Whether it was the word I chose or not, 2013’s word should have been change. There was a lot of it! Personally, professionally, you name it, it was a year of change. A year of high highs and low lows.  A year of coming into my own.  Even better it was a year of Transformation (yes, with a capital T!)

I have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks thinking about what 2014 holds. A lot of what 2014 holds is still murky – a new city to explore, a new job to be found, a new home to be located, a new community to become a part of, etc…  The only thing that I am clear about is that it holds promise.   Wonderful, hopeful, insightful promise. But if the last 48 years have taught me anything, it is that promise comes with responsibility.  A responsibility to not squander the hopeful horizon that lays

Horizons

ahead.  With that in mind, I decided on my three words for 2014.  I also decided that in being true to the transformation process that began in 2013, these three words have to be active.  These are words and actions that will guide me through whatever the new year has in store.  Words and actions that serve as a homing beacon when I start to feel adrift.

My words/actions for 2014 are:

Tolerance – I am firm believer that you have to be the change you wish to see in the word.  So if I want to see more tolerance (and I desperately think the world needs a lot more!), I need to be focused on tolerance.

Listening –  I read this recently and it really made me stop and think.  My 2014 is about giving of myself. Listening, really listening, is probably the biggest gift we can give another and ourselves.

” Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.”  Karl Menninger

Reading/Writing – Yes, I know those are two words, but they go hand-in-hand for me.  Good writing comes from lots of reading.   I want to read more in 2014 so that I am inspired to write more.  I am going to clear my RSS reader regularly.  I am going to make a dent in the huge pile of unread books on my bedside.  I am going to read for business and just for pure enjoyment.  I am going to write.  Regularly. Whether it is the dozens of blog post ideas, I have in the queue or that book I keep saying I am going to start, 2014 is the year of the pen (keyboard) for me.

What are your three words or actions for 2014?