One word in 2008

I have found my word for 2008.

Action
Noun; [ak-shuh n]

1. The process or state of acting or, of being active.
2. Something done or performed.
3. An act that one consciously wills and that may be characterized by
physical or mental activity.
4. Energetic activity.
5. An exertion of power or force.

This word jumped out at me from the list compiled by sweet Ali E. (Thanks westexgirl for turning me onto her blog, she has joined my reading list). Action seems to encompass all the things I had trouble including when thinking of other words. I guess I just felt like I have so many things going on that I felt all other words were too limiting. I know this exercise is all about focusing on one word, but I need that word to be flexible enough as to touch the many parts of my life. For me the word Action represents, decisiveness, confidence, follow through, and most of all progress. See unlike westexgirl, I’m not the uber productive one. That’s not to say I don’t have a lot of irons in the fire, believe me, I do. But many times I feel like I’m standing in the middle of a whirlwind and I find my feet rooted to one spot so overwhelmed with the tasks in my brain that I feel immobilized. Not petrified from fright, but almost sluggish like when you can’t run in a dream. I don’t want that feeling. I want to have “Energetic activity”, I want to “exert power” I want “something done” in my life, and I don’t necessarily just mean my “to do list”.

I want Action in my faith, it has been lacking badly and I can only blame myself. I’ve already set about fixing one part. Dh and I will be attending church (either Catholic or Lutheran) every week. We had become extremely lax on this and I felt like being away from the weekly ritual of at the very least one hour out of the week devoted to talking to, and connecting with God hurt us both separately and as a couple. I also think God on this first Sunday of the New Year (and my new devotion) has dropped a tool in my lap to help me with this. More on that later.

I want Action on my follow through. I had a discussion with God about follow through earlier this year and I need to re-devote myself to that. I’ve already written about that here before, I won’t rehash it. Although I will redefine follow through, I think what I really mean to say is true to my word. Many times, I say things or promise things and I don’t follow through one those words. Like the four agreements, be impeccable with your word. I want action on that.

I want Action on my physical activity. I did pretty well in the fall sticking with my yoga class all the way to the end! I was proud of myself, I had always dropped out (“too busy”) after about 5 weeks before. Last year I made it all 15 weeks, yay me! And I saw great benefit from it, this year I want to continue that action. I will be in an aerobics class 2x a week and I need to do something the other 4 days too.

I want Action on my decisions. I want to be strong in my decisions and act on them immediately. I used to be horribly indecisive and while I’m sure I could still use some help in this dept. I have become so much more decisive. However, for some reason I still feel some fear upon acting on some of those decisions. Those who know me best know that I “think aloud”. I like to come up with ideas and then sit on them, and sit and sit and sit. Craft projects, supplies bought, then put off. Ideas at work that when voiced are accepted, then I am slow to put into action. Ideas for outings with friends brought up and never implemented. No more of that. Those unused craft items are like big neon signs representing my inaction. They make me feel bad, they make me feel untrustworthy, they make me feel unaccomplished and disorganized.

No more. Now, I am about Action.