One Word

I finally have my one word. Compose. The Thesaurus says that other words for compose are: create, invent, arrange, order, calm, collect, organize, unwind. I say yes to all of these words.

My life is composed like music- high notes that lift the soul, middle notes that carry the song forward, and low notes that will break a heart. My life soars and falls and changes tempo at the most surprising moments. I want to be an active part of my own melody this year- helping time compose my song and still finding ways to gracefully play the parts that were pre-written without any input from me.

I want more calm and order. I want more deep content in the beauty of daily life. I want time to go slower, the good moments to last longer, my mind to be more peaceful, my life to be more organized. I want to create and invent both memories and art, beauty and balance. I want to compose. I want to be composed. I want to walk through this year as though it were sheets of music to be played. I want to become a part of it and it a part of me. I want this year to begin arranging my life in positive ways that will affect it always.

In photography I spent quite a bit of time composing a shot. I want to make sure the horizon is even, the angles are complimentary, that nothing important is left out but also that nothing not important is left in. I tend to shoot in a straightforward manner that still leaves room for creativity and this is how I intend to approach 2011. Taking the time to make sure that the finished product is built upon my intentions, that nothing important is left out, and that much of the unimportant is excluded from the frame. I want to compose this year as much as I can so that at the end of this coming December I’ll have a finished product that I am proud of. There will be plenty of things that happen in the coming year that I’ll have little to no control over but isn’t that they way with photography as well? Sometimes you can’t arrange the scene only how you compose the shot. It takes attention and intention- two other words that make up the full definition of “compose.”

And so, my word is compose. What is your word this year?