In 2014 James and I started the tradition of choosing a New Year’s quote for our family. So each year around New Year’s we try to pick a quote that embodies our hopes and intentions for the coming year.
Here are a couple of past posts about our new year’s quotes: (The post about 2016 has our previous new year’s quotes back to 2014.)
Being Brave and Showing Up in 2016
Last year’s quote was from the Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh:
I think if you look at our past year, our message was something like: Biking is good! Let’s make it safer and more accessible… Racism is bad. Let’s learn about it so that we can fight it… We love our public schools and local businesses, especially the breweries 😉… We love our UU Fellowship… Veggies taste better when they’re locally grown… Meat is a “sometimes food”… Camping with kids is not that hard unless you count all the work 😂… And any birthday or holiday is a good excuse to pick up donuts.
Not bad, right?
But last year’s quote was a bit broad and lofty. This year we both feel inclined to look more inward than outward for what needs our attention. So here is our quote for 2018:
It’s attributed to Bob Marley, but if it’s a song lyric I haven’t been able to find what song it’s from. Anybody know?
For James, it’s about taking stock of deeper priorities and being intentional about where he gives his energy and time. For me, it’s about remembering to appreciate the abundance in our lives, checking in with gratitude, and letting go of distractions to be more fully present (bye bye candy crush! 😭).
I think this quote also just makes us feel good because it’s nice to be reminded that we are blessed to have a life we love and that no matter what hard things come up, we are always free to choose love and to choose positivity. So bring on 2018!
Does your family choose a word of the year or make New Year’s resolutions? What are your feelings about 2018?
Surprisingly Special 