Word-of-the-month: tangential (adj.)

[Image credit: Arvind Balaraman]

I had something else I wanted to ramble about this morning, but then I realized that over the course of 2012, the last Monday of each month unofficially became my “word-of-the-month” day.  And I also noted we’re nearly 1/12th of the way through the New Year.  With a slight stretch, these two topics may be somewhat tangential, and serve as a segue into this month’s vocabulary booster (compliments to one of my Words With Friends opponents).  Tangential is an adjective — pronounced \tan-ˈjen(t)-shəl\ — and describes something only partially related to a main point, or something that verges slightly off-course.  Synonyms include digressive, divergent or diverging, extraneous and unrelated.  A sample sentence includes: The characters’ relationship is tangential to the book’s main plot.  Another example of tangential is when you’re discussing a topic like government spending and you veer off into a conversation about other political matters that aren’t directly related to government spending.

Are you the type to keep the conversation on course, or do you favor tangential tendencies?

From the bottom of my heart

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As of tomorrow, I’ve fulfilled one of my two dozen goals for 2012.  Although it may be the end of my daily blogs, it is not the end of my rambling and rhetoric.  Plans for 2013  include randomly checking in and sharing a piece of wisdom, posting updates on how my other writing ventures are going and my ever-present quest for Someday.  Maybe I’ll note a quote that touched my writer’s soul or step on my soapbox to air a grievance.  Rest assured (to the chagrin of many), I’m not likely to run out of things to say anytime soon.  So if you’ve been a follower, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  And I hope you’ll stick with me as I enter yet another new season where I put fingers to keyboard and tackle a dream.  In the meantime, go after what you want with everything you’ve got.  It’s always the *write* time.

If you could devote yourself to fulfilling one dream, what would it be?

Preparing for a fabulous new year

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You may currently have all your resolutions, goals and “to dos” put in place for the New Year.  However, those lists may just as well be words on paper — rather than an action plan toward fulfilling dreams or simply navigating life’s choppy waters — if you don’t prepare yourself mentally.  It’s your mind that will either talk you out of it, or keep you on track.  Here are five tips to help you plan for a happy, successful and (hopefully) life-changing 2013:

1. Begin each day with expectation that something wonderful is going to happen.
2. Plan and prioritize.  If it moves you closer to your highest purpose in life, do it first.
3. Let go of your results.  Remember, control the things you can.
4. Turn off background TV or other distractions that pull your mind off track.  Focus on the job at hand.
5. End each day with gratitude.  Write down at least one wonderful thing that happened.

How are you preparing for a fabulous New Year?

A new year for change … and butterflies

Not to sound like a Debbie Downer, but wow, talk about feeling lower than low.  Ever take one of those good long looks in the mirror and you didn’t like what you saw?  What about when you see yourself through someone else’s eyes?  For me, the answer is change.  And change is hard.  But I suppose if it didn’t hurt sometimes, the results might go under-appreciated.  While 2012 was a year to stretch beyond my comfort zone, 2013 looks like it’s going to be a year of some painful changes.  One change, although without discomfort, is that I’m doing away with my daily blogs.  I’ll check in from time to time, ramble here and there, spout off rhetoric, but for the most part I’m going to work on changing.  Another word for change is transform.  It’s what the caterpillar does when it breaks free from its cocoon.  That’s me.  And I’ll emerge not unscathed, but I will be a beautiful butterfly.

What does 2013 look like for you?

Saying goodbye … to 2012

[Image credit: Tanatat]

Thirty days remain to wrap up the year and our list of goals.  I feel pretty good about my own progress, and whatever didn’t get accomplished by December 31st must not have been important.  Or, I just wasn’t ready to tackle whatever it was.  Instead of resolutions for 2013, however, I plan to adopt the following tenets:

Ten Spiritual Tonics ~ Abraham L. Feinberg

1. Stop worrying.  Worry kills life.
2. Begin each day with a prayer. It will arm your soul.
3. Control appetite.  Over-indulgence clogs body and mind.
4. Accept your limitations.
5. Don’t envy.  It wastes time and energy.
6. Have faith in people.  Cynicism sours the disposition.
7. Find a hobby.  It will relax your nerves.
8. Read a book a week to stimulate imagination and broaden your views.
9. Spend some time alone for the peace of solitude and silence.
10. Try to want what you have, instead of spending your strength trying to get what you want.

How are your goals looking?

Almost halfway there

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The calendar doesn’t lie.  We’re nearing the halfway point of 2012 already, which means it’s the perfect time to re-evaluate the goals we put together for the New Year nearly six months ago.  Are some of them outdated, unmotivated, unpopular or simply no longer feasible?  For instance, once I realized my ankle may never support my goal of training for a short race, and eventually a triathlon, I eliminated these two aspirations from my list.  This left two spots wide open for filling.  Unfortunately, I have yet to come up with replacement goals.  But I can keep the spaces open for now, because who knows, maybe while I work on one of my other dreams, a new one (or two) may materialize.  In the meantime, continuing to bite off small pieces keeps the goals manageable.  Out of 22 (less the two I removed), I’ve already started and/or completed 10 of them.  That leaves at least 12 to go.  Piece of cake.

How are your 2012 goals coming along?

Letting go … for now

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Giving up doesn’t always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go.  ~Author Unknown

I have big expectations for 2012.  24 of them, actually.  In my post what have you got to lose?, I mentioned my desire to take deliberate chances, or risks, during the year.  Not one, but many.  For some time now, I’ve been struggling with an important decision.  Although it was by far one of the hardest I’ve had to make pertaining to moving forward with my life, it wasn’t so much the act of doing as opposed to letting go … the relinquishing of a dream until circumstances allow me to wholly live it Someday.   And since a chance is defined as a venture or gamble, luck, fate, destiny or good fortune, I’d like to think my future will shine brighter because I took a chance to let go of one desire — sacrificing  a piece of my heart in the process — while focusing on my more immediate goals.  For now.  If I didn’t believe that, I don’t know if I would have been strong enough to let go.  But it’s when we make these tough choices that we see what we’re truly made of.

Don’t worry about losing.  If it is right, it happens
The Main thing is not to hurry.
Nothing good gets away.  ~ John Steinbeck

Is there a dream you’ve relinquished, either temporarily or permanently, because it just wasn’t the right time to pursue it?