Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Problem Solving

Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.

By this definition, I'm so very crazy.

How many years have I chosen One Little Word to guide my year? When has it ever worked, really? Okay, the year I chose Gratitude worked out pretty well, mainly because I was already successfully grateful for the many blessings--large and small--in my life and in the habit of cataloging them regularly. That year was rigged for success.

Honestly, I can't even remember my word for 2013. It might have been Intentional. Hold on a minute while I check the blog archives.

Doh, dee, doh....

Yes! It was Intentional. Sort of ironic now, don't you think?

I'd completely forgotten about the One Little Word project until a relative mentioned last week that she's chosen a word for 2014: Time. Then a stamping friend commented that her word was also Time.

Weird coincidence, that. At least they chose the word for different reasons. If two such wildly separate parts of my life synchronized so perfectly, my head might explode.

As I contemplated the Einsteinian insanity of choosing yet another word to forget, into my mind popped The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Each month for a year she explored a different avenue to happiness and recounted the experience in a single chapter.

A month.

A word a month.

Do you think I could remember one little word for a month? Is my attention span capable of holding a thought that long? Clearly a year exceeds my mental endurance, but a month? That might be do-able. It might also spice up the content of this blog, which has languished (to my thinking, at least) for a while now.

Of course, the new challenge will be remembering to choose a new word every month. This, too, might exceed my endurance. But at least I'm doing something different. The choices might be endlessly random and fun, meaningful or silly, serious or sublime.

Perhaps there's hope for my sanity yet.

What do you think? If you like the idea, what words would you suggest? What do you want me to write about?

6 comments:

  1. YIKES!! A word a month?!!

    The other day I was thinking about this (actually, to digress, I believe it was you who actually got me started on choosing a word for the year) and all I could come up with was one I had used in the past (LEAP) as it just seemed to fit the vague goals I have considered for myself for 2014.
    How's that for lame? No new words. Just the same-o-same-o.
    Maybe my new word should be NEW. HA!!
    Which might actually work: new goals, new creativity, new ideas, new adventures, new outlook, new attitude.

    Haha!!

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  2. Do you have a calendar as part of your email program? In MS Outlook I have a calendar that I can enter things yearly (birthdays, etc), monthly, weekly, etc as well as specific dates for specific events so if you have it (or something similar) that could be your prompt to set a new word.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Steph! What a breath of common sense.

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    2. No problems, and I think you've made a 'wonderful' choice for your first word! ;-)

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  3. Richmond Community Schools and the surrounding Wayne County (Indiana) area have been doing a word a month to teach personal values this year. December was joy, January is knowledge, etc. Go for it!

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  4. Me thinks you are way too hard on yourself! Don't you be hurting my friend Susan! lol Oh, and I forgot my word too for 2013, but this year it will be "clean" - I cannot create on a messy desk!

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Thanks so much for taking time to comment!