mum inspires

My One Word For 2018

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mindfulness, mindful living, mum inspires, words

It took awhile to come up with this post but since the beginning of the year, I knew the one word that I would like to be my guide for 2018. I’ve chanced upon this word several times late last year during meditation, and I must agree, it best signifies how I would like to live my life this year. It ought to be “be present” but since that clearly violates the concept, I settled for present.

Present is an adjective that connotes {of a person} in a particular place.  The word is synonymous to:

  • in attendance
  • here
  • nearby
  • {close/near} at hand
  • available

The word also means existing or occurring now and is synonymous to current, present-day, or existing. I thought both meanings are applicable.

As always, I would love to be present in the here and now. Be present whilst life unfolds before me as life is way too short. If I am elsewhere, I will be missing a lot of what’s happening in the present, its simple pleasures, its simple miracles. Much like this photo I took earlier today. If I was preoccupied as usual and not in tune in the present, I wouldn’t have noticed this beautiful butterfly circling in my plants this morning, perhaps visiting her birthing place. It was probably the same caterpillar that feasted on my calamansi plant not too long ago, and took one of its little branches to cocoon itself, biding its time to become what it is today. Don’t you love the details on its wings?

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lifestyle, mum inspires, mum's thoughts

My One Word For 2017

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It is only my second time to choose my One Word for the year {you may read My One Word for 2016 post here} and I am hoping it will be an effective guide on how 2017 will turn out for me. After much consideration, I chose intentional to be my guiding word. In line with this, I resolve to be more mindful of the many aspects of my life so I can shape each of them towards my intentions and aspirations for this year.

According to Google, intentional means:

  • done on purpose
  • deliberate

It is also synonymous to:

  • intended
  • planned
  • meant
  • willful
  • purposeful or purposive
  • conscious
  • knowing
  • studied

Intentional With My Time

Time, indeed, is more precious that gold, as time spent can never be recovered. It is, therefore, up to us to make each moment count.

One of the things that I struggle with every day is being conscious of how I spend my time. On most times, I am just spinning like crazy, whirring from one chore to another, desperate to finish something at the end of the day. On most occasions, I was left exhausted and less accomplished at the end of the day. While on other days, I am just my usual lazy self who would rather curl up on the couch with my mobile phone in hand and just browse my day away. It might be enjoyable at one point but becomes a problem as it drags on as I was just simply wasting time, unless I am doing work on mobile, that is.

I previously wrote in my 2017 goals that I will be more mindful of how I spend my time this year, thinking of the many hours I spent last year being idle or thumbing through Instagram for inspirational and beautiful posts. This year, I would just like to be more aware of how I spend my time on a daily basis and make sure I spend them on important and interesting endeavors.

To help me keep up with how I spend my time daily, I printed this Daily To Do List. It is now very easy to plot the things I need to get done in a day. It even has a section for daily menu, as well as a tracker for hydration and exercise, and a sufficient space for any note you might want to add. And since it is very handy in loose leaf, I can simply print a couple of pages for daily or weekly use and pin it on my cork board to serve as my reminder. For the incoming school year, I am encouraging my little to write down his daily schedule, too, and see if we can squeeze in more time outdoors than we did this summer. 😉

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mum's thoughts

My One Word For 2016

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mum inspires, mum's thoughts, mindful living

I first read about One Word last year when I chanced upon it on a fellow mum blogger’s site. It was too late then to choose for my 2015 word, but if I had chosen one, it would no doubt be grateful as I have practiced to be more grateful and was mindful to be thankful for each and every blessing that I received last year.

It took awhile for me to choose my One Word for this year as I have been having difficulty choosing between a couple of my options, including connect, create, and blessed. In the end, something led me to one word that I hope would best describe 2016 for me ~ flourish. It was rather apt as I intend to flourish in different aspects of my life. I would like to flourish as a mum, as a wife and a life partner, a homemaker, as a sister, as a blogger, and as a budding gardening enthusiast {and I hope for my plants to flourish as well} I would also love to flourish in my relationships with significant people in my life, as well as flourish in my creative pursuits for this year.

mum inspires, mum's thoughts, mindful living
image from Pictacular.co on Pinterest

According to Google, flourish means a number of things, including:

  • to grow luxuriantly, or thrive in growth, as a plant
  • to grow well; to be healthy
  • to be very successful
  • to do very well
  • a bold or extravagant gesture or action {which I thought was perfect to describe calligraphy and hand-lettering which I plan to learn this year, too!}

So, yes, I am claiming this to be my One Word for 2016 with a prayer that my life, as well as the lives of the people I touch as I journey on, flourish as much as mine.

What is your One Word for this year and what are your reasons for choosing it?

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