Life Lessons: Choose Your Word

For the past three weeks, I’ve been seeing a life coach.  I’d been playing with the idea for a while now… wondering if it might benefit me in some way.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve got a lot of dreams that I’d like to pursue.  Dreams that I never thought were even possible.  Dreams that I don’t know how to make happen.

That’s where my life coach comes in.

Sometimes, even the most independent, stubborn person on the planets needs to ask for help.  That stubborn person I’m referring to is me… and I needed some help, some guidance, some tools… and I’m so thankful I’ve hired someone to help me along the way.

I’d like to tell you that we’ve met three times and that everything has changed and life is perfect, but… I make it a point not to lie to my readers. 🙂

What I am learning is that tiny steps can be the first step in making miracles happen.  I’m also reminded of how important it is that I keep my head in the game.  I’m going to share with you one of the most powerful learnings I’ve had to date, and it involves choosing a word.

My commute to and from the office every day is anywhere between 1 to 1 1/2 hours every day.  That’s a long time. Being the non-morning person that I am, this commute can really set the stage for how my day is going to go.  I can kick it off frustrated, unhappy, stressed, and thinking about all the time I lost, or, as I recently learned, I can choose an alternative.

My life coach has suggested to me that I use that hour and a half to pick a word that’s going to be my word of the day.  Her suggestion was to use a word that describes how I want to feel, how I want to be, what I want to be doing and to place focus on that word throughout the day.

It has been an awesome reminder of the power of intention.  Every day I’ve chosen a word, I’ve had an amazing day… full of the “word” I’ve chosen.

[pinterest]So, my challenge to you is to consider choosing a word too… It will change your day, I promise.  Here are a few I’ve chosen so far:

SMILE

This is the first one I tried.  Smile.  Simple as that.  I wanted to smile a LOT that day.  I wanted it to be full of fun and to genuinely enjoy myself.  With my thoughts centered on smile and my intention set… It happened.

PROGRESS

When life seems overwhelming and there’s no way you’re going to get everything done, sometimes you need to put things into perspective.  Sometimes PROGRESS will be considered a victory, and that day I absolutely chose PROGRESS knowing that getting anything done would be a win.  In fact, with my positive “progress” attitude I got even more done that I would have thought!  Cheers to progress!

JOY

Sometimes, you just want to radiate JOY.  Yep, JOY!  I wanted to feel it, and I wanted to be showing it… and just by choosing that word, it happened.

Now, the trick to choosing a word is that you have to remind yourself of it throughout the day.  You can write it on a post-it and put it in your pocket.  You can remind yourself of the word and the feeling associated with the word when you chose it.  You can say it over and over again when you’re mood is shaken.

Whatever it takes… you have to demand the word become a reality and put all of your effort into making it happen.  Empower it, and allow yourself to create your day.

What is your word for today?