Reflect Archives - Page 3 of 12

4 Ways to Stay Motivated With Your Word of the Year

Recently I heard a startling statistic that caught my attention. It said most gym owners know that the resolution to get in shape fizzles out by January 15th. Whoah! That’s only 15 days into the new year! What does that mean for our Word of the Year?

If I’m honest, aren’t I the same way? When I look at my Word of the Year, Purposeful, and examine my excitement, I realize that date may not be so far off after all. How sad is that!?

Every year the battle is the same, once we choose our word, make a goal or resolution, how do we stay motivated? How do we keep it front and center and not forget?

Now that we are well into February, the struggle to stay motivated is much harder. So I’ve been looking for ways to help me stay motivated and have been looking for ideas, tools, and to help.

Let’s look at 4 Ways to Stay Motivated With Your Word of the Year.

Idea #1 – Journal Your Word

Recently my sister sent me a link to a video called “10 Ways To Become Besties With Your Word of the Year”. The title certainly caught my eye!

In the video, Cori The Reset Girl recommends (and demonstrates) starting a “Word of the Year” journal. So yep! I took her advice and started my own.

So what should you write about and do with this journal? Here are a few ideas to get you started.

What does your word mean?
Write out quotes that contain your word.
Are there Bible verses related to your word?
What does the word mean to you?
Why did you pick this particular word?
How did you apply it in your life in the past week?

How about doing some art journaling too, be creative, make the journal fun for you to use. You can use pens, colored pencils, washi tape, photographs, stamps, or stickers. Make it personal and meaningful to you.

Idea #2: Create Pictures Of Your Word

We live in a visual content world. Just look at what you respond to and share on Facebook, I would bet that many times it’s a picture. Look at the rise in popularity of Instagram and Pinterest, both visual based forms of social media.

Images have the power to convey meaning, tell a story, and evoke emotion so why not use that with your word?

Once you have created an image, look at all the ways you can use them.

A lock screen or wallpaper on your devices.
Put them on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror.
Frame it and put it on your office wall or desk.
Create a bookmark.
Create notecards and use them to write a friend.

Since I spend a majority of time in my office, I want something that is easily seen and reminds me of my Word of the Year daily. So I will be creating images with my word that I can frame and hang on the wall.

Here is a short list of resources of where you can create your own:

Idea #3: Set a Time For Regular Review

I talked about this idea earlier as one of the lessons I’ve learned about choosing a new years word, and I cannot emphasize it enough. The fastest way to forget anything important is to let is “sit on the shelf” and gather dust.

To help me avoid this, I’m using a planning tool called PowerSheets from CultivateWhatMatters.com. Each day I review my list of daily, weekly, and monthly projects. Everything on these lists comes from my word, so is another daily reminder of what is important and why these projects are worth pursuing.

Dr. Leaf is a neuroscientist (also a referral from my sister!) who studies the brain. Her research has shown that what we think about both positively and negatively creates neuro-pathways in our brain. These pathways can create healthy (or not so healthy) habits and ways of living.

The words we use have a powerful impact, and that impact can be positive or negative. The word we choose each year can have the same impact, so why not make it a positive one?

Idea #4: Create Fun Printable Products with Your Word

How about creating something you would regularly use that keeps your word with you? Here are a few things I’ve been considering:

Coffee or Tea Mug
Book bag or tote
Poster
Stickers to use in journals or letters
Notepads
Jewelry

The options available are endless.

By using just one or two of these ideas, we can create tools and resources that will help keep us motivated throughout the year.

How do you stay motivated with your goals or Word of the Year?

More on Picking A New Year’s Word:

Marta Goertzen

Marta Goertzen is an entrepreneur, writer and nature photographer. She daily explores the trails and beaches of the South Central Oregon Coast with her buddy Bailey. You can follow along on their adventures on Instagram. She is also the author of several books including her newest, “Choosing Gratitude: A Daily Quiet Time Journal”.

https://selahreflections.com

Your Word of the Year is About a Journey Not a Destination

At the end of each year, it seems everyone is talking about making New Year’s resolutions, setting goals, and giving tips on how to make it all happen. Picking a word of the year should be different.

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement. So we start making plans and dreaming about what we would like to accomplish in the coming months.

Sadly, however, research tells us (especially gym owners!) that most of us will give up on our New Year’s resolutions by January 15th. We lose interest, get busy, and get discouraged.

So what do we do?

