I have two areas to explore here and when I thought of these ideas, I thought I was brilliant but when doing quick searches for my special word or trying to find the right blog title that wasn't already taken, I discovered brilliance had already struck elsewhere. I am not trying to steal these ideas in any way shape or form. As a matter of fact, I plan to research them and use the ideas and suggestions to guide me and am thankful for the work already done.
The first idea is the one small word concept. Ali Edwards gets the credit here. She has developed a class you can take to help with your one word as well as fun stuff you can buy to help you stay on track. I plan to sign up for her class and explore her items as ways to keep me motivated. Here is her link: http://aliedwards.com/one-little-word She is not alone in this endeavor however. There are many life coaches, pinterest posts, blogs and you name it out there. I'm not sure where the idea originated and for me it doesn't matter. It's a movement. A way of narrowing your focus and attention that have a lot of participants and I'm just joining the bandwagon.
Again, the word I chose was longevity. While I feel it is the right word for me, my word is not sexy or catchy or beautiful, it just is what I want. I'm sure I won't find cute pre-made signage of my word but that's okay. Maybe next year's word will meet those needs. For this year, I need to get my life together to create longevity so that I can choose awesome words for years to come.
The second main idea here is centered around my word longevity. As I was walking yesterday, I happened to be passing the well-known in these parts McBain oak tree that is several hundred years old. It is beautiful. I've always been attracted to trees and their beauty but this one stands out amongst all the others. It is old and big and strong and has weathered many challenges from weather to vandals. I find great inspiration in that old beautiful tree.
As I passed the tree, the word longevity popped in my mind and all the other words I had considered this past week slipped away. I decided to set up a blog to keep record of one word journey and couldn't find a blog name around longevity that had not been taken due to a book called The Longevity Project by Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin. The book is using data collected over 80 years following males and females and is one of the longest, and largest studies to date. Here is a link to the book: http://www.howardsfriedman.com/longevityproject/
The study breaks down your longevity into three categories with equal influence, genetics, environment and chance. Hmmmm... I have no control over my genetics which are apparently pretty awful based on my brcca gene connection and hypo beta protein anemia genetic markers. I really don't have control over chance either. I mean I can make decisions in my life that reduce the chance of harm but it is an impossibility to remove all chance mishaps. That leaves me with one third influence on the longevity of my life by determining the environment with which I surround myself. This means my family, my health, my lifestyle, my work, my spiritual self, my social connections and my purpose in life is where my focus needs to be. I have much work to do.
For me, this blog will be a record of my attempt to focus on the mentioned areas. I hope to document my daily efforts, challenges, and successes as well as musings and frustrations. I feel I'm off to a good start as this whole process is pulling me out of that deep funk I mentioned yesterday. If this accomplishes nothing else, then I'm already grateful for this journey.
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