2024 Word of the Year: Move

 

Every year, I chose a new word to help guide and inspire me. Last year’s word was Enjoy and while I’d like to say I had an ‘enjoyable’ year, I did not. It was a very hard year. Layoffs. Bureaucratic nightmares for 6 months trying to get healthcare and then, finding myself in the hospital. I’m good now, but I’m glad to see it over. 

It’s time to stop looking back in fear and anxiety and start looking ahead. Yes, I have to be careful as I recover, I tend to do too much, too fast. But I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s time to do more than reading novels and drinking tea. 

Move with care. 

I used to walk around my neighborhood lake almost everyday. I love the walk not just for exercise but for inspiration. Egrets, herons, beavers, otters, ducks, geese, deer and even coyotes live around the lake. The leaves changing, water reflections and sunsets give me food for my mind and soul. 

Obviously, after my hospital stay, I couldn’t walk everyday. I started out carefully walking around the neighborhood. But slowly, I’ve worked my way back to my ‘woods’. Today, I made it 1/2 way around the lake before the rain and snow started and it felt so good. 

Move with joy. 

I am a ‘maker’. To sit and read is fine for awhile, but I crave making things with my hands. It’s not just therapy, it’s joy. So it’s been hard to have to rest and see my studio work sit on the shelves. There’s so much I need to do: underglaze painting, bisque firing, glazing and final firing. 

To keep my spirits up, I’ve been crocheting. I know many might see it as an old fashioned ‘grandma’ thing but I’ve been doing some kind of work in fabric, thread, beads, and yarn all my life. I’ve embroidered, cross stitched, quilted, beaded and crocheted. I suck at sewing garments but I’ve made many pillows and throws in fabric and yarn. It’s my form of therapy and it works for me. 

Move with love. 

I was brought up to work and work hard. Move, move, move. Keep busy. Be productive. But I’ve begun to realize that pressure causes a lot of stress. My childhood coping skills of being a moving target served me then, but now, I need to make my own moves. I need to learn to move with love: for my mind, my body and my heart. 

What does that mean exactly? I’m not quite sure. But I do know it’s time to listen closer to my heart than my mind. Instead of jumping up every five minutes or rushing to and from the store or pushing myself to do more and make more, I need to breathe in. See the sun stream in. Feel the softness of the clay or yarn. Savor the walk while trying not to count my steps. 

Move. 

Move with care for myself, my body and my soul. 

Move with joy for making, baking and crocheting. 

Move with love for my family and myself. 

What moves you this year?

2022 Word of the Year: Shine

 

This year’s word popped into my head in December. Maybe it was all the bright, colorful holiday lights. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe, just maybe, it was both a hope and a prayer for this new year to be lighter, brighter, healthier and happier. 

Then came omicron. Yet another mutation of the virus taking us into a third year of fear, masks and rising cases. I questioned my word of the year choice, of course. Did it seem too optimistic now? Too cute? Too cheesy? Totally wrong in the face of another year of covid?

As I questioned and searched, nothing else felt right. Maybe, just maybe the word that seemed totally wrong was exactly the right word after all. 

Darkness to light. 

Our holiday celebrations come during the shortest day of the year. The solstice brings our longest, darkest night and our shortest day. But it also signals the turn from the dark, day by day, to the shortest night and longest day of the year in June. 

The sunshine brings not just light but life. Perhaps because of these difficult years, we need more than ever to focus on light. Trying to find a way to shine more light into lives and the lives of those we love. 

Shine.

Looking up shine in the thesaurus, I found many words to inspire and enlighten my heart, mind and soul. Even during this difficult time, I can work to make things brighter around me.

Lead with my heart. Smile even when I’m wearing a mask, hope they see it in my eyes. 

Light new candles. And guide my monkey mind from worries and fear to calmness and hope. 

See and feel how working with brilliant colors in my clay lightens my soul. 

Instant Karma. 

My husband found a song that inspired him, “Instant Karma” written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Yes, the song has a dark side like our last few years. But it asks us to see we’re all in this together. And we’re not here to live in pain and fear and isolation.

We are here to shine.  

Like the moon and the stars and the sun. 

