2019 One Little Word® – light

As I mentioned in my last post, my 2018 OLW™ (Practice) was rather quiet. I was discussing it with friends a few weeks ago, and I started to go down the road of having “failed” at my word, based on all of the practices that I didn’t establish. I shifted quickly, and thought about all that I did succeed with: a weekly practice of mailing notes/letters/photos to the Littles, a weekly marriage meeting practice, a reading practice (more books than the previous year), and various small practices that brought ease to my life (i.e. using a packing spreadsheet for travel). As we kick off 2019, I’m still practicing…and that’s progress, right? I’m also ready to move on to a new word…

My OLW™ for 2019 is LIGHT.

As often happens, this word chose me. The more that I thought about a word, the less sure that I was. So I stopped thinking and started simply observing. Sure enough, one day I walked toward my dining room, and saw light flooding through the window, bathing my fiddle leaf. Oh! My word is light. The Universe isn’t always subtle.

I really appreciate that language that Ali Edwards uses for One Little Word – she views it as a lens through which she views life. Love that.

A few areas where I already know that I’ll work with light, and use it as a lens…

A physical feeling of lightness – yes, it’s totally trite to talk about fitness in January. And, like many of you, I’ve spent the past 6 weeks eating cheese, toasting to everything, and forgetting the way to the gym. I’m definitely working toward a feeling, not a number. I’m also pondering getting back to a capsule wardrobe to achieve some lightness in my closet.

A lighthearted sense of being – if you want to instantly piss me off, tell me to “lighten up” when I’m focused/worried/obsessing about something. Grrr. It lands for me as dismissing whatever is present for me in the moment. As a more gentle approach, I’ll definitely be playing with “how can I look at this in a more lighthearted way?”

Actual light – winter is long & dark in VT and I crave the sun every day. We’re fortunate that our house has a lot of very large windows, so when the light does appear, we get to enjoy it. In a very practical sense, we’re also planning to reconfigure some lighting in the house. Two of the bedrooms are quite dark.

Living in the light – when Dan & I first started dating, I told him that I wanted to “live and love in the light.” For me, that means being open, talking about all.the.things, and not letting the darkness win.

Looking forward to all the ways that light will show up in my life this year.

What’s your One Little Word?

One Little Word is an Ali Edwards project. I highly recommend her OLW course as a way to keep your word visible.