by Kat | Jan 27, 2025 | General, Words
Welcome to all of you who are focusing on a word for the year… I hope that your January start helped your settle your feet on the path of your year and even it the path is bumpy now, I know it will smooth out soon! The link up is at the bottom of this post!
January with a new word is always my favorite month of the journey! It is normally a time that I spend looking up definitions of my word and learning about the basics of my word. I also make a bit of a list based on those definitions of where I’d like to go with my word … yes, my ideas of where the word and I will go. Please note, this is generally NOT where the word takes me, but in my nature to control the narrative… I do try.
But…
There is no definition for Yutori in the English language so my beginning was bumpy right from the start. I did, however, find a “definition” on the inter webs:
yu • to • ri (noun) The conscious act of slowing down to allow me to savor the world around me. The refusal to rush. No talking(!!) Just absorbing the world around me with no goal except to look and (most importantly for me) to listen.
Then I wrote down a list of Yutori Ideas that flowed from this rough definition. Things I wanted to explore, try on, perfect… sort of.
The biggest “aha” for me from this list was this:
Stepping away from the urge to multitask.
Yeah… that is a thing I do all.the.time. My life is one long multitask. I am not sure multitasking is a thing I should be proud of and this year, I plan to find out how it feels to NOT multitask anything! To savor a task… for the task itself.
Second to stepping away from multitasking is for me to find comfort in silence. I don’t need “a background noise” all the time… but I always have “a noise” going to fill the silence. Case in point… I can’t just sit and knit quietly, I need to either listen to an audiobook or watch television. Why? I don’t know… perhaps this habit is the result of needing a sound to “drown out” my tinnitus. However, with my hearing aids in, I do not notice the tinnitus at all… so the need for noise is not tied to that.
However, I noted that I do not listen to or watch anything when I am stitching. The stitching is the one activity that my entire brain is engaged with… I can’t listen and remember what I listened to when I stitch. And I love the silence of those minutes of stitching.
My list has a few other things, but my biggest takeaways were these two items. If I can conquer them… I will have achieved something big!
January… it’s a tremulous start, but I will take it!
What about you? How did your January go… was your start rough? Or smooth?
by Kat | Jan 3, 2025 | General, Words
As I said here, it is so sad that English words can be so lacking…
However, I aim to remedy that this year with my word choice! (or did this word choose me??)
I discovered Yutori last July when I was spending some time thinking about companion words for time. Of all the words I considered… most were not as symbiotic as Time & Space, which I found were almost always coupled together.
Time is a definite thing but space… what does that mean really? Outer space? Inner space? Personal space? Make space for…? Giving someone space? You see where I am going here… space is this unknown element. And I wondered how you could couple something so very definite with something seemingly boundless…
But in a rare moment of serendipity… the next “doom scroll” session I had on Instagram halted me in my tracks. A post giving homage to Yutori… with the most beautiful description of this Japanese word. And imagine my surprise when this post echoed the first a day later. (I know I should not be surprised… the algorithms are always at work and, for once, it was a good thing to have “them” paying attention!)
That led me to a quick Google search of Yutori… and I found this beautiful video with the most amazing explanation of what Yutori is in Japanese… a concept of space being both physical and emotional. A way to use space to stretch time. Making space (and holding) space as sacred. Yes, please!
A bit more Googling and I was reminded of this episode of On Being with Naomi Shihab Nye. She talked about Yutori as well! (Really, this conversation is just so moving… it is absolutely worth a listen or a relisten!)
I am very excited to spend a year with Yutori as opposed to saying I am going to just contemplate space, which seems a bit lacking. My hope is that in contemplating Yutori… I will have a new (and better) understanding for all the spaces in my life.
And… in the manner of Yü Chou… I am picking up my seed of time and taking a deep breath and continuing!
But, my hope is that YOU will decide to join us this year… contemplating a word over twelve months can be so much fun. It can be enlightening. It can be inspiring! I think that the hardest part is picking a word… but really, any word will do! Want more fun in your days? Do a quick search of the synonyms of fun… pick one and jump in! Want to learn about something? Pick a related word and begin your journey!
Perhaps you fear that 2025 will be The Year Without Joy… well you can make your own joy by making Joy your little word!
Perhaps you want something specific … take this test from the WaPo to find a word! (I have gifted you the article, read on with confidence!) (and if you are interested in the “other nudge word” article mentioned, here you go!)
It does not have to be hard! Really… you cannot pick a bad word! (Trust me, I have tried… I always have gotten something out of my word!)
If you want something more structured… let me know, I have some suggestions for you to get yourself started!
If you want word suggestions, let me know and I will gladly help you!
Carolyn still has her “how to get started” information on her website. She really helped me hone in on how to make my word work for me!
But, I think what is best about contemplating a word for twelve months… is the companionship of other people doing the same. I have learned so much from what they share each month.
Finally, there will be no change to the day we all share our progress… I will follow Carolyn’s schedule and will have the link up on the last Monday of the month.
I really hope you decide to join us!
If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to email me! I would love to help get you stared!
See you all back here on Monday! (is it just me or is everyone confused on what day it is? I have been off all week but I hope to get back on track and be here in a timely manner on Monday! Ha!)