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I have been doing Ali Edwards’ One Little Word for the past three years but it was only last year that my word actively changed me. My word last year was BRAVE. My reasons for choosing that were simple. That was the first year I’m going to live without my Dad and I wanted to be brave. It was funny how I’ve equated being BRAVE to being STRONG. During the whole course of 2014, I have learned that being BRAVE meant ACCEPTING ONE’s WEAKNESS and DARING TO DO ANYWAY.

In order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen — really seen.” ~ Brené Brown

This was the year I opened up myself to new things, new people, new adventures and what I got back in return was hundredfold blessings to improve myself. One of these new things I opened up to was listening to podcasts. I started with Elise Blaha Cripe’s podcast, since I have been an avid follower of her blog since 2011. Then it mushroomed to ten more podcasts. Then I got to listen to her talk at the World Domination Summit and then somehow I learned about Brene Brown – then got to watch her TedX talk.

I got hired in jobs I like, met new friends, started a new hobby, applied to a team who’s “job” I was passionate about (this is being in the Project Life Creative Team) and started this blog again.

All because I was brave to try new things and to open up myself again to new learnings.

I will carry my 2014 word for me forward.

As being BRAVE means I need to work on being one all the time.

ONE LITTLE WORD for 2015: WHOLEHEARTED

The word wholehearted started whispering itself to me last November. I was reading Brene Brown’s books and it kept popping out. But I knew it was too big a word for me. Honestly, up until know I still don’t have a full grasp of what it means. I started looking for other words. Nourish. Learn. Open. Forward.

But this big word kept coming back to me. So I did a bit of reading.

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That’s it. I want to be ALL-IN.

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All in with everything I do.

All in with people I have relationships with.

GUIDEPOSTS FOR WHOLEHEARTED LIVING

While doing some research, I came across these guidelines and I will be digging in more about these in the year:

Wholehearted living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, ‘No matter what gets done and how much is left is undone, I am enough.’ It’s going to bed at night thinking, ‘Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging.

Brené Brown

10 Guideposts for Wholehearted Living by Brene Brown:

1. Cultivate Authenticity – Let go of what people think about you

2. Cultivate Self-Compassion – Let go of perfectionism

3. Cultivate a Resilient Spirit – Let go of numbing and powerlessness

4. Cultivate Gratitude and Joy – Let go of scarcity

5. Cultivate Intuition and Trusting Faith – Let go of the need for certainty

6. Cultivate Creativity – Let go of comparison

7. Cultivate Play and Rest – Let go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth

8. Cultivate Calm and Stillness – Let go of anxiety as a lifestyle

9. Cultivate Meaningful Work – Let go of self-doubt and “supposed to”

10. Cultivate Laughter, Song, and Dance – Let go of being cool and “always in control”

THE PLAN

The truth is, I don’t have a plan. Yet.

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While other words take an active meaning and propel us to work with obvious results, I think this word takes on a quality I must have. And this word, like brave, will manifest itself through the year. I am excited on how it will work out.

I will share my thoughts on my quest on being WHOLEHEARTED on on my blog twice a month, more if I have more to share.

Here’s to a year of exploring being WHOLEHEARTED and living it.

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One Little Word® is a year-long project created by Ali Edwards. You can read her blog posts about it here.

Aggie Aviso