Breathe

My One Little Word for 2016 is Breathe. I had a couple other words that seemed to be following me around since about November but nothing seemed quite right. Then one day earlier this month I was out for a run and I had a personal realization while moving (as I often do) and it made me stop in my tracks. I took a deep breath and I felt my shoulders relax and my body became less tense. I took another deep breath and my eyes filled with tears as I let an expectation I had been struggling with "go". 

I knew right there that my word was breathe. 

I created this as a visual reminder of what I am to be focusing on & on what matters. 

Inhale the good. Exhale the bad.

Happy new year friends. 

xoxo

♥

One Little Word 2015: Shine

Happy New Year my friends. I have been looking forward to getting back to work here and have lots to share.

First- I am so happy to have a new look. Something fun, fresh and so pretty. This template was purchased from The Art She Makes on Etsy. She did such a great job and even better, she installed everything for me- I am so grateful!
Second- I am excited to share my One Little Word for 2015. Last year I chose Brave and boy did I ever have to be that. I had to be brave and continue to be brave in ways I hadn't imagined. This year I struggled a bit with choosing a word, I analysed everything and everything felt wrong. Then one day about a week and a half ago "shine" popped into my head and I knew I had found it. It was perfect. It pretty much summed up where I want to go and what I want to do this year.

Shine Defined:
- to give off light
- to be very good or successful at an activity
- to give forth or glow with light
- to be unusually animated or bright

I want to Shine in all aspects of my life. Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually.

- I want to clear out all the clutter to allow the things that matter to come forward and to progress.
- I want to excel in my work. Working from home is so challenging and I have really been struggling, even more so since my Dad past away.
- I want to grow my relationships.
- I want to be healthy & strong.
- I want to step out of my comfort zone and push myself in regards to my health.
- I want to be joyful.
- I want to thrive financially so that I can cut that stress out and afford us trips & relaxation away from home.
- I want to say no and not be guilty.
- I want to find new levels of creativity and commit to sharing my work.
- I want to be confident.
- I want to grow as a Momma and a wife. To give my best self to them.
- I want to explore self care, radical self care. Put myself at the front of the line, the front of the to do list.
- I miss my Dad so much and my heart aches. I want to heal, to find peace.

I am excited. I feel good about these things. What about you, do you have a word? A mantra for the new year. Share it with me here, I 'd love to hear from you.

Pop on over here to learn more about One Little Word: one little word can change everything.

Brave Actions

Sometimes being brave means standing up for yourself or facing a difficult situation or signing up for something you've been to scared to do. Sometimes it means standing in line to get on a roller coaster that didn't look so bad from far away. Then that roller coaster stops two rides before yours at the safety check because two people weren't buckled in... there's a loop... you go upside down. It means staying in that line even though all your inside voices are telling you to get the hell out. I stayed, I rode it twice (they send every ride twice, I would have been fine getting off after the first go). I screamed bloody murder the whole ride- twice. I hurt my throat but I was glad I stayed. I am not sure if I had fun or not but the other two I was with had fun laughing at me and maybe that's why I was there.

Roller Coaster at Calaway Park outside of Calgary.

Sometimes being brave means walking out onto a glass floor 160m up and watching the teeny tiny cars below. It means holding your breath when you take that first step. It means asking the youngsters beside you to "please stop dancing on the glass floor", it means to breath slowly as you tell your brain that you will not plummet to your death. The brain is a marvellous thing and it certainly played a few mind games with me while I was out on the floor. Anna was so brave, she came out, freaked out and asked "What if it breaks?" and then left. She came back and stood with me and then all on her own. She was so proud and we cheered he on. Cory on the other hand stayed off, he couldn't take a step, looking down alone made him queasy but we love him anyways.

Glass floor at the Calgary Tower. 

ps. I read the brochure after we came down, it read "less than an inch of glass between you and the bustling city street below", LESS THAN AN INCH! thank goodness I read it after.

Brave

(layout created to celebrate my one little word using the January month kit from Treasured Memories)

January brought a lot of fear. A lot of anxiety. When I chose the word Brave to lead me through 2014, my dad in the hospital was not what I had in mind. In fact I didn't feel very brave at all. I then remembered a quote from Brene Brown- "You can't get to courage without walking through vulnerability." Never before have I felt vulnerability like I did in those few weeks. Still it creeps in and I talk myself through those feelings. My dad is at home and recovering very well. I would like to thank all my friends and readers who sent their prayers and their well wishes to me and to my family. Who still pop by through email and texts to check in. They helped/help greatly, like arms reaching around and offering hugs. You're all so very special to me.

While January was hard, it also brought a lot of really great things and it is important to talk about those here too. To focus on the wonderful & light and not the dark. Anna started dance and it makes my heart swoon every time I see her get excited about it. She also started gymnastics and we practice somersaults on the couch all the time. I got to see Pink perform live. I spent 2 weeks with my mom. My dad is well and at home. I spoke to my grandma's often. I became an auntie again to baby Morgan. I had my brother & his family over for dinner. I have been trying to catch sunsets. And I said I Love You A LOT.

I am grateful for lessons learned and for the love that has surrounded us this past month but I am ready to see what beautiful things February has to offer. As some of you may know... I love love.

xoxo

One Little Word 2014

My one little word for 2014 is Brave. 

Tattoo from Kal Barteski, you can find her amazing work here.

