Choose a One Word Resolution for 2011

So have you broken your New Year’s resolutions yet?

Did you decide to be more proactive or handle money better or enjoy more meaningful relationships or simply to drop inches off your waistline?

Maybe you’re already feeling like a failure because it’s January 2 and you’ve not yet been to the gym. Or quit that drinking or smoking or chocolate habit.

New Year’s resolutions are fun but for many of us, doomed to failure due to the piles of expectations we place on ourselves. And the fact that the change we’re aiming for is usually from the outside in rather than inside out.

For 2011, I’ve decided to reclaim my inner joy and part of that process involves following The Happiness Project.

Its author Gretchen Rubin wrote about something that sparked my imagination: instead of making a list of resolutions, simply choose one word as a theme for the year.

I love this idea and a quick search led me to more articles by Christine Kane who just might be the original mind behind the concept.

It’s such a compelling notion and I’m sure it will provide much more motivation and inspiration to try and define my year by this one word. I’ve been mulling it over since yesterday after reading Rubin’s blog post and also some of the words that others have chosen in her comments section.

Being indecisive, it’s tempting to pick a handful of words that strike a chord: Joy, Change, Focus, Gratitude, Risk, Grow, Love. But I like the discipline of choosing just one.

And one word popped into my head that I believe encompasses everything I would like to be, do and own going forward. It’s actually part of my life’s motto but in the past few years consumed with the daily grind of mothering amongst other things, this aspect has slightly fallen by the wayside.

I love this word. It’s powerful, purposeful and playful. It’s joyful.

It’s an expansive word that’s open to many interpretations but all rooted in a sense of living openly and abundantly. It’s about appreciating all that I am and everything and everyone that I know. About a continuous sense of gratitude and reverence. It’s about fun and laughter and community. It’s about the party…and so much more.

This word combines achievement, success and reward and adds an extra layer of joy to each element. It’s something that lifts your spirits and comes from the spirit.

You can do it alone. But it’s wonderful to do it with the people that you enjoy most. You can also do it with (and for) strangers as a simple act of kindness. For at its core, this word means loving life and living with love.

I plan to find a way to do it every day.

My word for 2011 is… CELEBRATE.