Resolutions so rarely work for me that I gave them up ages
ago. Still one wants to the honor the New Year with some sort of fresh
direction. So I’ve joined that merry band of folks who chose a word for the
year – or rather, allow a word of significance to choose them. The idea is that
the word will resonate in some way throughout the year, maybe giving a bit of
direction or providing some measure of clarity or understanding of one’s self
in one’s world. No guarantees of course, but I’m always surprised at the correlation
between the word and the events of the year. When I remember to do it, that is.
I skipped last year, or at least I didn’t write it down, which is pretty much
the same thing.
This year TURN has turned shown up. It’s a rich word, with both noun and verb (transitive and
intransitive) chock full of nuances and uses. My baby OED (DK Illustrated)
devotes two columns to it sans
illustrations; the Free Dictionary definition including all turns (oops) of
phrases runs to 8 pages single-spaced.
Whew, I must be anticipating a busy year.
Turn has strong and clean bloodlines, coming from Old English tyrnan, turnian, from Latin tornare, from tornus 'lathe', from Greek tornos 'lathe, circular movement'. I like the sense of the lathe paring away the excesses, revealing the true or desired form; it feels so appropriate. Especially when I’ve vowed to absolutely de-clutter my studio room. Someday. Soon. But I'm also interested in paring away the un-necessary baggage of living and getting down to a simpler, more authentic sort of existence.
Turn: The basic definition is to move in a circular direction
around a center point; but this movement is modified in many ways: turn over,
turn around, turn up, turn in, turn aside, turn away, turn down, turn inside
out, upside down. We take turns, make turns; we get turned on, turned out; we
turn turtle, turn a profit, turn a somersault. All meanings that
indicate a sharp, distinct change in direction.
This year I am turning (ok, I'm giving in now) one of those big
corners in life: retirement from my job as office administrator and a re-turn to life centered around writing and the outdoors. (See what I mean? Turn is everywhere!) I plan to turn over a new leaf in my
writing discipline and practice, and of course, turn my rough drafts into
finished pieces. I want to turn away from an out-grown mode of living and turn onto a new path, turn into new patterns of functioning.
But right now I’m going to turn this into a blog post and
turn in for the night.
