One word...365

...last year I decided to give up on making New Years resolutions.  Just like you I made them every year, usually the same ones and forgot about them in approximately three weeks.  Doomed to fail no matter the list I had made.

I came upon a group of bloggers who were choosing a word to guide them through the year.  Not a resolution, or mantra, but a word that sums up how you feel, how you want to live, how you want to change and grow in the coming year.  Just one word that you can focus on every day.  For 2011 I chose the word "embrace."  I wanted to be fully aware to embrace the day, the changes in my life, those around me, new ideas, understanding.  All in all I am so pleased that I chose that one.word.  It helped me through some difficult times and cheered for me when I was at my best.

I've had a hard time with one.word this year. I made a list...imagine, serendipity, kindness.  All good words but not really filling my heart in the way I needed.  I considered;

" a disposition to be kind and forgiving."  Indeed this is something I strive for daily and the forgiving part is something I need to work on,  I admit it is my worst fault.   Then what stuck with me was;

but I quickly decided that Grace is not for me to give only for me to ask for.  Now I was stumped and over the weekend I decided that I needed to be silent for awhile and my word would find me.   Silent, that kept coming back to me

                         Silence

as I thought on this word, silence, it became louder and louder drowning out all the other words in my heart.  I began to  think about how much one could learn by being silent.  Then I began to think of all the pain, sorrow, and abuse that has gone on in the silence.  It could not be my one.word.

As I was watching the television Monday evening our local programming stopped for several minutes.  It was late in the day but it had been a weary, on edge, panicky kind of day for our small community.  Those small towns that surround a most majestic and humbling mountain.  Mt. Rainier.  There was a shooting there earlier in the day and a beautiful young mother, a ranger, stood strong with angels by her side and stopped a man who was about to open fire at the visitors center.  She perished...and this moment in time, this silence all around came as they were bringing her body down the mountain.  Flanked by tens of local police/EMT's/sheriffs/family and friends she was brought down to her final place of rest.  In that silence there was sorrow.  In that silence there was singing.  In that silence there was anger.  In that silence there was Grace...I only needed to listen to hear the sounds of the silence.

My one.word;

                                   LISTEN



to your heart, listen.
to those around you, listen.
in the darkness, listen.
in the light, listen
to the silence, listen.

You'll never find peace of mind until you listen.   One word.365.will change your life.