Ready?

GO! Go where? Go and…?

Did you make New Year’s resolutions this year? Again? Because? Because this will be the year that they stick? Hmmm…

Four years ago I switched over to picking a word for the year. Sometimes these are called star words. There’s a website, oneword365.com, where you can sign up with your word and connect with others who have chosen the same word. The search button says “find your tribe.” I’m usually the only one in it when I check in January. There are apps that will generate a word for you. I just pick mine. But you do what works for you.

For 2022, I’m going with the word “go”…see what I did there?

GO…

That doesn’t seem like a very inspirational word, does it? It’s so little. Yet, what is the opposite? Stay, remain, don’t move, freeze, stop. Which, stay and remain, may be the word that someone else needs to keep in front of them. Maybe someone with so much going on that they have no time to breathe, to be, to not be on the go.

I, on the other hand, feel as though I’ve been stationary. Our younger child will be graduating from college this May. My volunteer responsibilities dropped after she finished high school and even more so in the last two years. My word for 2021 was “wonder.” In the early fall, a question was posed to me (again) that got me wondering. And of course, when wondering, it’s not unusual to take a turn into doubts and fears. But there can also be so much possibility, so much excitement and life in wondering.

Wondering leads to ideas, possibilities, options, and decisions.

Should I stay or should I go…there’s a song by that name, by the Clash. Go, stay…ugh, decisions. Ignatius spirituality incorporates imagination into many practices. One such practice is that of decision making…discernment. It’s simple really. Pick the “stay” option and live with that decision for a few days. How does it feel? How are you embracing or regretting that decision? After 3-4 days, pick the “go” option and live with it for a few days as well. Which one brings you more life, more joy? Or reduces your anxiety or stress? Yeah, that’s probably the one to go with.

Not that “go” is always about a change in physical place. Sometimes it’s about getting moving on a project or a dream. Or moving out of a rut or a place of comfort. Nor is it about racing to an end or about busyness, but rather about the journey.

Me, I’m picking “GO” for 2022. 

To GO unafraid, or at least not terrified.

To GO with my heart and soul at peace with decisions and with what life brings.

To GO where the Spirit beckons, for She will persist in her beckoning.

GO…the first step of the adventure awaits.