And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been. ~Rainer Maria Rilke
For so many people I’ve been talking to, entry into this New Year has been a bit unusual. For me it felt like an extra period of pausing – sort of like standing around in the foyer waiting for the door to the New Year to open. It’ll be interesting to see if the energy of the year continues to unfold like that. I suspect it might, with periods of intensity followed by times when things feel more at a standstill. Where it almost we’re waiting for various bits and pieces to catch up and get in sync before the next wave of forward movement.
But in any case, here we are with a full week of 2012 under our belts. So how’s it going? What have you been up to?
I always find it delightful to participate in Waverly Fitzgerald’s classes and this latest session Turning the Year was no exception. The invitation is to do a formal review of the past year. I find that in itself always incredibly useful and interesting, but once that’s done there’s the additional invitation to create some sort of reminder of the year. In the past I’ve made jewelry and done mixed media pieces. This year I was inspired to put together a book using Blurb.com’s BookSmart. I’m loving playing around with this software, and I’ve already got lots of other ideas percolating for future projects. I keep all my yearly “touchstones” in a corner on one of my altars. It feels right to honor all the passages which have brought me to exactly to who I am in this moment.
Another fun tradition for the start of the year is choosing a color. Bridget Pilloud has made this a yearly practice, and invites people to post their colors and then offers a brief interpretation of the meaning. Fun! While it’s too late to submit your color – she amazingly kept submissions open for 50 people! – do go over to her blog and check out it out. It’s fascinating reading and fun to see what colors people have chosen. The color I’ve picked for 2012 is Gold – antique-y textured gold, like what appears in photo of the Buddha above.
And of course, I love choosing a guide word each year. This year my word is Intentionality. That’s how I want to walk through this year – with joyful and sacred Intentionality.
I’d love to hear how you’re approaching 2012. Do you have a word? A color? Something to summarize the 2011? Please leave a comment.
hi deborah
i enjoyed your post as usual but I must say that 2012 is ripping along at an astonishing rate so far for me. If there was a color attached I’d have to say it’s a blur so far! haha. I’d say my word for 2012 is a resounding “yes” and perhaps that is why I am seeing so much movement already. What I have been doing so far this year is making art and a lot of it, each day. And I’ve begun writing again and plan to work that into the daily plan as well.
As far as book making goes, Bob did a nice book of my artwork from Picaboo because we had a Groupon for it last year. I was pleased and it is cool to have one’s artwork between covers…I do recommend for artists to do this at least a couple of times. I would LOVE to see what type of books you’ve produced.
2012 for me just feels as if there is tons of creative energy out there and ways to move it. The end of 2011 was similar. And there seems also to be a collaborative or partnership focus to the year so far, which is different for me as I tend to usually be the “lone wolf” type.
Well, that’s my .02 worth, for what it is worth. Best to you and yours. terry lee