My Words for 2020

A good intention is like the seed of a tree whose fruit we do not know.

George Bernard Shaw

It’s become a personal tradition to rather than make a long list of resolutions to pick a word to live by for the year. Last New Year my word for the year was “courage.” Looking back I believe I did the word justice (to the point of perhaps overdoing it?)  I put myself out of my comfort zone by making a new body of work, participating in the Art Harvest Studio Tour, completing a printmaking residency, traveling Scotland to walk with friends & then to Ireland solo to attend Craiccean a week-long bodhran (drum) camp on one of the Aran Islands.  Then there were a series of health issues that had to be navigated that took a different type of courage.  I am happy to report things are much better!

Ready to give courage a bit of a rest, my new word for 2020 popped into my head during last week’s yoga class when my teacher asked us to think about and intention for the New Year.  That word is “acceptance” with my secondary word being “focus”.  I find one word can have quite a few layers to it and I am eager to explore where these will take me.

Last night I read the following poem I wrote at a gathering of friends as a toast to the New Year.  I am very optimistic for better times and wish all of you the best for 2020.

A Toast for One One Twenty Twenty

It’s the season of new

the Earth has spun through the heavens

and arrived at the place we call the beginning

a bookmark we humans have put in the order of things

the New Year, the first day of the first month of the 20^th year of the second decade of the 21^st century

All is new, yet all the same

a cycle in a continuum of millennia

yet a comfort that we have a fresh start in our minds

 

Shall we proceed then with our new slippers

virgin calendars full of exotic pictures

day planners devoid of marks

and forge on with gusto?

for we have been given another turn

a blank canvas to paint another 12 months upon

 

Let us mix up our palettes with new intentions

hope, faith and the unseen circumstances that will surely find us

stroke, splash, and drip with abandon

make your marks with love, touching others with color

bringing forth new memories

painting this Earth a brighter place