I am participating in a year long workshop lead by Ali Edwards called one little word. The basics- choose a word to focus and reflect on as you go about your days. Let the word guide you and inspire you. In this workshop she will be giving a monthly prompt to make your word more visible throughout the year. Even if this workshop doesn't interest you, choosing a word can become a mantra of sorts. Something to guide you through, something to give you that little nudge you might need, something to remind you what you want. For example, Cory has chosen "follow through" to guide him in 2014. When the voices creep in and the desire to do something fades he can remind himself to follow through. Me, I will be reminding myself to be Brave. To "embrace the discomfort over resentment"- Brene Brown

Do you have a word for 2014?

Hello June

Source: Uploaded by user via Dr Vicki on Pinterest

My one little word for the year is choose but last month and moving into June the word that keeps popping up in text, dreams and random everyday encounters has been gratitude. Gratitude for all the good stuff and yes, even the hard stuff. When I focus on starting and ending my day with gratitude I feel better, I enjoy my day more, I can find a way around the troubles of the day and I find more appreciation for the small things.

I will be letting gratitude guide my days for June and most likely the rest of the year. Gratitude is a daily practise for me and sometimes it can be hard to see the things to be grateful for but I think we all need a little more of it in our lives, I also know it will be worth it.

You can join me if you want, if you'd like you can share with me what you're grateful for. Start a gratitude journal, a list on the fridge, a piece of scrap paper, anything will do. Keep a notepad beside your bed and write one thing or twenty things at the end of your day that you're grateful for. For me I have a piece of scrap paper that I am jotting notes on, I will eventually put my daily list(s) in a more permanent location, I just haven't decided where. I also want to get Cory & Anna involved so I am thinking of a large list on our fridge or a wall. If you're struggling on a hard day, think about the birds singing outside, the sun that shines through your window, the smell of a freshly brewed pot of coffee, the smell in the air after in rains- the simple yet wonderful things often go unnoticed. Stop, take a breath and use all your senses- you might be surprised by what you find. The best part is that you can just start- any time, any day- just start! Even better- there are no rules and no guidelines!

So far today I am grateful for Advil cold and sinus, without it I don't think I could get off the couch to type this post. I am grateful that you're here to read what I have to say. I am grateful that I work from home and can stay in my sweats all day and nurse my cold. I am grateful that Anna tells her Daddy to "be safe" when he walks out the door to work.

What are you grateful for?

Choose- my one little word for 2013

My word for 2013 is choose.

I have been trying to make choose a part of my day for the past few months. The biggest way that choose has been influencing me is by waking up and actually saying to myself "I choose to have a great day, I choose to be kinder and gentler with myself." and you know what... I did and I was. When I forgot to start my day with those intentions I had a crap day, I was meaner and more easily frustrated. It was a huge force for me and I knew that it was the perfect fit for the new year.

I have signed up for Ali Edwards' One Little Word workshop at Big Picture Scrapbooking and will be building and album throughout the year to bring focus to my word, to make it more concrete.

If you're unfamiliar with this all...  the concept of One Little Word  began for me when I read Ali Edwards story a few years ago, you can read her first post about it here. The basics, choose a word that speaks to you, that will guide you through the year and help you keep focus on what is important or in my case, focus on the choices that I make.

discovering courage, discovering bravery

Courage

Defined as the ability to confront fear, uncertainty or intimidation.

Moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition,

shame, scandal or discouragement.

Courage is the most important of the virtues,

because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

While looking up the definition of courage I also fell in love with this: Bravery is a sub category of courage and involves acting in a way that enhances what one believes to be good in spite of social disapproval and possible backlash. A newer definition of bravery is psychological bravery which involves things such as overcoming one’s own addictive habits & irrational anxieties. Psychological bravery means acting against one’s own natural inclinations and facing fears.

(definitions were found via Wikipedia)

Courage seemed to scream at me when I was considering my word fro 2012. I looked up the definition and thought "How perfect!" I am constantly not doing something because I am intimidated, because I am scared, because I am unsure of myself and my abilities. It's sad and frustrating. It makes me feel down right shitty and that is no way to feel about yourself. I can not count the number of times that I haven't done something because I was scared. Scared of what? Sometimes I can't even answer that question for myself. When I try something new for the first time (which is almost never) I get so anxious that I almost make myself sick. I can remember driving to hot yoga for the first time and sweating buckets before I even got there. I can remember almost turning my car around and going home because I thought I was going to throw up. I go to Spa Lady, I sit in the weight area lifting my weights watching the Zumba classes. I sit there and do the moves in my head but the thought of going in there is too much. I know I'd have fun but it's that first step. That first step that says; I'm just as good as any body else in there. I deserve to be in there.

Don't even get me started on how many things I want to do for work, how many publications that I want to submit to, how many challenges I want to enter! How many projects I want to bring to life to share in classes and here for my blog readers. Sadly, I don't do it. Why? Because there is a voice in the back of my head that whispers- You aren't good enough. You don't have the balls. You don't have what it takes. You're not creative enough. No one will choose your work. Someone else is already doing it. What makes you unique?

It's sad really. I would never let someone I love think those things about themselves so why am I doing it to myself. I am the opposition that I am fighting against. I am so very tired of it.  I vow here that I will work hard at removing those voices from my life. That I will choose to be brave. That I will face these situations with a courageous heart. I will discover what courage can bring to my life. How much happier I will be. I know that it will not be easy & I know that I will have to figure it out in my own way.

Do you have a word for 2012?

Here's to discovering courage friends.

love,

Nadine