February 9th, 2019
# One Word 2019
My past two years guiding one words were “Kind” and “present”. In my previous blog post on one word, I’ve reflected on how sticking to “One Word” over the years has brought & is bringing a change in my life. Choosing one word as a guiding word for the year is impacting positively on my life and people around me. I know this is happening because I’m receiving ‘Thanks Notes’, ‘Big Smiles’, ‘Hugs’, ‘kind words’, ‘long and short emails’, telling how being “kind” and “present” in all situations have made all difficult interactions memorable. The change that I’m noticing is that I am listening intently, practicing more refreshing and honest interactions. I know exactly how to respond and find the goodness of people.
Revealing my # One Word 2019. Highlight. This word came into my mind being inspired by a famous Greek myth about the sculptor Pygmallion, and my childhood memories of using a highlighter. The pygmallion myth is about the self-fulfilling power of expectations. Pygmallion created a blueprint of what he wanted and then it came to life. In other words, great expectations are met with greatness. In addition, I remember very fondly my childhood memories of using a highlighter. It felt great using a highlighter. I remember spending lots of time even choosing a colour of the highlighter. Highlighted information was easy to memorize without putting lots of effort. What if, I use highlighting as a tool to govern all human interactions. I believe people will surely remember all those positive interactions.
Trying to experiment this idea in life to celebrate the goodness of people. Good feeling multiplies around other good feelings. Being a highlighter is about constantly searching for the good in people. When you tell people they are good, they become better. When you search for what’s good, you feel great. Highlighting is more than just giving a regular praise or using sugar-coating words. It’s about being genuinely engaged and present in interactions to know how to exactly respond. Over the years, I’ve realized being memorable is not bringing up your high points. It’s about highlighting theirs. In turn, being a highlighter will train our mindset to look for good things in other people. Highlighting strengths makes positives larger than life. Being a highlighter would help in end to be the highlight.
Learning Environments 