Cultivating Mental Silence

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Yearly Themes...

Yearly Themes...As the year comes to a close I am finding myself thinking about this past year's "yearly theme" and what I should be considering for this coming year's "yearly theme." CGP Grey and Myke Hurley have been talking about this concept for a few years now on their podcast titled: Cortex. The idea has been appealing to me for many reasons...

  1. I am a nerd.
  2. I like to be organized.
  3. A yearly theme helps me see things through a lens I may not necessarily consider otherwise.

My current "yearly theme" is "the year of purpose." Whenever a new episode of Cortex comes out I use it as an opportunity to think about my life through the "yearly theme" lens. I open a note in my Drafts app and think through what I'm doing in my life and whether or not these things...in the case of this past year's theme...align to the theme. If they do...I write about how they are helping. If they do not...I write about how I'm going to go about cutting that behavior out of my life.In their recent episode, Grey and Hurley elude to the fact that they will be discussing the concept of the "yearly theme" in their next episode. This got me wondering...

  1. Is it time for me to change my theme?
  2. Should the theme "find" me or should I "find" it?

My initial thinking on this seems to be leaning towards themes like "calm," or "chill", or "self-care," maybe something as simple as "me." I am also of the opinion that these themes have found me and are making themselves apparent to me. I say this because of the year I've had at work and what I have been doing "purposely" to help reduce the levels of stress and anxiety I have while at work. I'm looking forward to the next episode of Cortex as I am sure the hosts will help guide me through my next steps.