My one little word 2013

This is my 3rd year of doing "My one little word" project. 

 In 2011 I chose "Content" 

I made this visual reminder

In 2012 I chose "Aloha"

Allan and Lindsay made me this reminder

For 2013 I have chosen "CONNECT"

I have been thinking about it for a while and I think what we all want and long for is connection to ourselves, to others, to our own passions, to faith, to our past, to our future.  

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tired into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

I find I rush through my busy life and so often I fail to connect with myself....to give myself time to think and be and consider my life, my emotions.  For much of my life I have not valued myself enough to do this . This year I am going to pay a bit of attention to me.

I also really want to invest in my connection with my family.  I feel ever more deeply that these moments as a family of 4 are fleeting.  My teens are growing so fast and the years passing by so quickly.  I don't want to hold on to them too tightly but I want the moments we have to count.  I want to hold them, listen to them, adventure with them, cheer them on....connect.  I want to continue to invest  in my marriage.  I don't ever take it for granted and as we head into the year ahead with much to be journeyed through, I want to do it hand in hand with my beloved Allan who is my rock, my patient sounding board and my gently critical confidante who loves me and pushes me and challenges me.

“Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone's hand is the beginning of a journey.
At other times, it is allowing another to take yours.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration 

I want to connect with friends...... more and more deeply..... It is SO easy in this life to see connecting with friends as optional extras or "treats" but I feel more and more they are the substance of a rich life.  A life that is joyful and interesting and diverse.  I want to pick up the phone more often, write more notes, connect on email or Facebook..... but to do it more.

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”
― Herman Melville 

I am determined to reach out in my community.  I want to reach out in my church community and not be held back by being the new people. Sometimes connection takes risk.  I am going to reach out to my neighbours and hold a block party in the summer in our back alley.  That will be scary and exciting but connecting with one another could build a new sense of community that enriches us all.  

CONNECT, CONNECTED, CONNECTION, CONNECTING.

 “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”
― John Lennon