2009: I LOVE First Love Thursday

(Somewhere, it's beer o'clock.)

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I don't do new year's resolutions. They never worked for me. I think I stopped making them when I was a teenager. Goal setting has always been a challenge for me, too. Perhaps I am too right brained--or maybe I am lacking focus. I like to think it is the former; however, whatever the reason--and in case the reason is the latter--for 2009, I am choosing focus and direction instead of resolve.

Several people in my online community encouraged me to choose a word for the year. The first word that popped into my head was "RICH," and no matter how I tried to go around it, that one stuck. There you have it. I want, hope for, and intend to focus on richness this year--in all layers and levels of my life. Food, money, and my relationship with others and the Divine.

I will also focus on the richness that I already have. Today, I have enough and in much of the world, that makes me incredibly rich. I have friends who love me and will be there for me no matter what. Even when I can't feel it, I have an abiding knowing of the presence of the Divine.

How does it get any better than that? Come on...show me! I am ready.

I love Brené's writing at Ordinary Courage. She declared this "2009: year of the superpower." Karen (also an incredibly talented writer and photographer) at Chookooloonks asks the question in her authentic you interview series, "What is your superpower?" and Brené asks the next question, "What is your kryptonite?"

Last night for our New Year's Eve exercise, SO and I discussed our powers. My superpower is x-ray knowing of intra- and interpersonal dynamics. I see what's wrong...whether physically for someone or interpersonally in relationships. And then I know the strategy to fix it. This includes having a powerful bullshit detector.

My kryptonite is when my desire to be compassionate and of service gets railroaded by shame (I "should" be able to fix it or do more--or, I did it "wrong") or I fall into being an empath (I feel what others feel) and my heart aches. Being an empath is also a power for good, but there is a point where what the other is feeling becomes personal to me and I am undone. So perhaps a better way to say this is that my kryptonite is "taking [fill in the blank] too personally."

This, the year of the superpower, by bringing mine into awareness, I will continue to pay attention to what I know...and when I fall into the feelings, whether my own shame or extreme resonance with what the other is feeling, I get to further my study in not taking it personally.

And Tracey in today's Shutter Sisters asks, "What's your mantra for the year?"

Here's mine...




Will you join me? What's your word? Your superpower? Your mantra for 2009? I'd love to hear.