My first thought for my own word, upon reading the suggestion, was "perseverance." An excellent concept, to be sure, but somehow I felt it was not the word that I wanted to have most immediately at my side for an entire year. Next I tried out the word "familiarize," as I have found that to be a helpful idea. What gets in the way of me reaching my goals mostly seems to be fear of some kind, and familiarization is often what helps me overcome that fear. Not anything nearly so difficult or imposing as "courage," but simply become more familiar with what I have to do or what is expected of me.
This morning the word that most strongly suggests itself is "friendly." I would like to have a more friendly relationship with, well, just about everything - myself, life, the world, other individuals. My work too. And those individual tasks that, although not really difficult, still present me with so many difficulties. Because, I think, I construe them in a way that is unfriendly -- as forbidding, isolating, as opening myself up to criticism.
So I'm thinking that an excellent change could be for me simply to try out the idea of friendliness in just about every area of my life. The next question is, How to implement that idea? One important way is simply, I think, to fill my mind as much as possible with friendly people. I have a few such people in my life, and I do cherish them and their presence. It would be helpful to have more such people, and I can find some such folk on the Web. Pema Chodron is an excellent example. If I think of Pema Chodron often each day, over a series of days -- surely that will have an beneficent effect on my thinking and feeling and life?
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