This year, more than ever, let’s all help each other find ways to shine on and on and on

Instant Karma's gonna get you

Gonna knock you off your feet

Better recognize your brothers

Ev'ryone you meet

Why in the world are we here

Surely not to live in pain and fear

Why on earth are you there

When you're ev'rywhere

Come and get your share

Well we all shine on

Like the moon and the stars and the sun

Yeah we all shine on

Come on and on and on on on

2020 Word of the Year: Act

Three simple letters. A small word but one with, perhaps, the biggest potential of all. This simple, small word is my 2019 word of the year. I’ll admit I’m a bit intimidated by it. And for that simple, small reason it may be the most important word of the year I’ve ever had. 

As a writer, I love words. I love the way they move me when I read and when I write. The biggest reason I write this blog is because I love sharing words and thoughts and inspirations with others. 

 As an artist, I use words to describe my art, its origins, intentions and features to art galleries, art shows, art buyers and art sites online. I love the creativity of communication whether through color, texture, sculpture or words. Maybe that’s why in the last few years my words have literally been part of the design of my bowls, vases and masks. 

Simply: I love how words create pictures in our minds. And pictures create words.

Act: to do something.

The example from the dictionary: “they urged Washington to act”

Well, isn’t that a timely and interesting definition. If there is one thing I definitely want to see it’s our elected officials to act to impeach Trump. There is plenty of evidence of wrong doing, abuse of power and danger to our country here. 

The way could not be clearer. It is time to act. 

Act: a pretense.

Dictionary example: “she was putting on an act and laughing a lot”

I know and you know, we have all put on an act in our lives. Especially as a women, I was taught to put on an act. Act like a lady. Act like a good girl. Act pretty. Act happy. Act like your mother or father or employer or teacher expects you to act. 

And I’ll admit I’ve always had trouble and gotten into trouble because my ‘acting’ isn’t good enough. It’s always been hard for me to act happy when I’m sad. Fine when I’m mad. Or act like I like someone who is despicable, mean, dishonest or egotistic. 

So this year, maybe it’s time to uncloak myself from all those acting directions. Maybe it’s time I acted, well, like me. In the moment. No shame. No game. 

Act: a thing done, a deed. 

Dictionary example: “a criminal act” or maybe, “a creative act”

We all know and see and hear a constant stream of criminal acts all around us everyday. But I want to act towards change. I want to see more worth, help, honor and safety in this world. 

I’ve always picked words or rather, had them pick me, as a way to lighten and inspire me. This year’s word is definitely much stronger. While it feels heavier, I still see it as a way to enlighten my path. Inspire me forward. And create more work.

I want my creative acts inside the studio and out to lift up someone’s day. Inspire better thoughts. Bring more love and peace and light into daily life. 

In this new year and new decade: it’s time for me to act. 

Goodbye Believe

Every year, I look for a word to guide me through the coming 12 months. Last year, the word of the year that appeared to me was ‘believe’. I saw it as a hopeful, helpful mantra to move me forward from a nationally chaotic year to a new faith in our democratic system. 

This year, it’s been hard to keep believing when faced with such unbelievable events around the country. More school shootings. Domestic terrorism on the rise. Leaders who turn not just a blind eye to these events but to justice and the very core of our nations constitution. 

Hope and understanding. 

Since the 2016, I can see my words have revolved around the events in our nation’s capitol. Starting with election fraud, illegal use of campaign funds, and an attack by Russia on our election system. 

So in 2017, my word was hope. I hoped for justice, reason and integrity. I didn’t get it. In 2018, I tried understanding. I tried to find a way to understand the downward spiral in the hope of shining some light into the darkening trail of events.  Again, it only got worse. 

It’s time for something more. 

Again, I don’t want to sink into the abyss of doom. Yes, I feel all the anger, fear, frustration and embarrassment these last 3-4 years have brought to our national doorstep. 

I refuse to sit and hope. I refuse to try to understand. I can no longer believe in those people with the robes, gavels, votes and power. Yes, they swore on a bible that they would uphold the constitution. Yes, they promised to help the people who voted for them. Yes, they have a legal duty to follow the letter of the law. 

But I refuse to give up on US. 

I refuse to give up on you. Or me. 

No matter what happens, I am going to move forward anyway. I am going to make my art. Love my family. Help my neighbors. And bring as much good into the world around me as I can. 

