Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy 2015!

Chase Bird allowed me to make one more silly “dress-up” photo of him to wish you all a Happy New Year.



This is a time when many of us resolve to do more, be more, be different, do differently during the next year. I tend to do that, too.
But as I wrote in my journal this morning, I am going to try to remember that we have the opportunity to set new goals, to start over, every single day, every single moment. We don’t have to pressure ourselves to perfectly live up to resolutions we make on any one day.
That said, I am making some plans and setting some goals. What I’d like to share with you today is my word for 2015.
I usually focus on choosing a guiding word for myself in the new year. The word that has come to me over and over is “Quiet.”
I need and crave quiet. I need time to stop the activity, to instead meditate and think and read and learn.
I also need to take quiet to allow the clamor of my thoughts to calm down. That’s not an easy task for me. In many ways, OCD and anxious thoughts—obsessive, relentless, continuous—are more familiar to me than a quiet mindfulness of the moment.
I need quiet to stop obsessing over the past, to stop worrying about the future, and t stop generally staying stuck. I need quiet to figure out how to move forward.

Do you ever find that once you start mulling over something, you begin to find others talking and writing about the same things?
I was fortunate to recently find a wonderful On Being program called “The Last Quiet Places: Silence and the Presence of Everything.” In the program, Gordon Hempton, an acoustic ecologist, is interviewed. The introduction to the program states that Hempton “defines real quiet as presence — not an absence of sound, but an absence of noise.”
Yes! That is what I want to experience. An absence of noise.
I hope 2015 will find me learning ways to experience quiet.

May 2015 be a joyful year for each of you!



17 comments:

  1. Happy New Year Tina! My word for 2015 is peace. Blessings to you and yours.

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  2. i hope you find moments of peace every single day. :)

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  3. LOVE THIS. Mmm! Sounds so good. Praying for QUIET for you this year, friend!

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  4. What a wonderful post. Happy New Year, Tina! I hope it is everything you desire.

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  5. I need a balanced blend of quite and noise, I sometimes find the quiet to be deafening!! Happy 2015 Tina, I hope you find what you are looking for!!

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  6. It's interesting -- I am still choosing between two or three words but one of those words is quiet. My reasons are much the same as yours. Who knows when I'll decide but seeing your post does help clarify!

    May you find what you need in 2015 -- I quite suspect you will.

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  7. It's interesting how you can take one word and show how much it influences our world. I fine find houses noisy. I turn my furnace off so it doesn't run in the night. Quiet, in a house is when you hear the creaking of the building. I haven't heard that for a long time.

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  8. LOVE the picture of Chase Bird! Also love your choice of word, which made me think of the best-selling book by Susan Cain about introverts. I crave quiet as well, and look forward to following a year of quiet with you!

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  9. Wishing you peace and quiet in this new year. I think that perhaps we all crave a certain amount in our lives, especially in these hectic days. Now, run and curl up in your favorite chair. Turn off the phone and tv. Grab a book and enjoy the quiet.

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  10. Happy new year! Great choice for focus.

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  11. Happy New Year! Chase Bird is rocking that hat!!

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  12. I love quiet, but I wouldn't dare make it a goal w/ the three boys running around my house ;-) Maybe when they go to college...

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  13. Happy New Year! You are an inspiration to me. :-)

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  14. I cherish my quiet times, actually I embrace those moments of no noise. We need that in this world we live in today. Happy New Year and may you have a wonderful year ahead!!

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  15. Chase Bird is so cute. Happy New Year to you all. I like your word. I chose (Seek) as mine for this year.

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  16. Happy New Year Tina I know I am late life seems to get in the way sometimes. I love quiet but growing up in a crowded house full of kids makes me crave noise sometimes. Love Chasebird. Hug B

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