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Dear friends,
Happy New Year!!!!! 2021 is deserving of many exclamation points! We made it!
For the last five years, I’ve selected a word for the year. It’s a word that represents goals, aspirations, hopes, intentions; a word that might guide me in making decisions; a word that I want to live. If you listen to the podcast episode that I released today, you’ll hear me describe my word for 2020 and 2021.
This is the perfect week for you to select a word for yourself for the year. Here are the steps I use to do so:
- Based on your reflections from last year (I described the process I use in the last few Monday newsletters) think and write about your desires. What do you want in your life? What do you ache for? What do you crave? Be honest with yourself and look those desires in their face! There’s no shame in desire, although it can feel a little scary to accept them. Ask yourself over and over, “What do I want? What do I really want? What do I really, really, really want?”
- Brainstorm a list of 5-10 words that reflect your desires. Don’t judge yourself as you jot them down--just capture them. Let anything come to mind. Every desire belongs.
- Narrow down your list. Cross off half of them. You’ll probably start seeing how they are interconnected and how one might contain elements of the others. Stay connected to your cravings. You might feel this in your belly or gut, a sense of deep hunger or longing. Believe those calls. Trust them.
- When you’ve narrowed down your list to two or three, write those in big marker letters and put them somewhere visible for a few days. It’s likely that you’ll quickly get a sense of which one is calling most deeply to you. If you can’t decide, then select randomly: write each word on a small piece of paper, crumple them up, toss them around and pick one. Trust that that word is your word.
Now you’ve got your word for the year. What do you do with it? Well, write it up big somewhere that you’ll see. Put it at the bottom of your emails. Tattoo it on your body. Your choice. Point is: do what it’ll take so that you’ll be reminded of it every day, so that you’ll make decisions based on this commitment.
When I go through my end-of-year reflection process, one of the steps is to print out photos that depict how I lived my word. And throughout the year, I’m intentional about capturing those moments on camera. I like to show myself that I’m honoring my commitment to my word. Of all the goal/intention setting things I do at the beginning of the year, this one feels the most meaningful, rewarding, and easiest!
Do you already have a word for the year? I’d love to know what it is! Or, after you follow my suggestions here, let me know! I’ve created this very simple Slido Word Cloud where you can share your word for the year (the poll will be open until January 8). It’s easy, you’ll be anonymous, and we’ll be able to see what our extended Bright Morning community is committed to for 2021! In next week’s newsletter I’ll share the word cloud we create.
Thanks for participating!
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