A Word, Please

That dark cloud can't hide the sun forever. Light will prevail!

I'm late in sharing my resolution word for the year, partly because I've been considering two choices, words that came to my attention in a way that essentially paired them. Both strong ideas, both worthy of propelling me forward into the kind of year I'd like to live. So I have been trying them on, trying them out, and I really must settle. My word for the year will be LIGHT.

You see, last fall I became more appalled and depressed by the day at the hatred and negativity spewing everywhere I looked on social media and in the news and especially from people professing to be religious. Engaging by writing comments of my own meant to express an alternate opinion or correct inaccuracies merely showed me people didn't care to hear any other view or facts that didn't align with what they believed to be true. It didn't appear I was making a difference as responses were mostly "I'm right, you're wrong...and stupid too" (which frustrated and depressed me even more) plus it was eating up a lot of my time.

Then mid-December, I received an e-mail that affected me profoundly, presenting a possible positive and useful way out of the quagmire. It said that we are the Light of the world, the very stuff of God, and that forgiveness is our function. Not forgiveness as in something wrong happened and then trying to fix it but instead as seeing the absolute perfect innocence of every person including ourselves, no matter what happens. Not our job to fix, just to recognize what is the essence of us all when we get past all the bluster and insecurities. Simple yet challenging, don't you think? 

I really liked this idea of being the light of the world and doing a quick check of my thoughts and actions before putting them out there. As my fingers light on the keyboard, I stop and think, will this comment send light into the world? As my thoughts turn negative toward a person's actions or beliefs, I try to simply forgive rather than lash out. Trying this has already helped to calm me down and make me feel less hopeless about some of the awful things going on in our world today. I can also spread light through my art and light through my blog. Light! It's such a positive thing!!!

But light can refer to something else, as I was reminded by a sketch on MulticoloredSnippets. Go take a look at Nadia's response to the prompt of light for a class she is taking. Look at that sun! Look at her admonition to "Lighten Up With Laughter". Boy is that what I need to hear! I can get so serious about my art, to the point of taking the joy out of it for me and possibly taking the light out of it for others. I'm sure I could use some forgiveness in the studio too but Nadia pretty much convinced me. LIGHT needs to be my resolution word for 2016.

Spiritual light, emotional light, the light of knowledge shed with each new thing I explore, I will do my best to keep it shining throughout the year. Light always prevails over darkness. I'll keep in mind Forgiveness too - it need be of both others and of myself, no matter how we stumble this year. In all I do, I'll try to remember not to react when any negativity presents itself, but rather to respond with light.

"And Darkness Has Not Overcome It" - SMB 2003

These are my previous resolution words:

2008 - Freedom

2009 - Calm

2010 - Focus

2011 - Refocus

2012 - Balance & Harmony

2013 - Perseverance

2014 - Explore

2015 - Fearless