How can a guiding word or phrase shape a person’s life over time?
In 2012 I began selecting a phrase or a word to use as a guide for the coming year. A friend of mine showed me there’s a word for such a guide: Cynosure.
My consciousness is a strange, obtuse, mystery to me, but it does produce some interesting curiosities. When I picked a phrase in 2012, I didn’t imagine it would become a yearly ritual. By 2020, it was clearly a ritual. At which point it required significant reading through my journals to realize I had even chosen cynosures for 2012 and 2015.
I guess life makes sense: For some reason there’s a universe and that universe has lots of atoms bouncing around and sometimes they bounce into patterns that copy themselves and then those patterns go to war for billions of years and voilà— you.
~ “Dynomight”, from Consciousness will slip through our fingers, also read About
This routine I’ve fallen into of picking a cynosure emerged from my consciousness (and certainly from others’ too.) Over the years I’ve used the following phrases and words:
2012 – Will-power and self-possession
2015 – simplify
2017 – “A dream is just a dream. A goal is a plan and a deadline.” ~ unknown
2018 – hell yes! or, NO.
2019 – NO.
2020 – get less done
2021 – festina lente
2022 – choose wisely
2023 – choose today
2024 – HUMILITY
I now see there are echoes in there. For example, 2022’s cynosure is effectively a refinement of 2012’s. There’s also an ongoing quest for simplification, and a journey of increasing self-awareness.
My rehearsals last for hours and hours
~ John M McCrea and Mark Kornweibel, from Opera Singer
With diligence I have been blessed
Some people, they call me monster
Some people, they call me saint
My talent feeds my darker side
Yet no one will complain
Indeed, with diligence I have been blessed. To a fault.
In some journal entries in December of 2024 I was writing about themes I might seek more of in the new year; I considered tranquility, contentment, or perhaps gratitude? I wanted my choice for 2025 to be aspirational. I wanted something that would counter my drive to be endlessly striving.
This is why a better strategy than finding a niche, especially early, is “find a mode.” Find a mode where you can continue to be excited about what you are doing. Find a mode where the friction to getting started declines over time. Find a mode where you are excited to keep going despite being ignored. Find a mode where you want to do something despite not having anything to show for it or in the worst case, despite criticism.
~ Paul Millerd, from Don’t Find A Niche, Find A Mode
From 2024, I’ve carried with me far too much on my to-should pile. Sometimes it’s fun to grab a biggish goal and just hard-charge up some hill. Sometimes it’s wiser to just move some item straight to the to-don’t list. There is a disconnect between what I can get done in a day, and my feeling I’ve gotten enough done at the end of that day. It feels like I’m running desperately. But I can’t tell if I’m running from something or towards something.
I wake up each day with the firm conviction that I am nowhere near my full potential. ‘Greatness’ is a verb. I have miles to go before I sleep, and so I will spend my remaining years desperately looking to improve who I am from year to year. Greatness is not a final destination, but a series of small acts done daily in order to constantly rejuvenate and refresh our skills in a daily effort to become a better version of ourselves.
~ Maurice Ashley
Mostly I use these cynosures in my journaling. I generally end each entry by writing it, followed by memento mori. It’s an intentional habit, built because to get power from our aspirations—from a cynosure—I have to refer to it regularly.
Happy, healthy and successful people, like the mature tree, have grown deep roots in the important areas of their life. They have, over time and a great number of small actions, built habits that are so fixed, that no one would even try to challenge them.
~ Thanh Pham, from How to Build the 25 Habits of People who are Happy, Healthy and Successful
Beyond my aspirations though, I’m also intentionally trying to prepare for my certain death. I will one day write a final journal entry, and it would be fitting to have “memento mori” be my final journaled words.
Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind.
~ Marcus Aurelius
There are countless instances where I’m reminded that tomorrow is not a given. I pay attention to those, and do my best to do things now. To say: Thank you. I appreciate you. I appreciate what you did there. I appreciate your generous gift of time.
Life is a solo trip, but you’ll have lots of visitors. I say this a lot and always will. Your life is one long unbroken experience, and you’re the only one who’s there the whole time. Visitors will come in and out of your experience. Most of them are short-term and you won’t notice when they’ve made their last appearance.
~ David Cain, from You and your friends are all going to die, and that’s beautiful
So, what’s my cynosure for 2025?
SERENITY
I aspire to maintain my serenity, at all times. When things are easy, sure. But also when I’m working, or active… and yes, even in the midst of chaos.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
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