A YEAR OF DELIGHT

For many years now, I have chosen a word to focus on and it has always provided an interesting perspective. But 2011 was different.  In 2011, I decided to choose the word delight!

What made the year unusual is that I made a commitment (to myself) to track every day what I delighted in that day.  This was a big task, to be sure – what with the litany of things ‘to–do’ adding one more item could have proved to be quite a challenge.

So how did I do?  Except for a handful of days that I missed, (indicated by ‘s’ – don’t ask me why ‘s’??) I did extremely well and in fact, I actually looked forward to this daily ‘chore.’

Why did I do it?  Because I wanted to make myself more aware of things that were indeed  delightful in my life. Daily  I would something speculate what I thought I would take delight in the following day and that increased my enjoyment of the event. Sometimes what I thought it would be wasn’t even on the radar and something unexpected delighted me.

So what? Well here are a few benefits this year of focus did for me:

• I was much more appreciative of what was going well.
• I was much more observant of the little things that may have passed me by.
• I was much more intentional about doing something that would bring me delight daily.
• I started using the word delight in my vocabulary much more frequently than I ever had before.
• It made me happy to reflect back on my list (and it still does, as I write this post).

How about you?  Maybe you don’t want a ‘word of the year’ – maybe you don’t want to write down something every day – if it’s not your thing, that’s ok. Consider having a word of the month, word of the week or even a word of the day. Just having a meaningful, strong, positive word in the forefront of your mind may be enough to give you a bit of an edge in our sometimes negative world.

Having the thought top of mind is very powerful and writing it down just hammered it home all the more – but don’t get all hung up on the writing, it’s most important that you focus – in whatever form that means for you.

If you are curious of my focus for this year,  stay tuned and check out an upcoming blog post and I will tell you allllll about it!  For now, suffice it to say – it’s also working great!

Following is a glance of my unedited list of the 2011 Year of Delight.  Feel free to take a peek through it – perhaps you will find a bit of inspiration (although I am sure there a number of things that won’t make sense to you!).

Here’s to the power of a single word!

Steph 

2011 The Year of DELIGHT!!

August

1. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
2. Three-day weekends!
3. New bike odometer
4. Helping a TM craft a speech
5. Down 10 pounds – wo-hoo!
6. 5 hour canoe adventure with Ruth
7. Bike 20 km with my honey
8. A morning hot tub for my sore muscles!
9. A day off of training
10. Early morning work out
11. Playing ‘would you rather’ on a road trip
12. A sweet friendship card from Marie
13. Finishing the sprint triathlon and feeling great
14. A canoe ride with my honey
15. When Enlightening Strikes is delivered!
16. Idea club – great group of ladies and stimulating conversation
17. Mom’s homemade chicken noodle soup! Mmm,mmm  good!
18. Gina chattin’ at the dinner table
19. A fun radio show.
20. Watching Mom delight in her boys playing guitar in Minnedosa
21. Road trip with Gina and Dylan
22. Seeing backcountry Colorado on a Harley
23. Watching my Mom enjoy her life. Happy 86^th birthday.
24. Being a part of Chris buying an engagement ring!
25. Enjoying WICKED, the musical with my sister
26. Christening our fire-pit with friends
27. Hot Air Ballooning with my Kara 
28. Enjoying a morning movie, the inspirational Soul Surfer
29. Road trip with Michele Matt through Nebraska
30. Exploring downtown Omaha with Ali the cab driver
31. Coming home!

July

1. Working on a holiday, because I choose too
2. Cycling around Vancouver
3. Fantastic wait staff
4. A productive session at sea
5. Exploring Icy Straight
6. The gorgeous Hubbard Glacier
7. Watching some amazing acrobats
8. Zip lining with my honey
9. Perfect cruising weather
10. A sweet goodbye kiss
11. A morning uphill run
12. Safe home
13. Back to the gym and didn’t gain weight on the cruise – yeah!
14. An early morning run with my Cosmo
15. Taking Richard to the radio station and spending time with him
16. Enjoying a dip in the pool with my honey and our dog
17. The miracle of flight
18. Singing Black Socks with little Samuel
19. Seeing people change right in front of my eyes (SEA training)
20. Training for the tri with Marie
21. Before bed swim and hot tub
22. Seeing the scale at 9 pounds less
23. A lazy, daisy Saturday
24. My middle-ist turning TWENTY!
25. Seeing a day full of new clients – weee-rry intewesting! 
26. A real conversation with my Gina.
27. Insane cardio workout –survived it!
28. Seeing Gina happy
29. Interview with Amanda Gore
30. My baby turning 18
31. Family parties