It’s a question I’ve been wrestling with again this year as I pick my word for the year. How do I stay motivated and focused once the excitement has worn off and the hard work begins?

My New Year’s Word is Purposeful

As I have worked on my overall vision for this year and what things I want to accomplish in my health, relationships, spiritual walk, and in my business, the word Purposeful kept coming up. So I adopted the word again for this year.

Last year I wrote about the four lessons learned in picking a New Year’s word. Thankfully in looking back at that post, I see that those lessons still apply.

Lesson #1: It’s okay to adapt and change
Lesson #2: Pick actions to support your word
Lesson #3: Regular reviews and reminders (are VERY important)
Lesson #4: ??

(Okay that is funny, I just realized I titled that post “4 Lessons Learned”, but only listed three – wonder how tired I was on that day? Oy!)

This year I thought it would be a good idea to expand the list with a few more lessons learned.

Lesson #4: Little by Little is Progress

This one comes courtesy of Lara Casey of CultivateWhatMatters.com. The past six months has held some pretty significant hurdles including finding (and buying) a small fixer upper for Bailey and me followed by some health issues that have slowed both me, and the renovation schedule way done.

On the days I’m frustrated, tired, and wonder what in the world I’m doing, Lara’s concept of “Little by Little Is Progress” comes to mind. So I pick a small task to tackle that will help keep my goals and projects moving forward.

Some days this means taking 10 minutes to fill in the holes in the wall and be one step closer to painting it. Or maybe it is brainstorming a short list of blog post ideas. No matter what you pick, the point is to take action, at lease one small step that will keep you moving forward.

It’s hard to remember sometimes, but, small daily actions build up over time to produce significant results.

Lesson #5: Release Your Unrealistic Expectations.

It is so easy to get caught up in the fervor of starting the year with a blank slate. We get caught up in grandiose plans and expect to see giant leaps and bounds of progress right away. No wonder we fizzle out!

We expect so much from ourselves and get incredibly unrealistic in what we can accomplish during the day, week or month. As a result, New Year’s resolutions become burdens.

Each year it becomes more apparent that I need to look closer at the expectations I place on myself. And now with the health issues that have sprung up, I need to be more aware than ever before, of how I manage my time and energy.

These limitations force me to get real about the unrealistic expectations I tend to place on my schedule. Well, most of the time anyway, I’m still working on this one.

Lesson #6: Picking a Word of the Year is About a Journey Not a Final Destination

When the overwhelm hits, and it feels like I’m not making as much progress as I had hoped, it’s time to remember that picking a New Year’s word is about a journey. Not everything has to be completed by some arbitrary date that is entirely unrealistic.

The word we pick for the year describes a journey. This one word can help us make daily purposeful decisions that keep us moving forward, even when the going gets tough. It’s about knowing that some days will work the way we planned and giving ourselves grace on the days that don’t.

Do you pick a Word of the Year? Share yours in the comments below.

More on Picking A New Year’s Word:

Marta Goertzen

https://selahreflections.com

A New Year’s Gift: Delighting in the Unexpected

Welcome 2017!

2016, you were an interesting year. Parts were good, bad, odd, funny, and scary. But isn’t that often how every year goes? A bit of everything mixed in to varying degrees?

As I move back into a regular blogging schedule I’ve decided to ease back in gently and share with you a rare gift here on the South Central Oregon Coast. Snow. And not just a light dusting either. We ended up with about 5-7 inches depending on what part of town you were in.

In fact, I didn’t believe it would come! The weather man (or weather app in my case) is so often wrong that it was a pleasant surprise and delight to wake up and see the wonderland that had been created outside my door.

I couldn’t wait to get out, walk around, explore, and let Bailey go nuts. 🙂 He LOVES snow. Combine cooler temps and snow and he is probably just as happy or maybe even happier than he is on the beach. He would have stayed out longer if possible.

As we walked down the road exploring, I couldn’t help but smile. The last half of 2016 was rather bumpy, and the entrance into 2017 has been rough. It’s been tiring, frustrating, and I’ve been sick, so finding the energy to get out and do much of anything has been hard.

But not this morning. I was grinning from ear to ear, I couldn’t stop smiling in wonder at the gift that felt like was delivered just for me.

Once there was enough light I grabbed my camera, grabbed Bailey, and we headed out. It really and truly was a winter wonderland. I could hear children laughing, dogs barking, and one of the most wonderful sounds in the world, the perfect crunch of snow under my feet. Not too wet, not too dry, just perfect.

