My god, this week has been quite a year. I hope you’ve been able to exhale. My body and spirit are still fraught, but I am becoming more hopeful. So much needs to be undone, and so much work remains, but I believe we can start climbing out of the wreckage together, rather than feeling as if we’re continually slipping backward into it. Maybe the constant vigilance I hear so many mention can be soothed by a calm intentionality.
One way that I help myself to be more intentional is by choosing a word of the year, usually on New Year’s Eve, or thereabouts. There are many ways to do this: journaling, e-courses, sitting and thinking about it, or just letting it happen. The last is my way. I will write about possible words sometimes, but usually my word comes to me spontaneously.
I don’t do this every year; there was no word for 2020. Well, there are volumes one could say about 2020, but it did not get a word of the year.
My word for 2021 is “movement.” It came to me like my past words–I heard it silently, in my head. Or maybe not silently. I’m never quite clear on that. 🙂 But audible or not, it’s my intuitive voice, and I heed it.
Movement is: forward–toward my dreams, and sometimes backward, reflecting on my life so far, reclaiming the happy parts of my childhood and reconciling the not so happy parts, which have helped me become resilient; emotional–allowing my feelings to move through me and sometimes swimming with them, if they need to linger for a bit; physical–moving my body consciously, noticing when I do so with grace, accepting when I’m awkward; social–continuing to connect with those I love and volunteering; and spiritual–being open to a place that welcomes everyone, even people who aren’t sure.
These are a few impressions about movement, and as the year progresses, I will notice the word informing my daily activities and ideas. It will almost feel like magic, nothing deliberate, but like a seed, forgotten now and again, and then suddenly blooming one day.
How about you? Do you ever choose a word for the year? It’s not too late. (It’s never too late.)