Three Little Words

During the past couple of days I've stumbled across some incredible moments of synchronicity. On Wednesday, I was sitting at Milo's having some lunch at the counter. No big surprise here. A friend who also frequents Milo's sat next to me and we exchanged a few words, catching up a bit since we haven't been at the counter at the same time, thanks to the crazy-making the holidays does to my routine.

I happen to turn around as this woman was walking to the bathroom and lo and behold, it was a friend from law school. Someone I hadn't seen since 2004, or maybe earlier. After joyfully reuniting, I had to ask her how her husband was and needed reminding of what he did. She said it was the same thing as before, working with military vets with PTSD. All very well. We exchanged business cards and went on our way. The restaurant was loud, and I doubt anyone could overhear our conversation, which is important to know to understand the next revelation. As my other friend was wrapping up his lunch, we chatted about his recent work and he said that he was tossing around the idea of writing a thriller about a vet with PTSD. While it's not a huge stretch to find me at Milos and chatting with my writer friend, having two unrelated people talk to me about vets with PTSD just seemed too coincidental.

At the same time, I've been kicking around the idea of a blog entry focusing on a great idea that my friend Laura introduced during our New Year's Day lunch. She pulled out a sheet of paper with a number of words, and was thinking of choosing a word to define 2011. Our conversation soon ran around all sorts of topics, but I continued to think about Laura's words. Enough so, that I was ready to blog about what I would choose as my word(s) for 2011, while the Bob Marley tune Three Little Birds became an earworm stubbornly burrowing in my brain, except for the word birds, I was instead, thinking--three words.

I had to google "three little words", to make sure that I didn't have Bob's words wrong. Okay, Bob Marley wrote Three Little Birds (you knew that, didn't you?) but someone did write, Three Little Words and it was none other than GEORGE WELLS. That's right. Andy's grandpa wrote a little movie called Three Little Words, which starred Fred Astaire. Tucked deep down in my subconscious I may have known that, but if so, I've completely forgotten about it--until today.

But how random is that? Walking around with a title in my head that had a much stronger connection to me than I could imagine. Sometimes I feel like a conduit in the universe. Someone who has no other purpose than to bring a person or idea together with another person or idea, with no benefit to myself.

So, what is my word that describes the theme I wish to carry this year? I've got a few:

As far as finances go, Intention. Rather than not spending money at all, a pretty unrealistic goal, I think that if I spend with Intention, rather than impulse I will be happier about how I've used my money.

With my writing, my word is Completion. I am focusing on finishing what I've started, which includes the step of sending the material out into the world. Probably the hardest step, next to starting.

And the third word? Incrementation. Taking things in baby steps, rather than looking at a huge project--a business, my health, trip plans, as a huge daunting mountain of challenges that drive me to absolute distraction--and biting off a bit, day by day, or as Anne Lamott calls it, Bird by Bird.

What would be your word for 2011?