Last year, I was inspired by Philippa at Feisty Blue Gecko, Marie at Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer and AnneMarie at Chemobrainfog to create a 3 word mantra to help guide me through 2013. I liked my 3 words: agility, openness, and creativity and they were a surprisingly rewarding addition to my year. Looking back over 2013, I realize that while I still had a list of 7-10 Goals for 2013, I only hit a couple of them (and definitely not the one about losing weight!). However, I do feel I lived the year with agility, openness and creativity. I was able to keep my eye on my words, while the goals…well, not so much.

2012 ended while I was on an upswing and I was embracing forward motion. My words popped out at me and I owned them right away. 2013 ended with my being in a more reflective, introspective place and in turn, my 2014 words have been taking their time coming to me.  And I was almost detoured from the 3 word mantra altogether by the 4 Ps.  I have been receiving Eric Barker’s weekly update of Barking up the Wrong Tree for over a year now and read at least his “Really busy? Then just click this:” post each week. A recent Must Read was The Way to Happiness: Remember the 4 P’s. He suggests:

 Remember the 4 P’s

1. Purpose
2. Perspective
3. People
4. Play

Work those into every day and you’ll be smiling more.

I think as an umbrella, the 4Ps are invaluable–and easy to remember. But I want words each year that are solely mine, that are what give ME purpose and perspective, that remind me to play and include people in my world.  So, I have decided on three words that link to the 4 Ps. All three of the words I am working into my 2014 mantra seem to fit under these 4Ps. They are:

• Frugal

• Cultivator

• Nimble

I know being frugal seems like a rather odd choice of words. But hear me out. I feel that if I am going to live with purpose this year, I need to be more aware of the comings and goings of my resources. This isn’t all about being conscious of money and our spending habits. It is also about reflecting on time and energy spent or saved. This consciousness of spending–time and money–will offer a helpful perspective as well as purpose. I have allowed work to upset the fragile balance of my life too much while living in New Orleans. If I don’t have time for rest and reflection, exercise and play, I lose my balance. Not being purposeful with money and time also adds stress to my world. I don’t plan to become miserly, but am going to become more protective of my resources and make more conscious choices in regards to how I treat them.

I realize my second word is an odd choice as well, but a friend of mine referred to her husband as a cultivator a few months ago and I really liked the term. To me, a cultivator is someone who grows things. I want to continue to encourage learning in my students and cultivate my relationships–can we say people? I want to continue to cultivate my blog (which connects me to people) and also grow other writing projects this year.  I want to create new opportunities, skills and growth in my world which is another way of living with purpose.

Finally, I know the word nimble is close to agility, but my need to focus on being active, cleaning out the clutter, and preparing for change is no different then last year. I was successful at being agile in 2013, but I’m not done. Eventually, we are going to move away from New Orleans. When this happens, I need to be ready to move with purpose and perspective–which is hard to do if I’m not nimble. It’s also harder to play and be around other people when I’m not keeping myself nimble and quick.

So, those are my 3 words…what about you?