One Word, One Year...

the power of "ONE"...

can it change your life?

let's find out together in 2011.

do you know about the "one word challenge"?

it's all over the web and all over blog land.

google it and find out...

or check out these sites.

Ali Edwards 
My One Word

i'm taking on the challenge with Ali and hope you will too.

if you choose to give it a go, please leave me a message saying what your word is, if you haven't done that anywhere else.

saying something out loud seems to make it more real, don't you think?

your word can be profound or as simple as "be", or laugh.

maybe it is pray, believe, create, inspire.

it's almost overwhelming to choose just one when we could all choose so many.

but the point is to make this achievable.

and hopefully by choosing a word to focus on,
to pray about,
to bring into your every day,

it WILL change your life and who knows...someone around you.

part of me wishes mine was some amazing, profound, moving word...
i tried to pick one like that,

but sometimes we need to keep it simple

keep it real,

keep it HAPPY!

so my word for 2011 is happy.

oh, i know it makes me sound like I'm a real simpleton...

or that I'm 5.

but then, what's wrong with simple...

and wouldn't we all love the simple happiness of a child?
when choosing your word, you think about which one is speaking to you...
on New Year's Eve, we watched some videos of my girls as small children.
what joy...what HAPPYNESS
( okay...wrong spelling.  but i think it's happier this way:)

after this past year,

i know the importance of faith, prayer, hope, grace.

it's a no brainer for me.

without these, I would be lost.

so while I occasionally need to be reminded,

hopefully I know.

what i do need is to bring more happy in my day,

in my life,

in the lives of my family,

in the lives of those I meet along the way.

i do have sad moments, sad days...

and i want less of those and more happy moments.

i know that there are many ways to go about this.

first and foremost, i need to pray.

and i need to be open to happy moments.

be in the moment, enjoy the little things that make me happy.

maybe it's floating in the gulf with my girls, going for a bike ride,
taking a walk and smelling the orange blossoms.

these are just a few of my favorite HAPPY things.  

i'll do my best to bring a bit of happiness to each and every day...

some days it'll be my kind of happy...

some days it will be someone else's.

but HAPPY we will be, right?

a happy day, happy life, happy moments, a happy family, happy memories...

HAPPY!

simple, i know.

but HAPPY!

i'll have my moments that are unhappy...

but i'll try, with a lot of prayer and encouragement,

with a little string around my finger if i have to...

to be HAPPY!

the funny thing is, some of these "feeling" words are all intertwined.
for example, i can be happy and sad at the same time.
when i watch my 16 year old dancing beautifully i am happy...
and bawling my eyes out...
mostly with happy tears but also sad ones.
these days are so fleeting.
and then i take a happy moment and make it more sad...
so i want to focus more on the HAPPY...
see?

 hopefully i can tackle a lot of other sentiments...simplify, peace,patience...

i mean, there are days I just need to CALM DOWN:)

but for this year, more than anything,
i want to be happy:)

and with this project, Ali will give us prompts for projects using our word.
photos, things we love, things we create...
i actually wanted to do "play" because we all need to play more.
I also thought maybe JOY was a more profound word than HAPPY.

 maybe i'll rename it later...but for now happy fits best!
think about the things that make you happy...
the things that make you smile...

or laugh...

HAPPY...that's my one word for 2011...

because I realized this year that life is all too short...

and sometimes not too fair...

 but if you take time to be happy...

to make others happy...

to get happiness from those special and everyday moments...

than maybe life can be as wonderful as we like to think it would be.

so HAPPY New Year to you and your friends and family!

let me know if you have a word.

check out the other sites that encourage this project...

and come back for part 2 in my ONE series...

One YEAR to be HAPPY!

 MUCH love,
Suzanne

photo credits:
life:qondio.com.webloc
fortune cookie: /http-::www.flickr.com:photos:rerinha:3074028340:.webloc

spendless: http-::brasilhawaii.com:.webloc