Wholeheartedness was my word (see 12 Words) for December, 2018. I’ve been remiss in writing about my experience with Wholeheartedness.
The first thing I learned was that Wholeheartedness is one continuous word; it’s not Whole-Heartedness. But, I digress.
Merriam Webster defines Wholeheartedness as: “completely and sincerely devoted, determined, or enthusiastic.”
This definition feels right to me.
I like it.
It means to me that my heart’s in it; I’m not just putting in my time, until….
Way back in the dark ages, when I worked for a large multinational financial institution, my colleagues and I were a bunch of young, eager, ambitious, restless and impatient corporate workers. Things didn’t always go just the way we thought they should. Funny, that…
We were often putting in our time, until. Until what?
- Until we made more money, and could do more things in life.
- Until we finished one project and a new, more interesting one came along.
- Until we found a better position.
It’s not always easy to be “completely and sincerely devoted, determined, or enthusiastic” when your life has taken a few turns off of the way that you were expecting or hoping for things to go.
But it’s a hostage situation, where I’m the hostage, if I settle for putting in my time “until” something changes.
I was gifted with a mini-version of this situation in December. I had plans, expectations, things I was eagerly anticipating being able to do, and my life didn’t unfold the way I expected it to in December. There were challenges.
This was perfect for Wholeheartedness, because I was given an opportunity to practice being “completely and sincerely devoted and enthusiastic”, regardless of the circumstances. I got to learn, once again, deeper in my bones, that I get to chose how I want to be, independent of circumstances.
I get to choose my response to situations.
I, of course, want to be compassionate with the part of myself that might be frustrated, or disappointed, or mad. But I don’t have to choose that way of being as a lifestyle.
I get to choose Wholeheartedness.
Wholeheartedness is a state of being; it is being “Yes!” to life, however life looks in the moment.
Life, however it looks, is inviting us to choose Wholeheartedness. I want to say “Yes!”
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