Some of you may be wondering what word cloud I ended up with for my Word of the Year 2012.  From my original 68 (yes, I got a bit carried away there) I whittled it down to a short list of 11*.  I like the idea of controlling the choice of finalists but accepting the serendipity of a random final choice.  Good for a somewhat serious, driven, focused (Word of the Year 2009) soul.     

 First I chose the words I thought would be useful in a disciplinary, pull yourself together type way (these are VERY Wendy type words!):

Persist, Discipline, Learn

Then there were some Brene/ Pema type ones:

Authenticity, Wholeheartedness, Clarity and Choice

And the ones that sort of clicked as I thought about them over the past weeks:

Release, Embrace, Acceptance

 *Then there was laughter which snuck in so I let it stay to show my openness (Word of the Year 2010).

 I could live with any of these.  I could risk choosing one that was not perfect, or I could change it.  I had Courage (Word of the Year 2011) so I picked my word…

 And you may have guessed it…Laughter

 It may not have been my idea of a Word for the year but I will embrace it.  I know I could do with regularly remembering to lighten up!  It will be fun to see how my understanding of this word for me evolves!

I did not take these photos but this boy really reminds me of Bhuwesh, the perenially smiling 5 year old who lives upstairs in Birtamod.  And the Laughing roller skater adorned our front door in Dharan.  I love him! 

PS: Just quietly…following my mother’s example, I do have a back up word to bolster laughter:

Release…2012 will be a year to release a few old habits and ideas about what I can and can’t do.

Laughter and release…bring it on.