Hello New Year

This is my last post of 2011.  These past few days, several of my online friends and fellow creative souls have been selecting a Word of the Year for 2012.  The idea has resonated with me. I am not a new year resolution kind of gal, but giving deep consideration to selecting just one word that will define my intentions for the coming new year, is perfect.

 

Forgiveness

My word, the word that will lead me through the coming year is forgiveness.  I didn't have to think long and hard about this word, nor fill out worksheets to arrive at it.  It simply chose me. My heart and mind were in full agreement on this one.  The two will need to work together to fill my soul with its meaning.  To embrace full and total forgiveness for those in my life who have hurt me, but more importantly to learn to forgive myself.  

The image above taken by my brother, is of a dying iris flower and of one just beginning to open.  This image represents for me the two steps in forgiving.  Letting the old hurts and wrongs and sorrows in life die and fade from being a driving force in one's life, and replacing those parts of us with love, contentment and joy.  Just like in nature... birth, death and rebirth, are essential in one's life to fully live.  

I think one of the hardest things to do is to forgive ourselves.  Sometimes it is easy to forgive others, but I often find that when I go to forgive myself, I can't do it.  Why is this?  Why do we insist on loving ourselves any less than we might love another?  I learned a long time ago that loving and believing in yourself is of the utmost importance to live a happy life, but the concept of forgiving myself escaped me.  But now that it has come to me, now that I realize that without forgiving myself I can't move forward in life, it has become clear and of greatest importance.  That is why it will be my word for the year.  

I plan to post this most precious of concepts on my mirror where I will see it each morning.  Where I will see it each night as I prepare myself for sleep.  I will post it on my computer so that each time I sit down at my desk, it will be there as a gentle reminder before I begin the day's work. I will post it in my car so that each time I slip behind the wheel, I will leave the house with my intent clear and present.  I will incorporate it into my artwork so that I am creating with a forgiving heart.  Forgiveness and its meaning, are so important to me, that a tattoo might be in order so that even as 2012 moves on, forgiveness will stay in focus for a life time. 

When you come here, you will often find the idea of forgiveness in my writing.  I plan to share my successes in forgiving, and to explore fully my journey in this process of forgiveness.  It is my hope, that if in your life, you need to practice some forgiveness, whether for others or yourself, that in sharing my story, you too will embrace this special gift we can give to others, and to ourselves.

Hugs,
Ann

Image: Copyright Guy Reynolds