Oh, the Places a Word Takes You!

Do you choose a guiding word for the year? It is a popular idea, especially for those of us–many,  many of us–who find resolutions far too daunting. Too many failures connected to resolutions. Can’t fail by mulling over a word, looking up the various definitions and quotes. A word guides and enlarges the grey matter. I don’t count forgetting my guiding word by March as a failure. I think of it buried in the psyche, producing all manner of helpful stimulus.

Thus, the word I choose for 2019 is Flourish.

I mean the verb, not the noun. Flourish is the action I seek this year.

The American Heritage dictionary gives this definition for Flourish: “To be in a period of highest productivity, excellence, or influence: a poet who flourished in the tenth century. I like that. That is the hopeful sense I have for my life this year.

Thesarus.com gives these synonyms: bloom, blossom, boom, develop, expand, do well. Who wouldn’t want to do all that? Makes me excited just to read the words.

I found two quotes of encouragement using the word flourish:

“Don’t focus on the negative things; focus on the positive and you will flourish.” ~Alek Wek.

I looked up Alek Wek. I always want to know something about the person I’m quoting. And–yes–I’m nosy. That’s why I’m a writer. Alek Wek is a model, a designer, and a survivor from Sudan. Those few words give evidence of someone who knows what she’s talking about.

“Silence is the necessary soil for any thought to flourish.” ~Stephen Hough, pianist, composer, writer.

This is firm truth, and I do love silence. It calms, it gives space to think and create. Thus the act of flourishing will take me to more silence, more time to think, more time to create, and to be me.

Oh, the many places one single word takes me!

Do you have a word to guide you at the start of 2019? Think on it. The little act of thinking on the subject will expand you.