What will my word of the new decade be? I believe it needs to be stronger than the last few years because I feel I need to be stronger. I hope we will all understand that now more than ever we need to pull together, to move forward, to make ourselves, our towns and our nation stronger than ever before.

Believe in US

After reading Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper last week, I always believed my job as a parent was to protect my children. What might look fun, thrilling and courageous might actually be careless, scary and dangerous. It was my job to see through to the truth and do my best to pass that truth onto my children. 

While I could do a great job protecting them as babies, as they grew the challenge was to teach them to protect themselves. I taught them to trust their gut instinct, to see past the pressure to be cool and, instead, be true and believe in themselves.  

Believing isn’t easy. 

There are many shiny things and slick promises that seem so wonderful. We want to believe. And conversely, there are the shocking, scary, awful events that seem truly unbelievable. It’s hard to reconcile it all and much easier to refuse to see it. 

But we can’t shield ourselves or our children from many of these hard realities. Because that’s the opposite of protecting them and ultimately ourselves from tyranny, corruption and violence. I didn’t want to believe in evil, but I have to face that it exists. Admitting it exists doesn’t mean accepting or allowing it and that’s where protection comes in for all of us. 

Believe. Now more than ever. 

It’s way to easy right now to get caught up in the bad and go beyond mad to being overwhelmed. That’s the road to denial, escapism and cynicism. I fight those feelings everyday because I know that road leads nowhere. I have to believe. 

In the face of the bad that surrounds us everyday, we are the good. We are the force that can see the truth through the lies, the good beyond the bad, and work to make the changes we need all around us to protect us all. 

Mother to mother. Grandmother to grandmother. Mother to Father. Mother to daughter and son. It’s even more important that we all pull together for you, for me, for US all. 

I believe in you and me. I believe that together we can protect our children, ourselves and our country. 

2019 Word of the Year

The first week of this year opens with a spotlight on greed. Our president and his minions give themselves more money while denying thousands of people their basic paychecks. With the latest national debacle hitting the fan, I really feel it’s even more important to shine some light into this darkness. 

You know I tried hope in 2017 and understanding in 2018 but I really think this year needs something more. Stronger words popped up: anger, fear, frustration, embarrassment, doubt, and a huge lack of faith in our election process, officials, government, judicial system. But I don’t want to sink into the abyss of doom. 

I can’t let myself go down that rabbit hole and give up.

I know I might sound like a Pollyanna. I know there are deep, deep problems here in this country that existed before the current person took up residence in the White House. I accept that racism, sexism and elitism all exist here. I know now that even with another person as president, all these problems would still be problems. 

There is one good thing that has come out of this muck: we all see the muck now. We see its depth, darkness and depravity. It’s clear we are being attacked by foreign governments. Our legislative and judicial systems are broken. We know we need people in office and behind the bench who are there to help us and not themselves. We are paying the price of corporate greed with our very lives. 

But, still, I believe. 

I see my neighbors coming together to help each other. I watch a woman pack a huge box at the shipping store with clothes, toys, and shoes to send to her adopted child. I know people who save lives through acts of kindness, generosity and skill every day. I hear fair and just people speak out, reach in and lift up others all around me. 

And, really and truly, I know the hard-working investigators will not only reveal but right the wrongs. The media will report it fairly. Judges will make the right decisions. Our newly elected representatives will bring about a sea of changes for our health and safety. 

In you and I, I believe. 

In these people, I believe. 

As hard as it may be now, I believe. 

We’ve had many, many dark times in our lives, our country and our world. But we have climbed up, out and above it all. I know we will, now, too. Because without the darkness, there cannot be light. Trump and all the others are where they are to help us rise out of the fog of false security into a new day of cooperation, appreciation and empowerment for all. 

Believe with me, please.  

Believe in 2019. 

I Still Don’t Understand.

2017 left the land of hope into the 2018 bumpy road of understanding. Or so I hoped. And I tried to understand, really I did. But day by day the news feeds, headlines and tweets became a messy, mudslinging pile of lies, corruption and denial.

Our president pledged to uphold the constitution of our country but has shut our borders, insulted our allies, stirred a pot of hatred and fear. Other countries infiltrate our internet, which is an act of war. Racist groups grow hotter under the flame fanned by our own president.

