The Year of RENEW
Photo by Lori Gola.
Each year on my birthday, I choose a word. A word I explore, play with, and learn from throughout that year of my life. I usually spend weeks before my birthday contemplating what word might teach me something or help me lean into something. Each year it is a little different of an experience, but each year has been enlightening. Some of the words from past years are Space, Adventure, Simple & Gentle, and Discipline.
In the past I would choose a word to explore and purchase a coffee mug as a daily reminder. But the last few years, I’ve gone a bit further and written “simple rules” to help guide my actions to align with the word. There is a certain way to write simple rules which I learned from Human Systems Dynamics Institute. The way you develop and write them is a powerful process and has helped me live more fully. One word can drive a lot, but having simple rules to guide your behaviors helps. This year my word is Renew and my simple rules are:
Melt the walls
Move gently
Follow the joy
The power of simple rules is that combined, they create a pattern of behavior that hopefully leads to the desired outcome or state. I want to RENEW my relationships, how I work, what work I do, my spiritual practices, and how I treat my body. In each of those scenarios, if I just ‘followed the joy’ it might lead me to saying yes to all interesting work that comes my way. And it might also lead my hand straight to the cookie jar! :) But when combined with ‘‘move gently’ I am more aware of whether that work choice will give me the space to renew. Add ‘melt the walls’ - so how does that play in? After some thought, I realized it’s about the wall of fear of not having enough. So now, a work opportunity comes along and I melt the fear of financial security, gently consider the impact it will have, and notice if it will bring me joy. This is just one example of how useful the simple rules are every day!
Intrigued? Wonder what your word would be? What your simple rules might be for your new year of life? Sign up for the birthday workshop during your birthday month!
Writing simple rules is a great process for a team, community group, family, or any group of people that work together. If you’d like to create simple rules with your group, please contact me and let’s talk!