The first day's exercise was a reflection on 2012. Workbook pages that made you reflect on what worked, what didn't, what you accomplished and what fell flat. It was eye opening and encouraging, showing me where I had excelled in 2012 (physical fitness) and where I had fallen flat (sadly, service to others and creativity). Instead of using this as an opportunity to beat myself up for not serving meals to the homeless or building a house in El Salvador or something, I reviewed it in non-judgment. My focus had been on getting back in shape for 2012 and I'd done that, quickly and impressively, if I do say so myself. So what could I accomplish this year if I shifted that focus to where it needed to be for 2013? The idea stirred an excitement in me that threatened to overcome the perpetual heartburn of my pregnancy and it was with a sense of anticipation that I put the day's reflection to bed and looked toward the next.
The second day brought a challenge to choose one word to define the year to come. One word, to provide clarity and focus for what I wanted 2013 to be for me. Looking at a list of words, so many of them looked good to me. Create. Adventure. Learn. Live. Be. Imagine. Choosing one was going to be torture. I just knew that when I found that one word, though, I would know it. That there would be a click and that would be it. Going throughout the day to day tasks of a busy homemaker, part of my mind kept wrestling with it, turning the concept over and over like the clothes in my front-loading washing machine. Then it came to me like a flash. From Disney Jr. of all places. I turned on the TV in order to make lunch (if you are a better mom than me and don't use your TV in this manner, hats off to you and all that) and at my kids excited cheers that Jake and the Neverland Pirates was on, I found it. It resonated like a tuning fork, bringing all those words together into one: Neverland. I want this year to be Neverland.
I rushed to write it down in my New Year's workbook. Neverland. It was beautiful. It was creativity and child-like joy, possibility, imagination and endless adventure.
Now, do I know how to instantly transform my home, heart and surroundings to fit the Neverland theme? Not remotely. Do I even know what, precisely, that would look like? Ummm.... No. But I do know about the power of intention. I do know that when you plant that seed, that when you voice a desire of your heart, even one as nebulous and undefined as J.M. Barrie's imaginary island, you create a ripple, you throw a stone into the stillness, and things come to you. You knock and God answers.
I watched the movie Finding Neverland many years ago, which is an adaptation of the story surrounding Barrie's creation of Peter Pan. I remember crying, not only because of the content of the plot but because it made me realize that being a "grown up" was not necessarily compulsory. That we could keep a child's heart, if we devoted ourselves to its preservation. That the world could be full of wonder and discovery every day of our lives, not just those days in which we glimpse the Grand Canyon but also those that we glimpse little more than meatloaf and ketchup stains.
So it is with a deep breath of salty sea air (produced by my Scentsy burner) and a swig of hearty brew (to wit: decaf Constant Comment tea), that I embark boldly on this adventure of 2013, my wee first mateys by my side and even a stowaway in my belly (due to arrive in April). I look forward to seeing what it brings me. What pirate attacks, what treasures to be found, what dreams to be discovered and realized, as we set sail through stars and sky for Neverland.
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