2012 ... I didn't select a theme for the year ... but it
turned out I had one. I didn't choose
it, it chose me. Butterflies.
I'm not a huge butterfly fan. I mean in the sense that I don't have butterfly decor in my home or office. I don't see them as my 'guiding' force. Or at least, I didn't.
But I had a butterfly 'event' and (voila!) butterflies became my theme for the year. I saw them in my dreams, they popped up alive & animated in my life: e-mails, bumper-stickers, TV-shows, cards, etc. Suddenly, after the 'event' I was seeing them everywhere.
The message I took from them, the butterflies, was that I needed to create, develop and believe in my wings. I needed to fly.
It was a good message. No, it was a great message and I actually made great headway on the theme over the year.
So that inspired me to consider putting a theme to this year too. Identifying a theme for the year helps us consider what we'll do in order to honor or fulfill that theme. Our actions, our decisions, our choices will find more purpose if we have a theme we are trying to build on. A theme doesn't have to be overpowering or an all consuming idea but rather is a general subject of meditation or a unifying idea in our lives.
A theme for the year ahead can simply stand as a reminder of the value you are trying to develop or base your life on.
Sometimes our themes have chosen us already.
With butterflies - my theme was to develop myself. To identify what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, and all the details that would help me develop those wings to fly. Once it was established that I had a 'theme', all of my actions from that point forward were of that theme...to fly.
I made decisions based on that theme, my actions were made in keeping with that theme, and my whole year became about those wings. That need to fly.
This year, my theme is: authenticity.
I want to create a year ...and a life...where I am authentically myself. I want to identify what that means to me, base my decisions on that purpose, and to explore all the things that being authentically me can look like.
As it happened for me last year, a dear friend made me a necklace with a medallion. On one side of the medallion a beautiful butterfly and on the other side the word....fly. Every time I feel out of touch with my purpose, uninspired, or frustrated I will put that necklace on as a symbol of the theme I was concentrating on ... and I would feel reconnected with my goals. This year, I have renamed my personal blog ... Authentically Lisa! This will help me to keep my focus and I have also written the words Authentically Me on my planner pages and in other areas that will serve as reminders.
So ... what theme will you choose for your 2013 journey or has one underlying theme already chosen you? Spend some time in the next few days identifying what that theme might be and how you can really explore it this year.
Next, determine how you'll plan to keep your theme front and center in your mind & heart?
Then, as happened for me in 2012, let the magic begin.
~ Lisa