June

1. Massage AND hot tub ,mmmm. 
2. Randy came to Toastmasters today and he was awesome!
3. 20 km bike ride in the wind whew!
4. Finishing Starbuk!
5. Dairy Delight for free!
6. Having a Pixie Stick 
7. Getting stopped by the State Trooper but not getting a ticket
8. S
9. A heartfelt talk with Gina
10. Brunch with Chris and sea kayaking with Barb
11. Presenting to 300 nurses, f.u.n!
12. CAPS Vancouver – learning about though leadership
13. 2 ½ hours bike training
14. Wading through Graceland
15. Getting through 7 keynotes in one day and skypeing into the idea club
16. Memphis Zoo
17. Coming home
18. Playing hookie with Randy
19. Free hairstyle today.
20. Splurging on Bose noise reduction headset – awesome!
21. Starting my own little hospital project
22. Tootleing around Denver on a rental bike
23. New, high thread count sheets
24. Last Toastmasters Meeting
25. Gina’s grad – she looked amazing
26. Lazy Saturday
27. Chocolate dipped  strawberries
28. Dinner out with the family
29. Celebrating Gina with a big family BBQ
30. The amazing fence mural

May

1. Pajama day
2. A massage
3. Playing at Improv
4. Feeling better.
5. Visiting with Paul, Sheri and Mom
6. Inspiring teachers
7. First hot tub of spring
8. Pancakes and fresh berries, mmm.
9. Shooting in our house and sharing ‘secrets’ with Shaw TV
10. nutritionist
11. Sharing the Carman retreat with Sharon
12. Running with Cosmo, he ‘skips’ when he is off leash
13. Singing Oh, Canada at Elmwood Toastmasters
14. Breakie with my honey in the sunshine
15. Biking through the woods
16. A full table of loving family
17. Sunshine and birds tweeting!
18. Getting my beautiful one year TN Visa!
19. Rockin’ it at Rio Grande
20. Getting through the radio show on sex!
21. Lazy, rainy day
22. Visiting the Titanic exhibit with Aaron
23. Sharing a great giggle with a client
24. Hear the return of the 17 year cicadas in Nashville.
25. An evening run in Nashville
26. Rockin’ the team at Tennesse Health care org in Nashville.
27. Bumped from my flight – undelighted – $800 travel vouchers – delighted
28. Randy and I learning about health together at a CAPS meeting
29. Hot tub on a cool day
30. s

April

1. Abby on her chair looking out the window – cute!
2. Clothes shopping with my honey
3. Two family meals together in one day!
4. Hearing geese and seeing a beautiful sunrise
5. Getting my bike ticket thrown out of court – yeah!
6. Driving with the sunroof open for the first time this year.
7. A lovely bath in a beautiful hotel room.
8. A standing ovation and great appreciation from ‘my people’ at CAPS
9. Tim’s fruit smoothy – mmm
10. Pajama day
11. Homemade candied walnuts,  mmm again!
12. A run in the sun!
13. Safe flight to Regina
14. Player of the game at play offs
15. A tactful tourney loss
16. Costumes at the ringette banquet
17. 29^th anniversary of our 1^st date and Randy’s birthday
18. 1^st bbq of the year
19. Flying around in the clouds
20. Leadership Learning in Roanoke
21. Exploring Roanoke on a 7 mile hike/walk
22. Never say Never movie and cupcake decorating with Deb
23. Finishing my Starbuk
24. First bike ride of the season
25. Gina’s grad pictures – smiling with her teeth!
26. Brick training, proud of myself for going when I didn’t want to go
27. Trying on wigs with my friends – funny!
28. Sharing Anthony’s story with O Magazine
29. Back on the radio!
30. Finishing a book in one rainy day!

