It seems like only yesterday we were welcoming 2015, and, yet, it is already 2016!  Seriously, where does the time go?  And why does it go so dang fast?  Such is the nature of life, I suppose…

My word for last year was YES!, and it served me well.  While I am certain I did not say YES! to every single opportunity or person or event that presented itself in my life, I like to think that I said YES! more often than not, and more often than I might have otherwise had I not chosen YES! as my word.  This year’s word, then, has a lot to live up to.  I’ve been thinking about it for the last couple of months.  I had another word in mind, but JOY kept popping up when I least expected it.  I finally realized that JOY was trying to get my attention and letting me know that it should be my word for 2016.  So JOY it is!

And this beautiful quote by Marianne Williamson sums it up perfectly.

It seems that I am not the only one choosing JOY as my word this year.  My wonderful and amazing friend, Deb Kennedy, has also chosen it.  She has gone a step further and come up with a way for all of us to spread JOY even more:

“Join me on a new project!!!!
I shared my ‘word for the year’ (JOY) and my friend Barb commented ‘yeah! a JOY ride! Let’s do it!’ – and that really got my mind spinning!! So I came up with an idea to get everyone I know to participate in a *virtual JOYride*, where we focus on JOY and share it to encourage one another – just the way we would if we all piled into a huge old convertible with the top down, the music blaring, with smiles on our faces as we headed down the road of life on an adventure!

The goal is to ‘SEE the Joy, BE the Joy, SHARE the Joy!’

I’m launching it TODAY, January 1, 2016, and here’s how it works:
When you post photos of things that inspire you & make you grateful on social media, simply include the hashtag #JOYride2016 ! That’s it! It works on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr (and a bunch more I don’t even know about!) Let’s flood social media with JOY ♥

There’s no sign up, no cost, and it’s not to advertise, promote, market, get more traffic, or anything else. It’s just to SHARE THE JOY 😉 Join me… and please share this post!!! #JOYride2016”

Happy New Year!  May 2016 be the most joyous year EVER, for each and every one of us!