Eat Pray Love‘s concept of defining yourself with one word really struck home with me. For someone who writes, words shouldn’t be tough. But one word? Just one word! This mean clean lines, no ambiguity, no choice, hopefully clarity…..unless you fudge it when picking the word.
The word for me was ‘contribute’ in August 2008. I was working on setting up financial systems in an NGO, bringing in what was regular and required but a leap ahead, meaning managing change and resistance to change, making incremental changes….important but not earth shaking at first sight. Or even second. Today, I’d like to think that the effect shows. Contribute worked for then.
What about now? So much has changed in both my external circumstances and internal space. My horizons have shrunk to home in a literal sense but really deal with much farther in the future than before – children truly are the future, and I deal with the quality of their future. Not scalable, no systems, no uniform rules, all about customization and absolutely making no financial sense! About as far away from my work before as possible, scarier than dealing with others’ funds is shaping others’ futures.
A few deaths in friends’ circles in 2011 got me thinking. The state of relationships in general in families got me thinking. What we have today is what we really have at all. The memories we make today make childhoods. The games we play are the stuff of nostalgia in far off tomorrows. Kids are growing like reeds, we’re aging about as fast (actually faster but hey, being a bit more PC about those in my life! Of course, present company is excluded….I am only 25! 
).
I am going aspirational this year….my word is ‘NOW’. It shall be about the present moment (with some planning – being prepared and all) but much more significantly about being mindful in thought, word and deed in the current moment.
What’s your word?
G’night!
