Lighting My Way to Intentionality!!

This past Christmas season I set a goal to see as many holiday light exhibits as possible, and I succeeded beyond my wildest expectations taking in more than 20 displays and events! Each one seemed to be more impressive than the one before! I felt so much Joy and so full of life that I didn’t want it to end! So I decided I wouldn’t let it end, because we were not only going into a new year, but also a new decade!! There was lots of talk about New Vision and Seeing Clearly in 2020 and I was absolutely onboard with that!! I wanted to figure out how to carry that Joy and Light into the new decade, as overall 2019 wasn’t the best of years for me!

I decided I’d choose one word to focus on for 2020. The word I chose is INTENTIONALITY! Why that word?? Well we all have family and friends that we spend time with but are we really fully present with them? Do we give them our full attention and really listen, or are we on our phones or doing other types of multitasking? My answer to my own question was NO, except for when I was with my Mom. We pass our friends and neighbors at church or the grocery store and we give a wave. We may even ask “how ya doing?” But are we really hearing their answers? If they said they were “just ok”, did we ask what was going on?

I knew I wasn’t being fully present with others, because even when I was standing still, in my head I was already moving on to the next task I needed or wanted to accomplish. But I really wanted and needed to be better in my relationships! Some of what I felt in 2019 was loneliness, but was it of my own making? In large part, I think so.

I’m writing this on January 15th because it’s halfway through the first month of my INTENTIONALITY and I wanted to write about how it’s going. I’m happy to report that it’s been wildly successful!! I’ve learned things I didn’t know about people I’ve known for a long time!! When I asked how people are, I stood still and listened about their health, their kids and grandkids, their jobs, their goals, fears and their hopes. And I would share as well. I’ve always been a hugger, but I have already hugged people I’ve never hugged before. And even with my old friends I held onto each hug a little longer so they knew I really cared. I can’t remember a year when I’ve felt this amazing about how it’s started!! I feel really connected and I don’t mean on the internet! I feel the same Joy and the Love and the Light that I felt looking at all the holiday displays! I’ve had tea, lunch or dinner with both old friends from my past and people I’ve known just in passing who have become friends and it feels as if I’ve filled a hole in my life!

There’s a lot going on in this world that I wish I could change. So I’m going to do my best for the rest of 2020 to continue to be out in this world helping and inspiring people, and connecting with them and being INTENTIONAL in my interactions in the hopes I can make even small changes in this world. So here’s to more Joy and Love and Light to us all!

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