“Word of the Year” is the practice of selecting a single word to focus on a single change, as opposed to making a list of New Year’s resolutions. Last year I selected magnanimity. It's the virtue of being generous -- of great of mind and heart -- a refusal to be petty, an ability to bear trouble calmly and noble generosity. I chose to delight in acts of benevolence; disdain meanness, overlook insults and be slow to criticize, fast to forgive, and faster to forget.
So, how did I do? I would give myself an “A-“ – definite improvement with still opportunity to do better. Reminds me of a psychology class in college where the professor let us select our grade at the end of semester. I’ll bet we were his study subjects and there is a research paper out there somewhere analyzing our response to that challenge. I selected an “A-“ for that also – using pretty much the same reasoning. I always see room for continuous improvement.
I ring out magnanimity and now for 2017, I ring in class. I aspire to be a person with class. A person with class is decent, gracious, respectable and noble. It’s not self-control or holding things in; it’s not fake happiness. But it’s meeting life’s challenges with grace (the other word I considered) and the inner knowledge that all is still well. I arrived at this by recognizing that 2016 is ending with a strong feeling of “shift” – of an unraveling of the status quo in a couple areas of my life. Unravelling sounds negative, but things unravel for good reasons as well – allowing better things to pour in. To all that awaits me in 2017 then, I shall respond with class.
So, how did I do? I would give myself an “A-“ – definite improvement with still opportunity to do better. Reminds me of a psychology class in college where the professor let us select our grade at the end of semester. I’ll bet we were his study subjects and there is a research paper out there somewhere analyzing our response to that challenge. I selected an “A-“ for that also – using pretty much the same reasoning. I always see room for continuous improvement.
I ring out magnanimity and now for 2017, I ring in class. I aspire to be a person with class. A person with class is decent, gracious, respectable and noble. It’s not self-control or holding things in; it’s not fake happiness. But it’s meeting life’s challenges with grace (the other word I considered) and the inner knowledge that all is still well. I arrived at this by recognizing that 2016 is ending with a strong feeling of “shift” – of an unraveling of the status quo in a couple areas of my life. Unravelling sounds negative, but things unravel for good reasons as well – allowing better things to pour in. To all that awaits me in 2017 then, I shall respond with class.