Tag Archives: focus word

Focus Word 2020

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For the past decade, instead of establishing New Year’s resolutions, I’ve selected a focus word as my guiding light for the year.

Last year I selected a short phrase: Joie de Vivre—joy of life.

As we start a new decade, this will be the first time that I’m choosing a repeat.

Joie de Vivre has been—and continues to be—so incredibly fulfilling that I’m choosing to embody and focus on it again.

Joie de Vivre—A delight in being alive; an exuberant, keen, or buoyant enjoyment of life; an exultation of spirit.

Joie de Vivre—A philosophy of life, a sentiment that involves one’s whole being.

Do you have a focus word this year?

© lauriebuchanan.com

Ontology

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Rather than make New Year’s resolutions, each year I select a single word to focus on in the upcoming year. In 2018 my focus word is ontology—the philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality. I was first introduced to this word while reading Madeleine L’Engle’s nonfiction series, The Crosswicks Journals, and have been fascinated ever since.

Why ontology, you ask?

On July 10th of this year, my next book, The Business of Being: Soul Purpose In and Out of the Workplace hits the shelves.

This book isn’t just about being in business; it’s about the business of being. But when you stop to think about it, each us is like a small business.

Blending business and spirituality, The Business of Being demonstrates how to stand in alignment with your core values; it explores how to thrive, soul-side out, in and out of the workplace.

Here’s what two advance readers had to say:

“This gem of a book is really three books in one: a savvy guide to building a business, an engaging story of a boutique restaurant, and a coaching guide to living an intentional life. Chock full of quotes, stories, and examples, The Business of Being will help you be the person (and the business) you want to be. And in doing so, it shows you how to change the world—and have fun doing so. Bravo!” —RITA SEVER, author of Supervision Matters:100 Bite-Sized Ideas to Change You and Your Team

“Complete with recipes, the imaginative highlight of The Business of Being is the vibrant account of the founding and running of a French restaurant called La Mandarine Bleue. This book is a lucid, step-by-step guide to personal and professional success—with vichyssoise mixed in.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS

Do you have a focus word this year?

© TuesdaysWithLaurie.com

Sankalpa

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Rather than make New Year’s resolutions, each year I select a single word to focus on in the upcoming year. In 2017 my focus word is Sankalpa—a Sanskrit word that means determination; a practical step to harness willpower. With this resolve I’m going to plant, cultivate, and and nurture three seeds:

HOPE — optimism, joyful expectation

GRACE — the immediate presence of spirit, be the change

PEACE — reconciliation, unity

My practical and idealogical steps to ensure a good harvest include exercising intentional kindness. To build up, not tear down. To unite, not divide. To accept, not merely tolerate. To be better informed. To be transparent and vulnerable, not guarded and closed. And to actively listen, not passively hear what people with opposing viewpoints have to share.

Do you have a focus word this year?

© lauriebuchanan.com

Alliance

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Rather than make New Year’s resolutions, each year I select a single word to focus on in the upcoming year. In 2013 it was Peace. In 2014, Serendipity. Last year it was Flow. In 2016 my focus word is Alliance. That said, it’s time to unveil the secret I’ve been dangling…

MY BOOK IS BEING PUBLISHED THIS FALL!
Title and cover reveal coming soon
Stay tuned

Writing the book was the easy part. Since then I’ve learned that it really does “take a village” to birth a book. From the publisher to readers, and everyone in-between: manuscript critique, copyeditor, proofreaders, legal counsel, permissions, artwork, layout/design, book trailer, publicity, marketing, printer, distribution, bookstores, event planning, and author endorsements. I’m grateful to each person as they help me navigate literary waters.

Hands

An enthusiastic proponent of affirmations, this year’s positive supporting statement—I am in alliance with experienced people who have my book’s best interest at heart—targets my focus this year.

“It is probably not love that makes the world go around, but rather those mutually supportive alliances through which partners recognize their dependence on each other for the achievement of shared and private goals.” —Fred Allen

Do you have a focus word this year?

© lauriebuchanan.com

Zenergistic Flow

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Rather than make New Year’s resolutions, each year I select a single word to focus on in the upcoming year. In 2013 it was Peace. Last year it was Serendipity. In 2015 my focus word is Flow.

Not as in “Go with (or against) the flow…”

…but as being a vessel for zenergy that is positive, uplifting, constructive, and healing; a channel for peace, joy, kindness, encouragement, compassion, creativity, and Light.


An enthusiastic proponent of affirmations, this year’s positive supporting statement — I invite the infinite good of the Universe to flow through me — targets how I choose to be in the world.

“Feel it, flow with it, infuse with it, believe it. Time to let the magic begin.” — Trudy Vesotsky

Do you have a focus word this year?

© TuesdaysWithLaurie.com

The Serendipitous Life

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If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know that rather than resolutions, each New Year’s Eve I select a single word to focus on in the upcoming year. In 2013 it was peace and all of its derivatives.

This year my word is Serendipity—the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. Serendipitous—a magical approach to life.

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” ― Roald Dahl. A magical surprise — the flame draws toward you — when you blow on it with a knife in-between. © Laurie Buchanan 2013.

An enthusiastic proponent of affirmations, this year’s positive supporting statement — I see things I didn’t know I was looking for — targets how I choose to be in the world.

Jose Manuel Barroso said, “What people call serendipity sometimes is just having your eyes open.” And that’s precisely what I will do in this shiny new year — see joyful, beneficial things I might have otherwise missed.

Do you have a focus word this year?

 

© TuesdaysWithLaurie.com