If you have read my blog posts over the years or follow me on Instagram you may know that December is my reflective time to ponder what my word for the New Year will be. I’m not the only one to do this, it has become quite popular, plus it gives a focus, something to anchor your year to as it offers a way to live with intention.
This New Year, my word came fast and furious. I got clear about how I want to feel and how I want to be in 2023 and the answer seemed to fall out of the sky: COURAGEOUS.
We all know there are no accidents and that it actually fell out of my heart. This is the year my book Mama Needs a Refill: Finding Light in the Madness of Motherhood will be published. (Yes, it will be out September 2023, published by Yoke and Abundance Press) Besides this big step in my life after writing and birthing this baby since 2010, courage is calling my name on a very personal level. For many an act of courage would be jumping out of a plane or attempting an impressive physical feat of some kind or another. After graduating from college I moved to Japan and lived there by myself for fifteen months. Before I turned 50, I bungee jumped 160 feet off a bridge and later that year I stood on stage before a 150 person audience and told jokes for four minutes. That stuff doesn’t scare me. It’s the little things that I avoid: telling someone how I REALLY feel, speaking up for myself to a loved one and honoring my beliefs, thoughts and feelings by speaking them out loud. That is the stuff that takes big kahunas in my eyes.
What is calling your name and tugging at your heart this new season? If having a word, theme, phrase, focus or motto would help you go toward to the change you are seeking here are some thoughts on the process:
- Forget the goals, start with how you want to FEEL (For example, do you want to feel abundant, peaceful or compassionate?)
- Next, the answers may be the same as above, but ask how do you want to BE? (Organized, accomplished, calm, faith-filled, relaxed, to name some examples.)
- Spend at least ten minutes writing down in your journal what you want to have felt, experienced and have shown up as when you reach the end of 2023.
- The above 3 tasks can get the heart strings nudging you in the direction toward your word, theme, phrase or motto.
- It is okay to change your word. You may have chosen it in the first place for the wrong reasons or you simply changed your mind. And it is ok if you are reading this in February or March and make your choice at that time.
The idea is to be anchored to an idea that grows, heals, inspires, guides and supports you. Please don’t succumb to the pressure of picking something just to pick something. This is where the intentional part comes in
The other day with one of my regular life coaching clients, she used my Anchored Deck during our phone session and pulled five words. I asked her the same first two bullet points above and asked her to come up with questions she wanted to ask the deck. I took her first question: How do I want to show up in 2023? And asked her to break it down into specific areas in her life. Each area received it’s own word. She was amazed at the synchronicity. FAITH for work. COMPASSION for her relationships. AWAKE for caring for herself. All three of these words have served as my word of the year in years past. I clearly remember COMPASSION showing up for 2020 and that was eight days into the year and before COVID took over. If you are still stuck and don’t own one of my Anchored Decks, go within. Ask and receive your answer. Be patient. Trust the reveal. Speaking of RECEIVE, that was my word for this past year and what a teacher it was for me. That’s how these words are; gentle teachers. We never know what our year ahead will hold, life is tricky, evolving and at the same time magical. I find having a word to fall back on to be comforting and even more in alignment with what unfolds than I could ever possibly imagine. Think of it as tuning into your best self and the Universe at the same time.
Remember you get to define it in a way that makes sense to you. Courage for you may be different than it is for me. And for me it is living from a place that feels scary but I know I must do it, for it is my soul calling me.
Whatever your word or theme pick something that feels good, the one that is ready, waiting for you, saying “it’s time, let’s do this, pick me, pick me.” Or it could be the one that comes out of nowhere falling from the sky via your heart, right on time.
Cheers, Jenny
