I do? What went well? What didn’t? And especially, how did I feel overall about the year I just lived? Then I look ahead to what I want the next year. This year, I also chose a word I want to influence me in 2019.
Last year my word was kindness. I felt I wanted to be kinder, both to myself and in the world. Looking back, I know just having “kindness” in the background of my mind, it influenced my behavior and helped me pause when I didn’t really want to be kind. When moments of anger flashed, or judgment, gossip or criticism raised their unkind voices, I responded better….not perfect, but I believe I was kinder even in challenging circumstances.
SAVOR is my word for 2019.
Webster’s Dictionary defines SAVOR as: relish, enjoy fully, appreciate, delight in, luxuriate in.
Why did I select SAVOR?
Savor requires my attention. It encourages me to be more present and live through all my senses. I hope it will guide me towards more of what I appreciate and enjoy and nudge me from “the stuff” I don’t enjoy fully.
I want to savor my experiences, people, activities, foods, and my surroundings each day. This may not be easy in all situations, but where I can, I want to try to find something to savor. I really want to better appreciate my life in deeper ways.
Savor requires I am present in even the small moments of my day.
I want to sit with friends and savor our conversations and time with them. I want to listen intently with an open mind and heart.
During my morning walks, I want to be attentive to my surroundings, feel the chill in the air, listen to the sounds, and notice the seasonal changes.
As a writer, I want to read good authors. I want to savor their words, how their sentences are constructed and the visual images created.
I hope savoring will result in better decisions and choices. Choices such as the quality (and quantity) of my food, buying and using things, or deciding on what to do and with whom, hopefully will be more of what I appreciate and enjoy.
3 Things I Considered When I Selected My Word for the Year
- It should be a word that’s positive and aligns with what’s important to me and how I want to live my best life.
- I started with a half-dozen words I considered. How did they feel? Inspiring? Too cerebral? Boring? Happy?
- I thought about how the word might impact specific experiences and decisions.
Impact of My Word (so far)
Savor requires I slow down and be deliberately aware through more of my senses.
I had the wonderful opportunity to savor New Years Day when we attended the 2019 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. I’ve always wanted to be there and sit in the grandstands and enjoy the full parade experience in person! I took it all in and was delighted! The happy crowds, near-freezing temperatures and my warm clothes, the music, the marching bands, and especially the amazing floral artistry and grandness of the floats.
It softens my usual approach of defining goals, intentions, habits, or writing my long lists of to-do’s for the new year.
But…Don’t Ditch Your Goals and Habits
Goals, intentions, and habits are still important and I have these written for the upcoming year. Goals help with direction and the highest priorities of our life and good habits are the actions to get us there. We need them all. Our daily focus on our choices and small, incremental activities is the secret sauce to success.
If you need help creating and better understanding habits, I highly recommend the best-selling books by James Clear, Atomic Habits and Gretchen Rubin, Better than Before.
Hopefully, by choosing my word “savor” and reflecting on it throughout the year will positively affect how I respond in my daily life. I’ll let you know what’s working during the year and review it about this time again next year.
Happy New Year!
What is your word for 2019? Leave it in the comments section below.
