Looking back over 2008, I'd say one thing that really changed my outlook was reading the book "Style Statement" with my book club. It's a great book on its own, but discussing our personal styles with close friends was invaluable. The book is a huge series of questions, with the point being to define your personal style in a two word statement, with the first word representing 80% of your personality, and the second word as your 20%, or your "spark." A little tidbit out of the book that really helped me was to remember that if you are your best self when completely embodied by your style statement, you may at times represent the opposite of those words when you are not at your best. Also, at first you might think that two words are very limiting, but in fact they create a succinct phrase (easy to remember) that can expanded with the many meanings of the two words.
Even after reading the book, answering the questions, and discussing them with friends, it still took me several months to finally decide on my style statement. I think this process is probably one of the more thoughtful exercises I've engaged in for quite some time,so I'm going to make this my theme for 2009: Cultivating Joy.
Here are some small steps I'd like to take in 2009 to follow that theme:
Read more fiction.
Take better care of my veggie garden and our native plant gardens (that means: pull some weeds once in a while!!)
Learn to hand-quilt.
Spend more time studying the Bible and in prayer.
Save money for a trip to Spain in 2010.
Knit more gifts for others; less for myself.
Get involved with a running or multi-sport group – no more Lone Ranger.
Turn 30 with joy, not panic.
Spend more time in nature; less time watching TV.
I searched "cultivating joy" on flickr to see if I could come up with a good photo to accompany this post, and I found an amazing quote from Jack Kerouac that uses the phrase. I'm not really even a Kerouac fan but these words are just a perfect way to sum up what I'm trying to say:
"to be in a state of beatitude, like st. francis, trying to love all life, trying to be utterly sincere with everyone, practicing endurance, kindness, cultivating joy of heart."
Wow! Your post blew me away – what an awesome exercise you went through and I love your phrase of Cultivating Joy and your steps for 2009. The quote from Kerouac was quite appropriate.
Can we franchise this style statement? Because I absolutely love what you’ve written here. I want to do many of these things in 2009 too — especially the joy part.
Love your Style Statement. Worked throught the book in the late Fall and LOVED it!! The process was enlightening although difficult for me. The statement I landed on was Traditional Grace and have made Grace my one little word for 2009. The opportunity to live more authentically is very powerful!
Sounds like many wonderful ways to cultivate joy. I dabble in knitting and just made an old friend a scarf, it definitely embodied joy for both of us!