I have decided that my word of the year is Open. I love words of the year and I feel that connecting to a word of meaning is a foundation for growth and exploration. Open is a word that both speaks to me and frightens me. What does it mean? Does it mean that I may have to open up to things that I am not ready for or not willing to step towards due to self protection and preservation? How can I maintain control if I commit to being open? This leads me to the thought of an Open Mind. What if I left my mind open, didn’t try to manage thoughts or use my thoughts to manage life? Where would that leave me? I listened to a book last year called The Surrender Experiment, written by Michael Singer. This book fascinated me and I highly recommend it. He just let go and was open to life. He went where life took him while all the while being as present in wherever it took him as humanly possible. Surrendering didn’t mean no effort. It meant going with the flow but wherever it brings you, showing up 100%. This makes me think of one of my favorite movies, Forrest Gump. This is what Forrest did. He didn’t let his fearful mind get in the way and his life unfolded beautifully, sometimes painfully and always truthfully before him. So this brings me back to Open. I know that I have certain innate qualities and I also know that left to my fearful devices I can block them all. I choose not to do that this year. I choose to keep opening because, why not?
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing” -Helen Keller
Lauren
