My One Word for the New Year - Fearless



Lighting the Path (c) 2016 Linda M. Rhinehart Neas

In the wee hours of this New Year, I was struggling to find My One Word for 2017. In the past, the word for the year jumped out at me long before the old year ended. This year...nothing.  Then, this morning, as I searched for my word, there it was on the first site I opened - Fearless!

Fearless -  to be without fear; bold or brave; intrepid. Easier said than done! How am I going to do this?  After all, the idea of My One Word is to find an adjective that you can meditate on, in order to personify it in your own life. Me, fearless??  Yikes!

So, I immediately began to meditate on this word. Who do I see as fearless? What makes them that way? What is a fearless act? 

I typed in fearless women, into Google. And, there she was. One of my all-time heroines, Rosa Parks. What made her fearless? She had had enough of being pushed aside because of her race. She was tired and wanted to keep her seat on the bus. She knew she could be arrested, or worse, but she was just too tired to kowtow to Jim Crow laws. Her quote, "I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free," says it all.

Other women jumped into my mind: 
  • Josephine Baker, the jazz singer, dancer and activist, was the only woman officially invited to speak to the crowd with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the dais at the March on Washington in 1963. 
  • Malala Yousafzai, the young girl who said, "I don't want to be remembered as the girl who was shot. I want to be remembered as the girl who stood up." And, stand up she did! She has become an icon for women and girl activists, everywhere.
  • Frida Kahlo, the artist who never let tragedy stop her from creating. Frida was horribly injured in an accident, yet survived beyond the doctors' expectations. Her art shows her pain, but also her fearlessness. I love her quote, "Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"

The list goes on and on.  I realized I had many examples to follow; many women who had done extraordinary things in ordinary ways that made a huge difference in their world.  

Being fearless for me at this moment in time on this New Year's Day is to continue to believe that Love, Kindness, and Acceptance will prevail. Good people will continue to be good people. Shining my light, sharing my love and being the best "me" I can be will continue to be my goals this year. 

May we all face the future fearlessly!

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