For Grade 3-6 I lived in a small town about 1 1/2 hours north of Calgary, Alberta. And each school day I would walk to school in just about any weather. It didn’t matter if it was rain, sun, dust storm, Chinook wind, or snow storm.

Many of my days were filled days of walking on top of the snow drifts, playing in the snow at recess, and once home, strapping on my skates, with the skate guards still on, I would glide down the hill in back to the outdoor rink.

That was my favorite time of year, I would stay out and play and explore for hours on end. I loved it. This was the first day in a long, long time that reminded me of those incredible winters days.

You have to keep in mind that snow, especially in this quantity, does not happen very often. We haven’t had a good snow dump in at least 3 or 4 years, so it felt like a treat.

When gifts like these come around, it is important take the time to enjoy them. Savor the details, create memories, and be in the moment. The meaning of Selah is to take notice because this is important, it’s an invitation to pause.

A gift of a morning walk like this did bring me into the moment, it helped me slow down, to look, and observe. It gave me an opportunity to look for treasures #alongthetrail and experience many #bestillmoments.

May this new year bring you similar gifts.

Happy New Year!

Save

Marta Goertzen

https://selahreflections.com

Finding Stillness, Finding Your Happy Place

Living along the Oregon Coast these past years has deepened my love of the ocean. The sounds of crashing waves, the salty sea air, the long walks on deserted stretches of sand, collecting shells, and enjoying the quiet.

The beach has become one of my favorite happy places. It has become a healing balm. It is a place where I can feel the tension slowly drain from my shoulders, and where my mind and racing thoughts slow down.

It’s also become my thinking place, my praying place, and my journaling place. As I walk, head tilted down to watch for shells, that I don’t need but can’t help but look, my heart stills, and I tend to start to pray.

It’s the stillness that keeps drawing me back.

Which of course is strange since the beach is not still. The waves always crash, the landscape changes with every incoming and outgoing tide, and the weather, you never know what it’s going to be like. The beach is full of power and majesty. It is not still. And yet, that is where I long to go when I need a break, and when I know Bailey needs a nice long run.

One of my favorite beaches to visit is Bandon Beach, in Bandon, Oregon. It has some of the most beautiful rock formations, at low tide, miles of beach upon which to walk, and some of my favorite photographs have come from being on this beach at sunset.

In October I had the opportunity to go back down twice with family, with house hunting, and just needing a brain break. It was wonderful, and as always the time went too fast.

This is also the beach where Bailey gets charged by other dogs most often! It happened again on one of these trips. I don’t know why… but that is a story for another time. But even with that, it is one of my favorite parts of the magnificent Oregon coastline.

With long walks on the beach comes time to think, to pray, to analyze, to dream, to wonder, to plan, and for ideas to flow. Enjoying the stillness, enjoying Bailey’s joy at the freedom to run, play, sniff, and explore has once again reinforced my desire for finding stillness.

I’m not good at it. I struggle with placing boundaries on my work taking over my entire day. I struggle with balancing travel with spending time at home. It has been a long, discouraging search in looking for a home; thankfully that search is done! I struggle with always wanting to learn something new, create a new product for my business, and so much more.

On the one hand, I crave stillness, on the other hand, I sometimes run away from it in my desire to keep moving and trying, and striving. It’s something that I kept thinking about in my long walks on the beach.

From these quiet times of walking and reflecting a desire has arisen to understand Sabbath. What is it, what does it mean, and how does it apply to our lives today. I’m reading excellent books that are teaching me and showing me what rest looks like and what it means to observe the Sabbath.

What I know right now is that Sabbath, at the core, is two things. First, it is finding rest, the rest of God. And second, it is about trusting God. It is trust that you are placing your schedule, your family, your projects, your plans, your business, and your efforts into His most capable hands.

It’s a subject I know I’ll be reflecting more upon in the coming weeks and sharing with you what I learn.

Where is your happy place?

Save

Marta Goertzen

https://selahreflections.com

Finding Stillness In the Midst of The Messiness of Life

Over the past couple of months, I’ve wanted to run away from home and find a nice quiet place to hermitize myself from the “out of controllness” of life, the “unknowness,” and the frustration over the lack of clear direction.

It’s not uncommon for me to announce that I’m ready to buy my private island now and that I’ll see you later!

Ever felt that way?

