I regret little, but in looking back I am disappointed at my not participating in a reflection project for 2011. That year was so excruciating and painful and joyful and liberating and full that it is very much a blur of change. I should have recorded some part of it - though a peek into my December Daily 2011 will certainly give an indication to why the project did not get completed!

I enjoyed participating in reverb10 which resulted in a beautiful blog, a wonderful keepsake album and a collection of incredible memories - fully recorded. For 2010, I will always remember where I was and where I was planning on going. I want to go through that same exercise again for 2012. This past year was equally worth remembering.

Not that I have an abundance of time this year, but I do have a great desire, so that will have to do! I have curated a number of prompts from many resources. Those I've selected can be found below as well as a few of my own, they have each been attributed as best I can.

30 December 2012

day twenty seven | compliment

prompt: compliment

 What is the greatest compliment you could give? Are you worthy of the same praise? (Author: Me)

+ + + + + 

When I wrote this prompt, I knew it would be a difficult one for me to answer. I have great admiration for a number of people, but more often do not give voice to that admiration. I don't want to come across as overly interested (aka, nosey!). I have consciously made an effort through this past year to tell people what I feel about them or their behaviour in the most positive way possible. Next year it's my hope that I'll be giving compliments all over the place!

I think the greatest thing I can say to some one is:

"Wow, you left it all out there, didn't you? Well done!" 

Be it on a page, on a canvas, on a stage, on a court, I most admire when people are courageous enough to lay themselves bare. The closest this year was Claire's Chapel Speech. She dug deep and came out with one of the greatest orations I've ever had the privilege to witness. To have such insight and sense of self at sixteen is something to be admired. I hope she is able to hold onto it forever. I'm so ridiculously proud that she has learned such wonderful lessons, and that she chose the perfect venue to express them to her greatest friends and critics. 


(the speech starts at 3:50)

To Claire, I say "wow, you left it all out there, didn't you? Well done!"

I have not had the same courage. I do in fits and starts and some of the elements are there but nothing consistent. I have a massive laundry list of things that have to be started and finished before I can focus on anything other than raising my children. I'm not looking for the stars to align or for circumstances to be perfect in any way, I'm just looking to jump off the wheel for enough time to regroup and figure out what it is I really want to do.

I mean, I love what I do now, but I have a sense, becoming more intense with each passing day, that there is so much more for me to accomplish. There will be an opportunity for me to gather my courage and embrace my vulnerability and lay myself bare in some manner I haven't even considered. In preparation, I am going to do something I've never done before: wait.

I am impatient by nature but I think it's time for me to be quiet, to not push, to have a sense of destination but not to create it frame by frame but enjoy the revelation as opposed to the creation. Maybe then I'll be able to say to myself "wow, you left it all out there, didn't you? Well done!"
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)