The impact of the words we use is a funny thing. As an English teacher, I loved the history of language. The words were the story themselves. Mostly derived from Greek, Latin, French, and middle English; the words we choose often began with a very different intention and meaning in its usage. In 1946 the dictionary revised the definitions of many words. My favorite is “to want” – the intention of the word means "to lack" yet, in today’s world, most use it as “to desire” – totally different energies. But, I digress…the word I am fascinated with today is "resolution". Being January, a new year and a new decade with a plethora of hyperbolic 2020 vision lines floating around out there; I got to thinking about the actual meaning of “resolution”. What are we saying energetically when we use the word? Resolution is a noun that means “a firm decision to do or not do something”. If we’ve made a decision about something, we actually set ourselves up with a limitation and narrow our field of vision to choose what is light and easy for us. The historical evolution of the word resolve comes from middle English where the meaning of the word was, “to loosen or release”. Hmmm, think about it for a moment. A release as in, LETTING GO!!! How cool is that? What if we loosened our grip on having to decide to do or not do something, but instead, we ask a question of ourselves where there is something hanging on that we no longer desire. (See how I didn't use the word, "want"?)
One of my 2020 resolutions is to write a book this year. (Finally.) I have been putting it off. Ok, cool. I've resolved to do this. Then this entire month, I've been dreading starting the process of writing because it felt heavy and no fun. I looked up the word, "resolution" and I realized where my decision was coming from. I had a great laugh at my control-freak-self and all that brought up about starting/finishing something. Now, I'm letting go of the pressure/heaviness to do what I said I'd do and just see where my day takes me. Since that point, I've written every day. Weird. It's like I miraculously found an extra hour and the desire to create. This sure feels better than forcing myself to write.
Give it a try - what do you resolve to do this year? Let it go!