Courage is a Heart Word, and Mine for 2020

        Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is cor – the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” Over time, this definition has changed, and today, we typically associate courage with heroic and brave deeds. But in my opinion, this definition fails to recognize the inner strength and level of commitment required for us to actually speak honestly and openly about who we are and about our experiences — good and bad. Speaking from our hearts is what I think of as “ordinary courage.”

Brené Brown, I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame

My word, and heart resolution, for 2020 is COURAGE.

Before I even found this quote I knew courage came from the Latin cor, meaning heart. Which is one of the reasons I chose this as my word. But seeing this quote solidified my decision.

To be honest, the word found me quite some time ago, but only recently have I realized it was time to embrace it. The photo above I snapped with my phone to send to a friend – I found it while unpacking after moving into my apartment 2 years ago, the move was a huge step for me. I did not even know I owned this little pebble of wisdom, so finding it while unpacking, not just my belongings, but a new chapter for myself, was fortuitous. But I realized I needed to do a little more work before I was ready to take on this word as my heart resolution.

In 2018 I explored what being WORTHY meant to me, and how I could show up in the world feeling like I was worthy of love and dreams of a future that made me happy.

The progress I made helped me flow into 2019 with LIGHTHEARTED as my heart resolution. Now that I had done some work on self worth, I needed to let go of some of the rigidness and anxieties in my life and actions, and cultivate more optimism and hope.

And now here I am, on the cusp on a new era, ready to be brave and take the steps to create the life I want to inhabit for this new stage of my life.

When choosing my heart resolution for the new year, which I started doing when Ali Edwards introduced One Little Word years ago, I do a lot of research, looking up meanings, etymology, reading articles on the topic, collecting quotes, etc. This year I am motivated by these words I came across on 16personalites.com, used to describe my personality type, and it sums up what my heart (cor) is wanting to strive for in 2020:

        ENFPs will spend a lot of time exploring social relationships, feelings and ideas before they find something that really rings true. But when they finally do find their place in the world, their imagination, empathy and courage are likely to produce incredible results.

What is your word, or as I like to call it, heart resolution for the new year? How do you go about discovering it? And more importantly, how do you plan to go about living it?