Where, oh where is the understanding?

Right under our noses, I believe. We all know what’s going on, yet our elected officials do nothing. We know what is right. We know what is wrong. We do understand. 

Our country is corrupted. Our president is only interested in what makes him more interest(money). Our  senators and congressmen are bribed by corporations and pharmaceutical companies. Our health and education and security as citizens are the last thing on their lists. 

Still, I tried to see the possibilities. I tried to understand that the bad getting worse would cause a wake up call for our country. We as a people, instead of becoming more divided, would unite to make a better world, country and lives for all. 

I understand less and less each day. And yet, I don’t want to give up on US or give in to cynicism or anger or hopelessness. 

What new word will this 2019 new year bring?

I’m not sure, yet. All I know is I need hope and understanding to come together. I need a word to comfort me, to lighten the darkness, to see possibility that we are not a lost country on the road to destruction but a people finding our way down a rough road together.   

2018 Word of the Year: Understanding.

This past year, the world just seems crazy. Charlottesville. Barcelona. North Korea.  People killing people and threatening to bomb the planet. I hear words of hate and anger and fear. I see my country being led by a small, spoiled, stupid person who has no love for anyone except himself. In spite of it all, last year, I tried to hope. This year, I'm trying to understand. 

I did not grow up understanding race or racists. 

I was brought up Catholic and my friend next door used to tell me how bad it was to be Catholic. I didn't understand how the church I went to on Sunday had anything to do with that. I felt sad. All I wanted was a friend. 

I didn't understand why bullets were flying through my Gram's front window and my Dad's hotel was surrounded by tanks in Detroit during the 1960's riots. I felt fear. All I wanted was for them to be safe. 

In college, I didn't understand why my new roommate couldn't be seen with me, because her friends were black and I wasn't. I felt embarrassed.  All I wanted was someone to talk to in class. 

I was the only girl in a family of boys, so I do get what it's like to be on the outside looking in.

So, I try to understand. 

This is what I do. What I've always done when faced with a situation, event or life change that's horrible, upsetting and crazy. I dig in and try to figure it out. I ask myself how did it happen and most importantly, why.

I read as many articles from as many sources as I can find. I ask questions. I read some more. I look back into my own personal experience and see what I can understand from it. I read some more. I seek out wise sources with a variety of viewpoints.

I try to see this old landscape of fear and hate with new eyes. 

My grandparents were immigrants from Ireland. They immigrated through Canada in the early 20th century. At the time, the United States had such an immigration boom they were not allowing any more people in who were Catholic, Jewish or African. Irish were called 'micks', Jews 'kikes' and, unfortunately we all still know what blacks were called.  According to a history professor, this huge immigration influx caused southern white Americans to band together forming many of the hate groups we are seeing again today. Confederate statues were erected to 'honor' their heroes. 

I didn't know or understand that since the turn of the 21st century, our country has seen record immigration again. This time the people coming in were Hispanic, Asian and Muslim. Once again, fear and hate raised its ugly head, the hate groups are banding together again and Americans are being beaten and killed.

Understanding does not mean accepting.

 

I may understand the facts and history but I still don't understand the 'why'. Maybe it's silly and naive but I don't accept why anyone has to be left out. Why one color, culture or religion is better than another or none at all. Why shooting each other leads to a better life for anyone. Why we can't all treat each other with respect regardless of our outside differences. 

I live in a place that honors freedom but no one is free to kill. I have rights and so do you, but no one has the right to violence of any kind. We are all here because we want a place where we can be free to live, love and be safe regardless of color, religion or gender. 

I understand fear, anger and hate. But I do not accept it. 

Because, you see, I understand that on the inside we are all created the same.

We all need to understand, that here in America, we all get to create the life we feel is right for us. We have laws protecting our freedoms of speech, religion and lifestyles. You get to choose. I get to choose. And we can all work, live and love together. 

Let's ring in a New Year with a new word to live by: Understanding. 

2017 Word of the Year: Goodbye Hope.

Every year, I pick a word of the year. Last year, the word was hope. With the shocking election results and the Russian election tampering, I decided to pick myself up out of the dumps and hope. I wanted so desperately for something to go right: for Hillary to wind up in the Oval Office where she rightly belonged; for elected officials to work together for our health, wealth and wellbeing; for people to embrace change. 

