Suzan Bond

Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

Most years I’d have to say that this task would be extremely challenging if not mission impossible. This year though there was a clear winner. It actually happened in the early first hours of 2010. It probably sounds like the ultmate cliche maybe but it’s a true story–not contrived or embellished in any way.

I’d been invited to stay with a friend in Topanga Canyon for the holidays. On New Year’s Eve, we ended up at a party. The scene was a kinda crazy party in L.A. ala Burning Man style.  Feeling very introspective (not because it was NYE–I was just in that mood) I didn’t dress up and wasn’t terribly excited about the trippy party. So, I sat outside by the fire. I didn’t move for literally 3 hours. As a pretty kinetic, live wire this was pretty unusual for me.

Just Sitting

Feeling contemplative and content–I just sat. I watched all the trippy dancing, drumming and outfitted party goers drift by. (That photo is from said seat.) I didn’t talk. I didn’t consciously think about anything. It was the most powerful moment I’ve had all year. Maybe in many years. When I finally got out of my cozy zen-like state I walked away with some really important realizations.

I was so present in this moment, as I’ve talked about in this post, that I felt at my most alive. My most open to powerful insights.

Those exact revelations aren’t that important. Just that from then I changed my life. That moment was the precursor and reason that I was able to accomplish all the things I talked about here.

Tonight I had another free association revelation..

What gets in the way of my writing is…not being in the present moment.

That’s it.

Maybe being really present is all I need to write more. Freely.

Maybe even the whole kit. And Caboodle.

Day Two: What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?

Loved the first prompt. This one is a bit more vexing. I don’t write for a living (completely) but do consider myself a writer. There doesn’t seem to be an eloquent reason for what doesn’t contribute to my writing so here is a free association list…

- Bathing

- Work

- Driving

- Tweeting

- Daydreaming

- Taking care of my dog

- Playing word scramble

- Lack of inspiration

- Worrying about what to write

- Socks (My feet get hot and cold all the time so I find myself taking them on and off all the time. It’s very distracting.)

- Trying to put together a perfect outline first (I actually typed outfit first–maybe that’s the real issue)

- Being afraid not of shitty first drafts a la Anne Lamott but of shitty final drafts

Silliness Aside

Some of those are frivolous (not the socks though–being comfortable is seriously important). If I were to narrow them down I’d say that getting inspired is the #1 distraction and #2 would be the outline.

So…I will eliminate the need for a good outline first. I will just write.

As for #1, writing and reading are actually my muses. I will put down the Netflix queue and pick up a book, a pen or my laptop and simply write.

I'm participating in a cool event called Reverb #10.  The goal of this event is to reflect on the past year in order to get clear about what you want to create in the coming year. Being a coach and into all this kind of cool stuff I thought this was a great opportunity to do something online that I normally do just for myself.  So I will be posting on my blog throughout the month of December. I hope you will find it inspiring and useful for you. If you'd like to follow along, feel free to sign up. You can also follow the blog of one of my dear friends, Cali Harris who is a writer, one of the creators of Reverb #10 and an all around cool chick. OK. So on to the first post for Reverb #10. Today I received the first prompt by email from Gwen Bell. Here's what it said. One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you're choosing that word. Now, imagine it's one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? I love this prompt. One word is a concept I've been using for a number of years. For those of you who don't know–instead of resolutions I focus on a word for each year. This word is really a theme that I want to focus on for the coming year. My word for 2010 was Align. This year was all about aligning my life with myself, my inner most desires. Although I actually chose it at the end of 2009 (as is my tradition) I feel that it's still the right word. Alignment is something I feel. Because of this alignment I have attracted many wonderful things in my life that I hadn't been able to create. Here are just a few things I've done in the past year–all because I was practicing alignment. – Spoke in front of 900 people at Ignite Boulder. – Helped co-found Fourmile Heroes, an organization whose goal is to thank and provide funds for local Boulder firefighters. We've created a poster and stickers that are for sale with proceeds going to Boulder County Firefighters Association Fund. We also helped organize a parade to honor the firefighters of the Fourmile Fire (most of whom are volunteers).

- Learned how to snowboard–one of the things I wanted to do when I moved to CO. OK–still learning but I'm out there! Photo: My friend Lisa and I hitting slopes at Breck.

- Nabbed my very 1st 14er (actually two in one day) which I wrote about here. – Manifested great clients who are up to cool stuff. – Renewed my passion for travel. I visited: Topanga Canyon (L.A.), Telluride, Aspen, Santa Fe & Taos and Austin. And…I'm off to New York and the Bahamas. Photo: The venerable Continental Club in Austin. Yes–that's a bear singing.

- Started writing again after a very long 5 year absence. This culminated in this blog, writing two other books and selling more copies of my Grow Your Intuition book than ever. – Re-ignited my passion for tech and decided to start my own tech company. Now I'm looking for a tech co-founder and finalizing my idea so I can apply for TechStars next year. Those are just a few highlights of my 2010. Your turn. What's your one word for 2010? As for 2011, I've already selected my word. I'm going to keep it to myself for now. I want to savor 2010 for the moment before I focus on what's next.