Happiness is not a matter of intensity but
of balance and order and rhythm and harmony.
Thomas Merton
This post has been percolating for several weeks now, and the middle of January is quickly slipping by so it’s time to take a look at my OLW for 2022. I had no trouble finding my word this year. In August we were in a lovely gift shop in Traverse City, MI and I spotted a series of books with single word titles. The one that jumped out at me was Balance, and I was pretty sure that described what I needed in my life. Interestingly, it turned out to be a repeat of the word I chose exactly 10 years ago. Time to revisit it again.
I’m prone to going all in on a project and by the time I’m done, I’ve let lots of other creative pursuits fall to the wayside. A blogging friend has decided to choose a word quarterly, and I’m wondering if that’s not also a way to balance the things you hope to do. I’ve just begun Atomic Habits after hearing references to it all over. I’m only a couple of chapters in, but already one of the big take-aways is that setting goals doesn’t help you create habits; it’s the process that changes who you are. And that change is what you’re really after.
When I started thinking about balance I was looking for ways to incorporate learning, practice, and self-reflection into my days. I recognize that it’s an ongoing process. It’s the day-to-day, moment-to-moment choices you make for yourself. Creating balance means understanding that you can’t do it all.
So I’m going to practice balance—staying open to opportunities and reminding myself of the things that bring me joy.When we returned home from visiting Sarah and her family, I downloaded a Habit Tracker and laid out some of the things I’d like to pay attention to this year. I’m quite sure the list will change from month to month, but it’s already helping me find time for things that might fall off my radar. Although I divided some of them into weekly and monthly categories, that’s not really working the way I wanted. For example, this month I want to explore some possible photography projects, but I don’t expect to start working on one until next month. The one very important omission on the Habit Tracker is a list of all the things I do without thinking: household chores, errands, meal planning, volunteer work several times a week, and work for my three church committees. But, in fact, I'm looking for balance in my creative time.
As I often do, I’ve made lists of ideas for things I’d like to do, and truthfully, most years by the summer I’ve stopped going back to the lists to review them. I think my friend’s idea to look at the OLW quarterly is a great idea. Although I’ve enrolled in Ali Edward’s OLW class a couple of times, doing a deep dive into it each month was really overload for me.
As a "reward" for sticking with me for a very word-heavy post, here's a look at a cute little nuthatch at our feeder this morning, and a broader look at the landscape outside our kitchen window. By noon we had well over a foot of snow. Tracy went out to do the driveway this afternoon (fortunately neither of us had any reason to leave the house), and just as he finished our snow blower quit working. He did the sidewalk by hand, but our long and steep driveway requires a machine. Matt's coming over tomorrow with his truck to get it to the service provider.
If you choose a word for the year, I’d love to hear about it.
