Word Bowl Photo by Tori Beveridge

Thoughts on Words

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonder filled holiday season and that 2016 will bring you good health, good will and much happiness.

A new year.  For many it symbolizes a fresh start. Everywhere you look people are sharing their resolutions for 2016, or, more popular in the art community, their word of the year.  Everywhere I look people are talking about their word of the year.  That one word that gives you direction and intention as you move through 2016.

“My word”, “my word”…. everywhere I see “my word is…”   It is as if this word has become a requirement for creative, soulful living. Your word of the year has even become a prompt for art journal groups, one which I have no spread for.

What happens if you don’t have a word, that one word, that speaks loudly to you, that will define you as you move forward and through 2016?

Oh the pressure of it all!

I Have No Words by Tori Beveridge 2016 Photo

Photo of “I Have No Words” by Tori Beveridge
This is how trying to choose a word and not being able to was making me feel.

Did I mention I don’t have a word?  I have nothing.  Not one word has come to me that says this is the word that will determine where you will go, how you will grow, etc., etc., through this year.  I am not sure what that says about me.  Am I a failure, or will I be without that word to guide me?  Am I confused about what I want, are my intentions not clear enough to be defined?

I have been trying to think of a word.. that one magical word…  Some people have suggested choosing a few words that speak to you.

I have no words.

I think it’s a lovely thought, these words.  They show good intentions.  They show a positive action and that action, that first step, is a step towards the change that people want in their lives.  That makes their word a very powerful, and a very good thing.

Words are powerful.  Words can capture and express the soul of who you are. I know the appeal of declaring that one word that will define you for a year.  This year, however, it makes me very uncomfortable.

I am more than one word.  Tomorrow, I will be different than I am today and over the next twelve months, my hopes, my dreams, my being will change.  I  may change so much that the word I think of today will no longer be relevant.

So…  I will not choose a word.  I’ll let the words choose me.  I’ll let quotes and poetry inspire me and speak to me.  I’ll draw words out of the little bowl on my art table and illustrate them when they move me to.

Word Bowl Photo by Tori Beveridge

Photo of my word bowl.

I’ll have words.

 

Posted in Creative Every Day, mixed media, portrait and tagged , , , , , , .

One Comment

  1. Very well put – Picking one word to motivate myself, to live and love by, feels very restrictive. We should all be more than one; word because we we are not one-dimensional beings.

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