2010

http://www.reverb10.com/

(I would have adored to have a little button-thingy and not a link but it doesn't seem to want to work for me)

I am participating in Reverb10, I am thinking this is a wonderful way to begin my new blog, by reflecting on the past year and setting intentions for the new year. And seeing as I managed to only be a week behind in this project, I will get right into it...

ONE WORD

December 1 – One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? (Author: Gwen Bell)

SIMPLIFY

The word I chose in January for 2010 was something different, Momentum. I described it as Moving Onwards More easily, Noticing The Unique Moments. Momentum arrived with each step I took, but I found that my focus became more about Simplifying my world than about anything else.

I saw how I had been living in a perpetual state of overwhelm, constantly swinging between frantic movement and utter exhaustion...like I was in some kind of race to get somewhere? Where? Who knows.

Simplicity dawned upon me like a long-awaited new love, it swept away the confusion and paved the way for a new, easier way of being in the world. So much of what I had been holding onto became easy to release, and so much of what I had been trying to find drifted into my life when I allowed the space for it to arrive.

In December last year I resigned from my job and chose to take a break from the working world, this was a scary decision, financially and emotionally. I chose to let go of my beliefs about what it means to be a single, non-working mother in the eyes of society and to focus on what this means for me and my children. I have not regretted this decison once.

Absurdley, following that choice I chose to become debt-free. Fifteen years of debt was weighing much heavier on me than what I had been willing to accept and I made a vow that I would lighten this load. And I did, it was much more simple than I could have ever imagined. I now live without debt, and the simplicity of only spending what I can actually afford, in that moment, is the most freeing financial
choice I have ever made.

This year I have fallen in and out of lust, like, victimhood and saviourdom, and I have learned the difference between them and falling in and out of love. I have stopped trying to grok who or what I need in regard to relationships, and just brought it all back my own simple truth...Everything I need? I already possess.

I moved house this year, I moved closer to the father of my children. Life is so much easier and simpler now that we co-parent instead of just being two parents to the same kids. Sometimes it is simpler just to do it together.

I de-cluttered, not once, not twice, but three times. I let go of material things that no longer served me and organised those that do serve me into a simple, workable environment that nourishes me and sets me free all in the same breath of fresh air.

I made choices this year to simplify my world, some were consciously for this purpose, some just turned out that way, but the biggest change I have experienced this year has been learning that simplicity comes not only from our cirucmstances but from how we choose to be in those cirumstances. Choosing to think less, feel more; talk less, listen more; do less, be more, has opened me up to feeling more at peace, and more in love with my world.

Yes, simplicity, so much my word for 2010.

My word for 2011? yet to come.