My Word...Happy

When I read Elizabeth Gilbert's book, "Eat, Pray, Love," I loved how her and her friends discussed picking a word that described them and thought that I should do that too....I never did. This New Years, I tried to jumble all of my resolutions into one motivating word...and I haven't. So, last week when I finally watched the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" I was once again reminded of the quest to find my word.
In "Eat, Pray, Love," Liz's word is attraversiamo which is Italian for "let's cross over." That's a GREAT word! It rolls off the tongue beautifully and has SO much meaning behind it. Okay, I had to find a word. A REALLY good word. After much thought....I had nothing. Randomly, I was reading on a blog that I frequent, http://marybethwhalen.blogspot.com/ and she was making reference to a past entry she had written in regards to her "word" describing her goal for 2011. I thought, geeze is this a sign or what?! I am destined to find this one word apparently.
I loved Mary Beth's take on it that the one word should describe your focus for 2011. This is kinda what I had tried to do with my New Years resolutions but this gave it a little more focus. As I toyed around with some previous ideas that I had had, I scrolled through her January blog entries where once more she had mentioned the word for 2011. She mentioned that a good idea was, once you find the word, to put it on a necklace to aid as a reminder for the year and she had a link listed. When I clicked on it I was surprised to see it take me to a link I know well http://www.lisaleonardonline.com/ ! Lisa Leonard makes handmade jewelry in San Luis Obispo, CA and I was first introduced to her when my friend Amber sent me a beautiful necklace when I was pregnant with Gianna that said "Gianna" with a little pearl hanging next to it. I LOVE it and I wear it all the time. When I thought of the necklace and Gianna I immediately thought, "happy!" True, Gianna makes me happy but that's not exactly why that word came to mind. Happy, its such a simple word but it literally makes my day every morning when I go into Gianna's room and I say, "Good morning! How are you?" and lately she answers in the sweetest imaginable voice that just melts your heart, "happy!" And that chain of events and memories led me to my word for 2011...Happy!
I'd love to say its as cool a word as attraversiamo but plain and simple happy is what is my underlying desire of 2011 when I really looked at what my goals were. And I love how basic it is because one of my resolutions was to just keep it simple!
I have so much to be happy for but the honest truth is that I found myself lacking in the happy department in 2010. I constantly struggled with this feeling too because I have SO much to be happy for! I have an amazing husband who makes me happier than I ever thought possible, a beautiful and healthy little girl who makes me SO happy, a good job, a home, great family and friends so why was I always finding myself not happy? It drove me nuts and honestly made me feel guilty.
Over the last couple of months I have really tried to dissect what the problem is and it seems that despite all the good in my life there is just a lack of ME time and I am lacking majorly in the areas of faith and health.
Recently, I have had more than one event smack me in the face and say get it together, stop making excuses and find the time to get healthy...mind and body! My first step was buying an elliptical machine and, ugly as it is, put it right next to my bed. I can't get out of bed without getting on it...literally. When I make myself do it...what do you know...I feel happy! I imagine after months of eating better and using it I will ultimately feel happy with what I have accomplished, how I look and more importantly how I feel.
I read a book last week called, "Heaven is For Real" and I LOVED the reminder of Mark 10:15 that if you live with a child like faith you will enter into His kingdom. It was such a simple story and such a powerful message. And it had me thinking of what is missing from my faith life. I have made it so complicated that I have confused a lot of things like the fact that God knows the real me...he knows I'm not perfect and so its okay that my relationship with him isn't perfect, its a work in progress as am I. My goal is to just uncomplicate things, live with a child like faith and aim to make everyday, as Gianna so perfectly puts it, HAPPY!
Finding time to really enjoy all that makes me happy instead of what I need to do to make every body else happy is high on my list of priorities for 2011. I find I run myself ragged all day, doing all that is required of a working mom, wife, etc. and at the end of the day I think, what the heck did I do for me and me alone? I know I have mentioned this in past blogs and truly, making others happy makes me happy too but to complete the happiness puzzle I can't leave myself out...and this year I don't plan on it. :)
So, while it's not as fancy a word as Liz Gilbert's, I think happy is the perfect word to describe my goals for 2011...and I must say finding my word has made me....happy!

xoxo,
Busy B

Time

Once upon a time, in an island there lived six feelings and emotions: Happiness, Knowledge, Love, Sadness, Richness and Vanity. One day they discovered that the island began sinking! So all of them built boats and canoes and left, one by one. Except for Love. Love wanted to delay abandoning her beloved island as long as possible.
When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help. Richness was passing by Love in a boat. Love asked, "Richness, can you take me with you?"Richness answered, "Sorry, Love, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat, so there is no place here for you. With both of us in here we will sink for sure."
Love next asked Vanity who was also sailing by, but Vanity offered the same answer."I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.
Sadness was close by, so Love asked, "Sadness, take me along with you.""Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!", sadness said in a gloomy voice.
Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so preoccupied with her happiness that she did not even hear when Love called her.
Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder with a tattered head scarf. An overjoyed Love jumped into the boat. When they arrived at a dry land, the elder went her own way. Love looked around and saw the Knowledge who was the first to have landed there a while ago."Who Helped me?" Love asked. "It was Time," Knowledge answered. "Time? Why time?" Love was surprised. "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."
The Knowledge smiled.

By, Akiane Kramirik

I love this poem, this artist and this painting. (The painting can be found in her online gallery www.artakiane.com/gallery )