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Now that you have spent the past week considering who you are meant to be, it is time to start actively living in a way that honours that person each and every day. That may sound intimidating, but it can be as simple as setting an intention.
“Whatever your situation is right now, you have played a major role in setting it up,” says Oprah Winfrey. “It is you who have created your circumstances. With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice. And beneath each of those thoughts and choices lies your deepest intention.”
We asked some of our favourite actors and authors to tell us: “What is your intention for 2022?” As you determine your own response to that question, reflect on these inspiring answers.
Bonnie Raitt, singer-songwriter: “No one wins when there is no mutual coming together for a bigger purpose of finding solutions and some middle ground. I would like to support whatever efforts I can to help us find some common ground, kindness, and empathy — work together and come up with solutions to our common crises.”
LaChanze, Broadway performer: “I am very happy. My intention is to stay that way. I have accepted that this happiness is a result of keeping my focus on what I have, who I am, and what I put into the world.”
Kate Spencer, novelist: “My intention is to shut out the noise. I am putting in my emotional earplugs and blocking out my own inner critic, as well as trying to physically and mentally slow down and limit outside distractions like social media. I am ready to sit in the quiet for a bit.”
Nedra Glover Tawwab, therapist and bestselling author: “Before answering my phone, responding to an email, or texting someone back, I am considering my capacity. I am commemorating all of my victories. I am using my feelings as data about myself without judging them as good or bad. I am spending more time doing nothing. I am no longer valuing the opinion of people who cannot understand my choices. I am making peace with the fact that my to-do list will never be done.”
Ayana Gray, bestselling author: “Each year, I resolve to be better than I was in the year prior, to learn and to grow in meaningful ways both professionally and personally. I have so much hope for 2022. It will be the first year of my life in which I spend it working entirely for myself, doing what I truly love for a living. Last year, I was still chasing my dreams; this year, I am realising them.”
Well, we made it to 2022 and got through that first week. I don’t know if you guys all are, but I am so glad the holidays are over. I get to stop eating — there was so much food around here, so many people trying to keep everybody safe.
We are all now ready to turn the page with a well-deserved fresh start. Nobody, not one human being I have ever known, has embodied this more than my friend Sidney Poitier. And his passing this week has reminded me once again what it means to live a fully, enhanced life that moves in the high spaces, doing the high work.
Now, I know the world knows him as the renowned actor — but as somebody who loved him deeply and knew him well, let me tell you, acting was the least of him. His humanity, his graciousness — his generosity of spirit is what made him so extraordinary. Everybody around him felt his remarkable capacity for exuding simplicity and majesty at the same time. He was a giant among men, with a ginormous soul that moved and blessed just everybody he met. I received a note today from the producer Amy Coleman, who shared with me — because she had produced the first show he was on with The Oprah Winfrey Show — how kind he was behind the scenes and how, she said, “he left an indelible mark on my life.” Well, he did that to everybody. And I thought, Imagine if we all did that?
It’s certainly what I am contemplating now as I mourn the passing of his body: How can I embody more of the spirit of him and always operate from the high space, doing the high work? Because that is the real high work, as I see it. Not what labels society has given to us or what roles we play.
Palliative care expert and physician BJ Miller once shared with me in an interview, he said, and I remember this quote, “Death is the force that shows you what you love — and urges you to revel in that love, while the clock ticks.” So while I revel in the love that Sidney Poitier gave to me, for just a taste of it go to YouTube and look at “Sidney Poitier Surprises Oprah 20th Anniversary,” I would have forgotten that had even happened until a friend reminded me yesterday. And I continue to think about how to be the same for myself and others, as he was for me. And I can tell you: Sidney Poitier was the definition of integrity. Read his autobiography ‘‘The Measure of a Man’’ and you will see what I mean.
And as we further explore this topic of integrity this month, in “The Life You Want” Planner, you will see how it is the core, really, for all things, for all your future happiness. So while the 2022 clock still ticks for us, let’s get to work on aligning with integrity and doing the high work, in every way. — Celebrity News
Online Reporter