I think I've changed my mind

Do you get those feelings?  You know, those feelings when you think something is about to change, but you don't know what!  A sort of unsettled feeling - not quite like the butterflies you get when you're waiting for an interview - but a gut feeling!   No, not indigestion!!!

There's something lurking at the back of my mind about change.  It can't be a change of job because I'm retired.

It could be a change of direction in my creative work.  As I mentioned I'm working through the Head, Heart and Hands workbook and that's throwing up some questions.

I haven't been able to start a journal yet this year for my word of the year.  If you remember I said that my word for 2020 was Be Resilient.  And as a start towards that I began re-reading Brene Brown's 'Rising Strong'.

On January 3rd Nicky Gumbel published Talk As You Walk and straight away I felt drawn to the word Walk.

I wonder sometimes whether my inability to complete the goals I set myself for the year, especially those related to my chosen word, is due to setting too many goals. So, picking up from Nicky's post I'm going to have two goals:

1. To walk for health
2. To walk with God

These probably need breaking down into bitesize pieces and currently are not particularly SMART.   (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based goals).

In our monthly phone call Valerie and Mary talked about Intentions.  I asked Mary what the difference was between setting goals and setting intentions.  She said: 'I think the main difference between goals and intentions is in how you view them. Goals are usually specific in nature and are future oriented. I want to save 100.00 each month or I want to lose 20 pounds. Intentions are usually focused more on daily living in the present moment and lean toward habit forming and lifestyle. Both play a role. In fact intentions can help us meet goals. But I tend to prefer intentions because I think they help create a lifestyle or mindset instead of just completing tasks. Intentions can help us become the type of person we want to be. So instead of simply setting a goal of how many pounds I want to lose, instead my intentions are to eat healthier for my overall health. As I work on that I may or may not lose the pounds but will gain so many other health benefits. If I simply have a goal of losing ten pounds then every time the scale doesn't change I feel like I have failed'.

So would I be better to set an intention which leads to a goal?  It certainly sounds more proactive somehow.

In 2012 I determined to take one long walk each week - long being over 4 miles.  We actually did 62 because when we were on holiday we took walks on several days not just one per week.  The key word here is 'determined'.  I made up my mind to do something and carried it out. 

So while I continue to ponder on my word I still haven't started a journal.  So I thought I'd invite you to look back at some pages Valerie and I did back in 2014 when Walk was a word in a Practising Gratitude  art journaling challenge I set.   The challenge.   Valerie's guest post.  My journal.

 Thanks for joining me today.
 Bernice

Living Your Word 2020

Valerie Sjodin, Mary Brack, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

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