Inspired Documentation

Each year, after I choose my word, I try to find physical ways to keep it close to me.  I figure that if I can see it, I'll think about it more.  It's an awareness thing.  If I'm looking for it, I'll find it!  If I'm open to it, my word will continue to bubble up in meaningful ways.

One thing I always do right away . . . is set up some sort of journal to document my experience.  It's a great way for me to capture my thoughts and reflections and, ultimately, my "learnings" about my word.  

For the last few years, I've used a little cardboard album with binder rings that can (conveniently!) expand to hold any number of pages.

I nearly always begin my journal with the dictionary definition of my word for the year, and a collection of quotes that I find particularly inspiring. 

After that, well . . . it's a crap shoot!  I'm a visual person, so I like to collect little bits and pieces that resonate with me about my word.  By the end of the year, this binder will be stuffed with all kinds of goofy stuff --  images from magazines, photos I've taken myself, postcards, jottings on index cards, post-it notes, poems, lists . . . whatever comes my way.

The entire thing usually ends up looking like an overstuffed vision board by the end of the year, but it's always fun to look back at what has inspired me.

Inspiration!  That's the whole point of having a word, isn't it?

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How about you?  How are you inspired this month?