Unfortunately, my hopes were completely dashed. 

Unless you've been hiding under a rock(and I must say some days, it is tempting), you know what's been happening and how far off the road we are as a country. So, I don't want to go down the road counting blessings that turned into curses. 

I not only want to but I desperately need to move on. Find another word to help me and, hopefully you in this new year. I need a word to not just light my path through this difficult and dark time in our country but be a beacon. Like a lighthouse alone on a craggy shore, I need a word to warm my heart and help me, and perhaps you, find my way home. Back to a country where kindness and understanding and good intentions work to create a country that's even bigger and better than we've ever seen. 

What will be my word for 2018? I don't know yet.   

But I do know, I just want it to end. And since the year is ending, it's seems fitting to wave goodbye to hope. 

Creating Thanks.

I don't know about you, but this last year has been filled with unthankful events. All it takes is a quick look at the daily news to get filled with anger, disappointment, embarrassment and fear. My mind reels with the ignorance and greed exhibited in government that causes such suffering for children and adults in my own neighborhood and the world. 

That's why I decided I had to do something about it. 

Now I can't personally slap a certain person's hand and take away his Twitter account, even though we'd all be better for it. But I can stop my mind from going down the sinkhole with him. And so can you. 

Right now as I write this, I'm staring out at a sky full of clouds. It's been dark and rainy but now, the clouds are moving, slowly revealing slivers of light, bright blue. It helps me remember that beneath all the muck and darkness, light exists. 

And we are all light. We are all filled with electrons, which are light bearing molecules. So even on our darkest days, when we feel all is black and lost, there is light right there inside me and you. I'm not the best at getting in touch with this, I admit. It's sometimes takes hard work to find that light but knowing it's there, helps. 

And so does slinging mud. 

Yup. There is nothing better for my soul on dark days than putting my hands in mud. I forget this over and over, so please, don't see me as enlightened. I'm just desperately in search of a way to feel better. 

My way is to create with clay. No matter how mad, sad or fearful I feel, putting my hands in clay clears out my soul. I can't explain it. And that's a good thing, because explanations are based on thinking which is using my mind and that's not a place where thankfulness resides. While I may start out in my head, my body takes over. My hands take the lead, feeling the texture of the clay, coming together to center it, pulling it up and out. Then, voila, there's a bowl in front of me instead of a lump of mud. 

Creating thanks may take a completely different form for you. It could be words or numbers or paint or flowers or flour or keys on a keyboard. It doesn't really matter where it comes from as long as you allow it to lighten up your life. 

As I've been busy on my keyboard, the sky has changed again. Like life. The blue is gone, the clouds are darkening as the day ends, but in the 'in between' there is a sliver, a space that is rosy and soft and still light. 

So right now, I'm thankful to nature for creating that small piece of light and hope outside my window.   

Creating Time.

Sometimes, we've all just got to get out of the everyday blur and into the minute by minute. Behind me I hear the tick, tick, tick of the clock reminding me that life is moving whether or not I am on the move.  

Speeding through life doesn't make more minutes.

It just seems that way to me. As I whiz through my usual life, checking off my list, I feel energized by my productivity. I'm getting things done: food purchased, weeds pulled, dust dusted, steps counted. But it's an illusion. And although I know it in real time, the speed and motion keep it in the background.

Like my step app, life moves forward whether I click on it or not. 

Taking a vacation slows it all down. I sit and sip and watch the squirrels scurry up and down the trees. I see the sun shift and the grass move. I wonder and wander through the pathways outside the condo and inside my mind.

I slowly, very slowly let go of routine and begin to explore. 

What? Where? How? Why? It's all turned over and examined. I'll admit, I am always trying to learn from the past whether it's my own history or the evolution of the world around me. There are always connections to be made, causes and effects, lessons to learn that can launch new thoughts, understandings and bring revelations into the present.

Seeing from the past to the present gives me hope for the future. I explore new paths while holding onto the old. Will my life or work or love change? Probably. But I can't and don't need to see all that now. 

I only have to be aware. 

Hearing the tick, tick, tick of time and move with its beat trying as best as I can to create in tune with my heart.