Happy New Year! If you are like me, you awoke today with a feeling of possibility. It’s a whole new year. What in the world might happen? While the year will have surprises for you that you could never have imagined, it is also very malleable, and it can be manipulated with your intention (and follow-up action). While my annual birthday list really qualifies as my resolution project, I do like to start the year by naming my intention and capturing my vision for the 365 days ahead of me. Today, let’s talk about naming our intention.
What is an intention? It’s a desire to act in a certain way, a resolve. And I believe that every year should have a flavor to it– a flavor fueled by intention rather than accident. I capture my intention for the year by choosing a word to describe how I want to act, the way I want to be during that year. Past words for my years have included voice, peace, wellness, expansiveness.
As I start to consider my word for the new year, I reflect on the year that has just passed. In what ways did I experience joy, synchronicity, authenticity. In what ways did those things elude me? In what ways was I my best self? In what ways did I miss the boat? All of those reflections aren’t done in a critical way– they simply offer me information for me to build and grow from in the new year. Reflection isn’t about beating yourself down. It’s about giving yourself the information you need to build yourself up and offer more of your gifts to the world (keep in mind that you are a necessary part of the world\’s healing and so getting yourself aligned is part of healing the world). That’s what having another day is about– one more chance to try and do things more authentically, more purposefully, more passionately while experiencing joy, love, and possibility.
After I’ve reflected on my past year, I start to hone in on words that resonate with me, that might actually capture what I want from this next year. I try those words on for a few days, see if one might particularly summarize what I am feeling about this new year. Usually, one really bubbles up. The one year, in recent memory, that I forced a word and didn’t wait for it to really come to me clearly, I didn’t quite capture the right intention (not that there is really a way to get this wrong, just that there is a difference between forcing a word and receiving a word as guidance for your year).
This year’s choice came to me in November and though I’ve pondered other words, this one just keeps making itself known so I am trusting my subconscious to know my truth and that truth is that my intention for 2012 is:
whole·heart·ed adj. \ˈhōl-ˈhär-təd\
What a great word…and hey, wasn’t that Anna of Curvy Yoga’s word for 2011? 🙂
It was, Madeleine! I felt such synergistic energy when I learned that last week! Do you choose a word for your year? If so, I’d love to hear it!
Hey Rosie, that’s so cool that the word “wholehearted” came to you over and over again through your subconscious! That’s amazing! I love that word, too, actually, and I think about it a lot in terms of my ED recovery. I’m leaning towards thinking of a word or a verb to align myself with this year instead of a laundry list of resolutions I won’t accomplish anyway, haha.
Hannah, wholehearted is such a powerful word overall and it is especially meaningful when looked at throughout the lens of recovery. Love the idea of your choosing a word for alignment this year– that might be an especially positive and kind thing to do for yourself. Let me know if you do pick a word! Wishing you all the best!
If you haven’t already seen this video by Brene Brown. It is 20 minutes WELL WORTH spending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0
Goes right along with your word, which is an awesome word, and authenticity is my word….a bit similar!
Jamie, Love Authenticity. It’s one of my very favorite words– because it is how I most want to be in the world. And thank you for making sure I knew about the Brene Brown talk. Someone turned me on to her last year and I am so grateful! I did love that talk.
Here’s to a year of living authentically!
I was THISCLOSE to choosing the very same word Rosie! But in the end, I went with PRACTICE 🙂 And I second Jamie’s recommendation of anything and everything Brene Brown!
Karen, I LOVED your post about practice and why you chose it– BRILLIANT (I was on my phone at the time and couldn’t easily comment to scream BRILLIANT AND INSPIRING like I wanted to). Here’s to a wholehearted year of good practice!