One Word 365 {exhale}

ex·hale / verb / 1. to breathe out in a deliberate manner.

Furthermore, to pause.

To relax.

To let it go.

To breathe deeply, and with intention.

To start again.

To begin a conversation.

To create space.

To find a place.

To lean into the physical, the human, the most basic parts.

To root into the present.

To get one's bearings.

To take care, to sustain.

To connect. To reconnect.

To let it out.

To feel relief.

To remember:

It's all going be OK.

My other words // One Word 365

reflect. {Project 52}

Today I sat around a table on an ordinary sort of could-it-almost-be-spring morning with three dear friends while the sunlight streamed in and toddlers ran through the house.

Lisa had just gifted each of us with one of these lovely mugs featuring our words.

We thought it would be fitting, since we are a quarter of the way into the year, to talk about where we're at, how far we've come, where we'd still like to go.

It was an impromptu, unofficial, informal time to pause and reflect.

We acknowledged it's not about arriving or getting it all right. It's more about awareness, engagement, and grace.

Renew. For me, for this year, for right now...

I'm doing less, and strangely enough, I feel like I'm experiencing more.

I'm slowing down, and I'm enjoying some newfound white space.

I'm setting off on fewer long runs and more long walks.

I'm scaling back, spending less. I'm thinking before I do, before I spend.

I'm breathing more, sleeping more. Sometimes, sometimes, I simply sit.

I'm allowing myself to be inspired. (And learning it's not up to me to do all the inspiring.)

I'm surrounding myself with a safe, authentic community who embraces me just as I am.

I'm blogging less, but I do believe I'm appreciating more.

I'm refusing to carry (graciously, I hope) what's not mine to carry.

I'm not taking myself quite so seriously.

I'm learning what it means to be a one. I'm tossing out my bag of "shoulds".

I'm disconnecting what I do with what I'm worth.

I'm taking time to reflect.

So today, I'm grateful for this morning, for sunshine, for friends gathered around a plate of homemade scones...

Grateful for seasons in life (literally and figuratively). Grateful for spring after a long, dark winter.

Grateful for space. Grateful for grace. Grateful that Sunday's comin'.

Grateful for this word, this year, this moment, this reflection.

Amen.

Autumn's new baby girl is home from the hospital, and they are all enjoying life as a family of five. 

Look for her new Project 52 posts, coming soon!

One Word 365: not just a January thing.

One word. 365 days.

Did you choose one this year? I did.

The one word part...that's the easy part. The harder part? The 365 days.

It's a commitment and a challenge to frame your thoughts and actions within the context of your word for one whole year (and hopefully beyond).

This isn't just a January thing. It's a whole year thing.

I'm forgetful. And busy. And a mom, which means I have approximately 2 zillion less brain cells than I did before I was a mom. I need to write things down... lists, notes, reminders, words... otherwise I forget.

One way I'm remembering this year is with a one little word print from the Mercy INK shop. Lauren @ Mercy Ink has created these pretty prints in a convenient digital format with multiple colors included to suit your fancy.

I'm going to frame it and put in on my pretty new desk.

Three of my dearest gal pals also choose words this year {believe, breathe, grow}. I love their words. After all, I love them.

Together we're looking out for each other, rooting for each other, celebrating each other. We're believing for each other, even when we can scarcely believe it ourselves.

So I take back what I said before... I didn't choose just one word this year. I guess I choose four.

Here's to 2013...

to remembering

to community

to words (that are so much more than just words)

and to not going it alone.

One Word 365 {renew}

I picked a verb last year too.

{I can't help it -- I tend to be a do-er}

2012 started out as a year of action: I was setting goals, stretching myself, conquering new territory, saying yes, taking strides, moving forward.

Truth is, I'm a tad bit weary.

This year's verb is a little different: I'm not going to be the one doing it.

It's something I'm going to allow Him to do in me.

{*deep breath*}

Renew.

Begin again, breathe new life into, bring up to date, continue, exhilarate, fix up, freshen, go over, mend, overhaul, reaffirm, reawaken, recondition, recreate, reestablish, refit, refresh, regenerate, rehabilitate, reinvigorate, rejuvenate, renovate, reopen, repair, replenish, restate, restock, restore, resume, resuscitate, retread, revitalize, revive, spruce, stimulate, transform.

My heart, my health, my half-full true self, took a beating last year.

It is time to begin again.

It is time to allow Him to wipe the slate clean. It is time for a fresh start.

I want to rethink, reestablish, reawaken what it means to be a wife, a mother, a friend, an inhabitant of this earth, an inhabitant of this body.

A daughter of the King.

I want to toss out the old ways, the things I thought I knew, the expectations.

I want to turn towards The One who is Alive, True, and Filled with Hope.

I want to hold on to His promise that He will make all things new.

{Even though hard is an understatement when it comes to a do-er letting go of the control, the action, the doing}

My hope, my prayer: transform. restore. revive. renew. 

Not by my strength, but by His.

My word. His word.

{button credit Melanie @ Only a Breath}

Psalm 51:10-12 (NIV) 

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 51:7-12 (MSG)

Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,

scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.

Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,

set these once-broken bones to dancing.

Don’t look too close for blemishes,

give me a clean bill of health.

God, make a fresh start in me,

shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.

Don’t throw me out with the trash,

or fail to breathe holiness in me.

Bring me back from gray exile,

put a fresh wind in my sails!

One Word 365 {focus}

Aside from its chilly temps, I love January for many reasons. The holiday bustle is over. We enjoy (and then get to recover from) an amazing, yearly vacation tradition. My calendar is refreshingly uncluttered. The kids go back to school (just sayin').

Mostly, I think, I love the fresh start it symbolizes.

Last year, I jumped with both feet in to the new years' resolution game and I made a pretty good go of it. I started with an ambitious list {11 for 2011} and I was able to make progress on a lot of my goals. At the start of Year 32 in August, I also compiled another list...and in the past year there was also a summertime to do list, a list of fitness goals and a Christmas Break to do list.

I'm pretty sure the last thing I need in my life right now is another list.

I stumbled across this site a couple of weeks ago and found this idea refreshing: One Word 365. Choose one word for 2012. One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live or what you want to achieve by the end of the year.

It took a couple of weeks for the word to formulate in my head. I have a lot of different ideas about what 2012 could be and my hopes for the year cover a broad spectrum of concrete, specific goals and more intangible, harder to measure values.

The word I found the speaks to all my different desires for 2012:

focus

My prayer these last few days when I feel distracted or unmotivated or overwhelmed...focus.

The trait that is going to help me reach my 25K goal...focus.

The best way to invest in those nearest and dearest to me without being overwhelmed by the thousands of needs all around me...focus.

My greatest hope for finishing off some of the items on my many lists {most importantly, this one}...focus.

And what do when my big kids arrive home from school breathless with stories and arms full of papers or when my two year old tells me another in-depth story in her precious just-on-the-cusp-of-a-language-break-through babble...focus.

For the next 300-and-some days (and beyond), I want to take a deep breath, re-prioritize, put my words into action, and enjoy the things (and we all know that the best things in life aren't things) that matter to me most.

In the words of this extraordinary pin, "we would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant and truly see the things that matter the most."

{Inspired? Link up your One Word for 2012 blog post here}