Thankfully I don’t feel that way all the time. Mostly it’s on the days where I’m extra tired, overwhelmed, and not sure what my next should be.

And, thankfully, these are the moments when God steps in to remind me of a few things.

I’m Not In Control. He is.

This one is hard because I like knowing what comes next. I like knowing that I am making the right decisions and headed in the right direction. I like knowing that there is a plan laid out, and I understand the expectations.

The reality is, left to my own devices, my life would be even messier. I have such a limited view of life, and I do not see what is on the road ahead of me. But God does. His plans are way better than mine, I need to surrender control and my idea of what needs to happen.

Lara Casey of LaraCasey.com has said many times, “Embrace the mess.” Embrace the awkward, lean into God and all that He is doing in your life.

But, I don’t like messy!

How many times, however, have we looked back as we come out the other side of a season of messy and see the amazing work He has done. Changes and lessons learned usually come as a result of an incredibly messy and hard time of our lives.

Your discomfort awakens you from the slumber of routine and reminds you that I am in charge of your life.

It also presents you with an important choice; you can lash out at your circumstances – resenting My ways with you – or you can draw closer to me.

~Sarah Young, Jesus Today

Now that is a show-stopper, isn’t it? This idea had me immediately checking my thoughts, my plans, my efforts, my complaining, and more. I do have a choice; I do have an opportunity to learn and grow, and draw closer to Him.

Then I also get hit with this from my niece on Instagram:

I know this life is hard. I know that your emotions and thoughts and yearnings and doubt threaten to capsize your mind and leave you to drown. I know that sometimes fear is all you know.

I know.

But I also know that fighting is worth it; that every ragged breath we draw in takes us closer to being whole, being free.

Cling to life, cling to hope, to being passionate, to loving people well, to caring for yourself, to enthusiasm and positivity. I know you can make it little fighter.

~Danaya Huber

Notice how neither one of these talks about running away? They both talk about embracing messy.

How to Embrace the Mess

I got great advice from my sister recently. She told me that now, more than ever, you need to step up even further and be deliberate in practicing what I write about on the blog. Things like:

3 Ways to Find Be Still Moments In the Midst of Messy

Get Outside

My morning walks with Bailey are essential. The fresh air helps clear out the mental cobwebs and stretches my legs, As I start to wake up I can take the time to look and see, to be quiet, and listen. I know when I have not taken the time to do this in the morning, my day is different and usually not for the better!

Most of the photography you see on Instagram are from these morning walks. It’s also where I find many of my #bestillmoments.

Devotions and Quiet Time

I need reminders that God is in control and I’m not. That he loves me enough to send His only Son. That life in the here and now is not all there is. That life is not just about me. These reminders come when I spend time reading my Bible, journaling, and praying.

Here are a few of my go-to verses on the anxious, overwhelmed, and messy days.

I Peter 5:7
Matthew 28:20b
Philippians 4:6
Lamentations 3:23
Psalm 46:10
Jeremiah 29:11

Self-care

For me, self-care starts with my daily walks with Bailey, but it also means:

Time spent in prayer and reading my Bible.
Scheduling time to write, to think, and to create.
Taking care that my introverted side is taken care of and that I give myself time to recharge and refill.
Getting outside on a regular basis to hike, explore, and seek beauty.

Being in the middle of messy, finding stillness in the midst of life is possible, it takes deliberate action, it takes actively pursuing it and not just saying, “Someday.” We each find stillness in different ways, how do you find stillness when life feels extra messy?

Marta Goertzen

https://selahreflections.com

Let’s look at 4 Ways to Stay Motivated With Your Word of the Year.

Idea #1 – Journal Your Word

Idea #2: Create Pictures Of Your Word

Idea #3: Set a Time For Regular Review

Idea #4: Create Fun Printable Products with Your Word

Liked this post? You might also like:

So what do we do?

My New Year’s Word is Purposeful

Lesson #4: Little by Little is Progress

Lesson #5: Release Your Unrealistic Expectations.

Lesson #6: Picking a Word of the Year is About a Journey Not a Final Destination

Do you pick a Word of the Year? Share yours in the comments below.

Liked this post? You might also like:

Welcome 2017!

Liked this post? You might also like:

It’s the stillness that keeps drawing me back.

Liked this post? You might also like:

I’m Not In Control. He is.

How to Embrace the Mess

3 Ways to Find Be Still Moments In the Midst of Messy

Liked this post? You might also like: