Well, as you can see I’ve not written a blog post since my Word Of The Year in 2018! Between my overwhelmingly busy interior design business and well, life in general, I just became toooooooo busy to keep up with it! And, I hate that, because blogging is something I loved to do for years. And, at one time, believe it or not, I had a considerable following and over 25,000 unique views per month! If only, if only I could have kept it up!
But, there is nothing I can do about it now. Right?! Can’t look behind….just gotta look ahead. And with that I’m happy to say I’m entering a new season of my life this year: Semi-retirement. Yep, I’m doin’ it! I’m finishing up projects that I’ve committed to prior to my decision to retire and doing an occasional design consultation here and there and that’s it! You have noooooo idea how excited I am to be entering into this new phase of my life! Now, hopefully I’ll find the time to do what I loved for so many years….and that’s my blog. I’m learning the ropes of Instagram, too, so my new blogging adventure will more than likely start out slowly. And I’ll more than likely be changing some things on the appearance of my site here, but I wanted to go ahead and get started regardless. My goal was to do my first blog by April 1st this year and that means today is the day! It’s been so long I have so much to re-learn (which I’m NOT looking forward to), but it has to be done. I just flat can’t remember a lot of this bloggin’ stuff. So bear with me!
I thought for my first post I would go ahead and start with my Word Of The Year! That seems like as good a place as any since I’ve posted my “word” for the last five or six years. Normally I do it in January, but this year – due to all the changes in my life – moving out of my commercial building, reorganizing by business here at home – and building up my Instagram account I’m just now getting around to it. But, like I said I set my goal for my first new post for April 1st so here I am.
As I’m sure you saw in my caption – my word of the year this year is “Mindset”. (If you’d like to read about my other words – just search “Word of the Year” and they will all pop up.) I put a lot of thought into each word each year and this year is no exception.
The reason I selected Mindset for my word of the year has a lot to do with a woman by the name of Dr. Caroline Leaf. Dr. Leaf is a neuro-scientist and a devout Christian and is one of the most interesting women I’ve ever come across. She has studied the mind for over 25 years and supports the fact that we can renew our minds by changing our mindset. Something that goes all the way back to the Bible. And, that’s what is so exciting about her. She clearly explains how scripture is now being proven scientifically! How exciting is that?!
Here’s a quote from her book “Think, Learn and Succeed”: “As you begin to understand how much power you have in your mind, you will start using your thoughts to work for you instead of against you.” And here’s another one: “I cannot stress enough the power of learning to control and activate the power of mindsets to influence life outcomes”.
Doesn’t that peak your interest? If we have that much power in our minds why wouldn’t we want to at least try to utilize it as best we can. I used to be a big fan of Norman Vincent Peale’s books when I was much younger and recently rediscovered one of his books when I was reorganizing closets and drawers around here. It’s called “Treasure of Joy and Enthusiasm” and it says basically the very same thing. This is a quote by Dr. Albert E. Cliff from Dr. Peale’s book: “Negative thinking will always lead to failure and nervous prostration; but positive faith – positive thinking – will lead you towards happy, healthy an abundant living.”
And, isn’t that what we’re all ultimately after? I know I am!
I’m in the “last third of my life” here on this earth, before I go to heaven to live with Jesus, so I’ll certainly do all I can to have the proper mindset. Romans 12:2 says: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…..” It can be done friends! Not saying it’s easy……but, I do say it can be done.
So since I want to have the proper mindset…..one that brings joy, enthusiasm, satisfaction, contentment and success I’ve chosen “mindset” as my “Word of the Year” to focus on for 2019!
Happy New Year Just A Little Late!