The choice of a word.

For a few years in the past, I've chosen slogans to guide me through each year. For example, "Less is more in 04". Kind of silly I guess, but effective. That particular year, I managed to reduce my clutter, cut back on spending, and even lose a few pounds. If it worked, it worked, no matter how silly.

Last year, I came across the idea of choosing a word for the year. That sounded like fun and was something of a personal challenge, so I tried it. I can't say as it was as effective in promoting personal change as the slogans. This year however, I thought I might as well try again. I decided to choose a word for the year instead of a slogan for two crazy reason. 1.) Because I can't think of a rhyming slogan to go with 2010 and 2.) Because the perfect word came to mind immediately.

Something I always tell my son when he is getting frustrated and in a bad mood is that he gets to choose his attitude and reaction to any given circumstance and doesn't have to let outside influences create his attitude. I truly believe that we alone get to choose how we react to any circumstance. We can choose to let someone else bad mood affect us or not. We can get up each morning and choose to be happy or angry. We alone get to choose.

But it's not just our behaviors we get to choose. We make choices every moment of every day. Are we going to wear red or blue. Are we going to take this route or that one. Are we going to eat this donut or that oatmeal. Everything we do is a choice.

What I want to focus on this upcoming year is change. And in order to facilitate that change in myself, I need to make conscious choices instead of taking the easy way. The word I've chosen for the year will I hope, help me become more aware of what I am trying to do, where I am trying to go, and how I am affecting those around me. The word I've chosen for this year is Choose. And I plan to do that intentionally.