My ‘word of the year’ for 2018, finally!

 

 

Hello friend, hope you are having a lovely April. It is a rainy afternoon as I write this but the air feels warmer and the blossoms are out so yay! Feels good doesn’t it? I am also feeling good because I finally picked my ‘word of the year‘. Keep reading to find out what word I eventually landed on is and how I landed on it.

Apologies for the delay between posts!

As you may know life is a bit upside down for us at the moment due to our home renos.  You might recall we moved out of our place before Christmas and here we sit 3+ months later with not a lot of progress. Despite getting the permits last week the City inspector has a backlog so he hasn’t made it our place yet, which means all the trades are backed up – electrical, plumbing and drywall.

So we wait…and I continue to drive 2 hours a day back and forth to the boys school, and then back again for things like baseball practice. Sigh. At this rate we are hoping to be in by the end of June, early July??? ….it is really out of our hands though so I am trying to go with the flow (see my leaf analogy and how it relates to my ‘word of the year’ below).

It hasn’t been all bad though.

We had a Hawaiian vacation in February that warmed our souls. The boys were in heaven, swimming, strolling and eating, and so were we. Then in March Steve and I made a short, surprise trip to the UK for Steve’s uncle’s birthday. We even were able to fit in a few days sightseeing in London, getting to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Modern Museum (where we saw the Picasso show), Churchill’s War Rooms (fascinating) and Harrods. You really need lifetimes to see all that London has to offer!

 

 

 

More good things have been popping up as well but I will save that news for another day. Stay tuned….

 

 

My Word of the Year! Finally!

 

 

I am not sure if it was the hectic blur of my life these last few months or a lack of inspiration, but I could not settle on a ‘word of the year’ for 2018.

You might remember that I pick a ‘word of the year’ every year that represents what I want that particular year to be about and for 2017 it was ‘Lean’. Not in the one dimensional sense of say having a ‘lean’ body but more about paring things down; a leaner coaching practice (streamlining programs and services), leaner financial services (paying no unnecessary fees), a leaner home (lose the clutter and make better use of space), and leaner in terms of my body / weight (overall better health and wellness).

 

 

Did ‘Lean’ Work? 

 

 

To be honest with you when I started writing this post I couldn’t recall what my 2017 word was! So when I went back and read that it was ‘lean’ I had a chuckle. For one, my house certainly is less cluttered as there is NO stuff in it, and we have less ‘stuff’ in general because we are living with minimal things out of boxes at my folks and have either gotten rid of our other ‘stuff’ or it is packed away in storage!

I also have to say that in terms of my health and wellness, that following our Hawaii trip this past winter I was feeling the best I have been in years. For the last 14 months I have been attending a great gym, the planters fascitis that was dogging me for the last year and a half went away so I was able to go for a run every second day in Maui. So yes, I am feeling stronger and leaner health wise (although I took a few steps back due to lots of eating out in London and too much Easter chocolate but I’m getting back on the horse this week! Public accountability!)

So ‘Lean’ worked for me, just as ‘Clarity’ worked in 2016, ‘Ease’ worked in 2015 and ‘Freedom’ worked in 2014.

There really is a special energy that forms when you chose a word to represent your aspirations for the coming year. Writing that word down, telling others, or sharing it on social media as I do, goes a long way to holding one accountable and keeping momentum up.

 

How I came across my WOTY….

…Oprah Interviewing Pema Chodron

 

 

This morning as I was doing the dishes I was listening to Oprah interview the Buddhist nun Pema Chodron. They were discussing heart advice for difficult times. The Buddhist tradition speaks a lot about ‘sufferring’ and Pema explained that suffering refers to encountering difficult times, disruptive times, anxiety provoking times etc. You know, those times that make you feel fearful and insecure.

Well these past months I,  like many other humans, have had some challenging times.

It isn’t easy to pack up your entire house and along with your dog and your two young sons (one with special needs who thrives with structure and regularity), and all your holiday paraphernalia; like 20 plus Christmas gifts, wrapping paper, gift receipts, snowshoes, bikes, pot and pans, food etc…and move in with your parents a few days before Christmas.

If you haven’t done it, well I can tell you it is quite unsettling. And it was unsettling for my folks too, who were used to a quiet, kid free house.

Living at my parent’s place means I often can’t find things like my son’s baseball glove which he now needs for practice, or there is an important file I need but it is locked away in our storage container so I can’t access it. In the scheme of things this may seem like small potatoes, but hey it’s my life and like you I have good days and not so good days where I find myself getting irritated by these types of little things.

So I am working on it.

Which brings me to my word of the year for 2018.

 

‘Surrender’

 

 

Go With The Flow

 

Pema Chodron spoke about how in the face of suffering, however big or small that suffering is, that surrendering to what is going on and accepting it is the key.

For 2018 I am surrendering to what is; storing my clothes in boxes, working out of my old bedroom instead of my office, a school run of 2+ hours a day, experiencing yet another delay with our renovation permits, finding out that we need to pony up another $12,000 for a leaky roof, whatever it is I will surrender to it.

I will try to be like the leaf that floats on the surface of the water, sometimes getting whipped around in a whirlpool, sometimes tumbling over the rapids, sometimes getting caught on a branch, and sometimes being carried gently down the stream. No resistance. No suffering. Only surrender.

 

So did you pick your word for 2018?

How is it going for you? Are you keeping up the momentum? Everyday gives you an opportunity to hit that reset button if you are not.

I’d love to hear what your WOTY is so feel free to put in the comment section below or if you are not reading this on my website, over on the blog .

xo

 

Eliz

 

 

 

*Update- Alongside my usual coaching packages I now offer a career coaching package as well. If you would like more information about this contact admin@fullflightlifecoaching.com