Family Words

Do you have a code by which you live your life?I'm sure you have morals and standards and ethics by which you operate (and operate beautifully, might I add), but if you had to condense those down to a handful of words, could you? Off the top of your head?It's not an easy thing to do. In our kitchen we have a pinboard and chalkboard for keeping notices, bills, photos etc. On the chalkboard Sparky and I wrote our family words at the beginning of the year:

Dream big. Work Hard. Love.

(The only change I would make now is to love openly.)

If I had to sum up our approach to life, that would be the briefest version.While the idea of family words is a Game of Thrones geekism, the thought of having a simple, beautiful, positive framework from which we can operate is such a cool thought.I have to be honest - I don't refer back to these words much. Not daily, and not weekly. But when I do catch a glimpse of them, half-buried on the chalkboard, underneath clutter countdowns and pre-school papers, I feel good. Safe. Solid.Everybody wants to belong somewhere. To have a safe home port. Roots and wings, as they say. And this code, these family words, this framework - they are our roots. They are our wings.

Dream big. Work hard. Love openly.

What are your family words? What do you value most for your loved ones and yourself?