Saturday, January 2, 2016

The surest way to change your life


2016 stands before you,

its voice crackling "Welcome..." 

The annual question is

poised on tongue tip,

 loaded,

 like a cuckoo bird 

coiled for its midnight pounce... 

“Welcome to [your life],
may I take your order?”


Let's say...

that Life

comes down to

 eating words,

and the Question

of the moment

is simply:

“What's the word 

for this year?”



Last New Year's Eve,

the Question went around the room, 

and space was held as each person answered.

The thing is…..

I love words too much 

to pick just one.

So I picked three.

I requested a 

Voracious! 

Insatiable! 

Explosive!

 year.

Whereupon,

my husband stopped breathing

and gripped his chair  

and our friends consoled him

with pats of sympathy,

as his word of the year --

"peaceful"

was devoured by my

triple-word-value humdinger.  


And...

guess what happened.

I ate my words.

I became my words.

My three words got under my skin 

and cooked up my reality....

Voracious, I hungered for 

MORE of every good thing!

Insatiable, I grew and grew and grew

as I gobbled up the endless spread

of friends, truth, and opportunity

being dished to me. 

Explosive, 

I GOT PREGNANT THREE TIMES!

In one year.

Yes, three.

Which means, yes...

 I’m pregnant right now!

Two beautiful miscarriages and this

one rather fresh, 

so-far-so-good, 

itty, bitty heartbeat

and blossoming belly.

Plump evidence,

I would say,

of a rather voracious year!


It may seem like a small thing,

to pick a guiding word.

But only Words

can turn nothing into something.

Just try to create anything

without first hunkering down 

to define it.

So for this year,

I’ve been placing my order, 

down to the letter.

I realized it might be good

to pick some good weighty verbs

to balance out last year's

blazing adjectives.

I realized I do a lot of Being --

(I remember filling out a health questionnaire this year 
that asked what my hobbies were.
 I actually wrote:
"Nothing physical.  
They all take place in the ether." 

Like my 2 babies 

that didn't really materialize.

So it's time 

for me to become a

Human Doing for a while.

It's a year to

incarnate
substantiate
embody
&
deliver

more than ever.


I think of the saying:

"I give you my word."

The highest promise.

It is so sacred,

this choosing 
and giving
and keeping
of
WORDS.

To be thoughtfully done for sure.

As my heroine Mary Poppins

sings about the

ultimate 14 syllable word,

warning,

“better use it carefully 
or it could change your life!”

So with more sobriety than usual,

and less of last year's gusto,

I've pledged my intentions.

To bring to pass

this July baby

and my new business

Parent by Magic

which is already taking form.


That's my Word.

Deliver.


What are yours?



What are you planning to eat up this year?

Are you idling in front of an old menu,

or making your own?



If you find yourself corralled 

into a line of indecisive minivans, 

crawling towards a menu 

you didn’t mean to choose, 

fear not!

 Resist the lie that you're compelled

to choose between

“more of the same please”

or

“that new over-marketed, 
adjective-lathered 
combo #7" 

I have been known to wander

into drive-thrus by mistake,

and all you have to do is laugh and say,

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to come in here!  I'll just pass through, thanks!  Have a great day!"

Then go find

what you really want.


p.s.

If there's nothing but the 

oddest assortment of letters available,

you can always make 

your own word for dinner.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

is particularly delicious!




Wishing you a belated

Happy All Things New Day

and a most

scrumptious New Year :)