New day, new year, new word. Each year I pick a word of the year. One word that I use to help me pay attention to my goals and to give me a touchpoint to refer to throughout the year. It sounds simple but it's harder than you think to pick just one word. To think about the overall goals for the year ahead, to find something meaningful that resonates within me as my inspiration.
This year I've chosen the word focus. Last year's word was balance and I certainly put a lot of thought and effort into staying mindful with that word. I feel like I did better with the whole work-life-spirit-me-others balancing act (although there is always room for improvement). But being in balance and being focused are two very different things.
When I chose the word focus I had not really thought about all of the different meanings. I was concentrating on the verb, to become more focused. I meant it to be more attentive to things and to narrow down on what's important. To try to winnow through some of the distractions and what I call "The Octopus." You're probably familiar with it. The Octopus is where you feel like you have everything under control, then you get distracted by other things but you fold them in to what you're doing. Then you start spinning another plate or two and the next thing you know you're overwhelmed, trying to figure out how to corral everything back under control.
But it's a noun as well, bringing something into focus and I like that idea as I begin on the path that is this delicious new adventure of a new year. And it turns out I also like another definition as well. To become a central point. I see that as being your resource, your go to person for reliable information about ingredients, food, nutrition, and health. That loops back to the first time I did the word of the year challenge and chose the word inspire (you can read about that word here).
If you'd like to pick a word of the year consider writing it down. You can even go online to OneWord365.com and find others who are using the same word as you are. Whatever your goals are for this new year I wish you many good things along the journey.
focus
3. Optics.
- the focal point of a lens, on which rays converge or from which they deviate.
- the focal length of a lens; the distance from a focal point to acorresponding principal plane.
- the clear and sharply defined condition of an image.
- the position of a viewed object or the adjustment of an opticaldevice necessary to produce a clear image:in focus; out of focus.
