Monday, January 11, 2010

My Word for 2010: Cultivate

My word for this year, after much thought, is cultivate. According to Merriam Webster, the definition is "to foster the growth of" or "to improve by labor, care or study". This is precisely what I am seeking to do with the good things in my life this year.

Cultivate healthy habits: I want to spend this year getting healthier. I want to eat better and work out more. I want to attend yoga classes on a more regular basis. I want to meditate, get more sleep and journal more. I want to take my vitamins every day. I want to learn to cook nutritious meals. I want to accomplish what I have laid out for myself with my Sweat and Save 2010 plan.

Cultivate my relationships: This is the year that I will finish graduate school, thus giving me more free time. I would like to spend a lot of that cultivating my relationships with friends and family alike. For the past two and a half years, I haven't be able to do that in way that I would like. 2010 will be the year that I tend to them with the care and time that they deserve.

Cultivate my passions: There are a lot of resources out there for helping early twenty-somethings find their way in life. There are less for those of us that are pushing 30 and still aren't sure where we want to end up. This year I would like to get quiet and get inside my head. I want to better understand which of my interests are hobbies, which are passions and which should be a job. I want to get a clearer picture of where I want to be in 1, 5 and 10 years from now. I want to use my newly discovered free time to figure out just who I want to be.

{Photo credit: Foxtongue}

4 comments:

Melita said...

i love this! i love that you are taking time to cultivating your authentic self. i can't wait to see where this year takes you. have a great first day back at class. hugs!!

stephanie alaine said...

lauren, can we be best friends? ALL of this resonates with me, on a deep level of needing the quiet and the calm. i can't wait to see what 2010 holds for you, and hope we can be intentional about teaching one another what we learn along the journey...i feel so many of these lessons are on the forefront of my mind as this new year begins (and oh, yes, they were there last year too!) it's about time...

ga said...

That is a great word, and a great goal! Sometimes we forget that we need to be cultivated when we get caught up in life...but we will never be happy if we don't take care of ourselves, our relationships, etc as well.

Anonymous said...

"Cultivate" has been one of my "buzzwords" for awhile now. I feel like I could have written almost every word of this. I think you're off on the right track here, because I think to cultivate something implies constant, evolving care and attention. These aren't things you accomplish and are done with; these are things you build and work toward your whole life.

--Allison