March

1. Helping a Lady who really needed help
2. Getting a thank you box of goodies delivered to my door
3. Fresh clean sheets
4. Oven-popped corn and a game of scrabble
5. 2 dogs, 2 people x-country sking, lots off tangling and falling
6. Our 200^th ‘fan’ on FB
7. A good workout motivated by no one but me
8. Learning something new
9. A massage before bed
10. Having the kids and their friends for supper
11. Going to University with Malary
12. Gina city ringette champs
13. Mastering skijoring with Cosmo
14. Kick ass 6 am fitness class
15. Having a fun talk with the Actuaries of MB.
16. A good laugh with GAGS tv show- funny stuff!
17. Celebrating at a fundraiser for Ray who has lost over 200 lbs!
18. Present at the school for the deaf and learning about sign language
19. Snowshoeing with Laura
20. Seeing Gina have 3 carloads of family and friends drive out of town for her gold medal win
21. Lazer working on my neck –hey it turns!
22. Grand opening of Marie’s bathroom party –everyone dressed in bathrobes!
23. Beautiful Women event, with my beautiful Mom and Sheri.
24. Ringette and pizza night with my Ratz
25. Learning new things about SEO
26. The Alps at Imax – stunning
27. Moose date
28. Video testimonial from Ray at the credit institute
29. Calendar Girls play with Dawn
30. All the kids around the dinner table
31. Successful coaching calls

February

1. Today I delighted in skating fast with the cool breeze in my face!
2. Coming home to a clean house!
3. Exercise class, tea and chatting with a brilliant friend.
4. Watching my youngest find her perfect grad dress
5. Finding my missing iPod!!
6. A squeaky clean car (and trunk) thanks to my son!
7. Staying in my PJ’s until 4 p.m.
8. Sharing a belly laugh with my Mom
9. Buying myself flowers – ½ price!
10. Meeting some new peeps and a networking/fundraising event
11. Double date night with my honey and our son and his honey
12. Great participation from the New Nursing Grads at their conference
13. Skating solo down the river trail, wind in my hair, sun on my face, families all around having fun
14. Making burger cookies for my kids for Valentines Day (haven’t done that in 10 years!)
15. Learning to take a screen shot on the computer – crnl & prtscr – very cool!
16. Meeting my friend and her Mom for hot chocolate and ice cream – interesting combination of hot and cold!
17. Throwing snowballs for my golden to catch in his mouth
18. Thinking and laughs with our Idea Club.
19. Mother-Daughter camp year 5!
20. Making a snow angel
21. 3 games of ringette in one day- whew!
22. A hatrick – ye-haw!
23. Second class of beginner meditation
24. Learning to snowboard
25. Date night with hubby
26. Sun roof open on a winter day
27. First time Skjoring with my dog
28. Winning in overtime playoff game for Gina!

January

1. The last day of an amazing mother-daughter holiday in Oman
2. On time flights, smooth journey & no motion sickness!
3. Seeing Randy ‘s smiling face to welcome me home
4. Making a dent in mail and messages
5. Getting back to a ‘regular’ work schedule
6. The joy of a nap!
7. Watching a movie and having nachos with my son and his girlfriend
8. A beautiful crescent moon hanging in the sky
9. A big turkey dinner with family (for no reason)
10. Have Mom for dinner and sharing laughs
11. Hot  chocolate rimmed with brown sugar and cinnamon
12. Watching my dog ‘smile’
13. Sharing Chinese with the extended family
14. Inviting complete strangers to dine with us.
15. Learning new things about ourselves and money at the MMI with Aaron
16. Succeeding at breaking through an arrow (and my fear) with my throat!
17. A nice 5 minute full body stretch
18. Playing ringette with my ‘Ratz!’
19. Fresh orange juice squeezed with love by my 85 year old Mom
20. A long, hearty belly laugh, complete with sore cheeks
21. Hosting friends for a fun murder mystery night, complete  with costumes!
22. A lovely and lazy Saturday
23. A double date with hubby and long time friends
24. 2 productive  meetings
25. Eating my way through the French Quarter in New Orleans; PRALINES, BEIGNETS, MUFFLATA
26. Exploring New Orleans
27. Experiencing awesome speakers
28. Presenting for an exceptional and engaging group
29. My own bed
30. A surprise dinner visit from my mother-in-law
31. A hard 6 am workout, I feel strong