What’s in a Word?
Sometimes the word(s) finds you.
My beloved Unfolding community,
Happy New Year. 💕
While I know that we are well into January, I have decided to continue celebrating the new year until February 1!
I hope you have entered this new year slowly; with ease, joy, compassion, and a renewed commitment to yourself.
Over the holidays, I spent a lot of time quietly reflecting, I used my own Inspiration & Aspiration Plan and Workbook as my process, it has served me so well over these years (it’s not too late, you can still download your own copy here!).
If I do say so myself, I love this process because it allows me to reflect back on the year that was without getting stuck in the past, while also inviting me to imagine what’s possible for the year ahead.
However, in order for it to really do its magic requires quiet, and stillness;
that is where our heart and souls speak to us.
We are all so busy,
and there is so much noise around us,
that it is hard to hear what we are really feeling and what we really long for.
Having given myself a bit of space and quiet over the holidays, I was able to devote time to working through all the questions and prompts. And, not surprisingly, I was flooded with insights, invitations, and clarity.
I thought I would share a few of them with you.
I haven’t always been a fan of finding a word for the coming year, and I never put pressure on myself to figure it out if it doesn’t come naturally. This year, however, two words came forward quite quickly, and the more I sat with them, the better they felt as north stars for this year.
They are:
Courage + Playfulness
I think of myself as a fairly brave person, I tend to lean into things that I resist or find uncomfortable. In fact, this is one of the lessons I have learned that has become a guiding principle in my life; what I most resist is what I most need.
Despite feeling my own bravery, Courage came forward as being slightly different from brave.
For the coming year, courage for me means showing up in my life and work with greater confidence, and ownership of my talent, wisdom, and impact. As I said, it is noisy out there and it is easy to second guess our worth and to doubt our value. I felt it deeply in my body that this is a year for me to be even louder and prouder of who I am and what I am here on earth to do in service of others and our collective wellbeing.
When Courage showed up, I thought that was it…that I had found my word. But no, there was more!
Playfulness came forward soon after.
My relationship with playfulness is complicated.
In many ways, I consider myself to be playful and lighthearted. Yet, if I am really honest, this part of me has not been as present as I would like for a long time. In fact, I lost sight of it so slowly that I never saw it coming…much like a lot of things that we can become disconnected from over the course of time.
It may have started when I chose a sober lifestyle over 5 years ago. This decision has shaped me in so many positive ways, yet it also forced me to redefine what “fun” and socializing looked like in my life.
And then, of course, came the pandemic; which forced me, and all of us, to reimagine and reconsider what play, gathering and socializing was and would be.
Over these years I have designed my life to be deeply peaceful, joyful and fulfilling. At the same time, I find myself feeling a bit intense, serious, and soulful. I am more spiritual, contemplative and quiet than I once was. And while I love my life and feel incredibly content, I miss, and want more of, the sillier, lighter, more giggly side of who I am. I want this to show up with my friends, family, colleagues and partner, we all know that levity is so critical to gravity.
This year, the words found me.
So, Courage + Playfulness is my mocktail for 2024!
Going through my own process and workbook is always an interesting, magical, and enlightening experience; there is so much more I can say but I will leave it here for now.
Also, I have to share the most amazing time I had hosting my Reset & Reimagination Retreat last week, see below for pics from our fabulous gathering.
I know that many of you are not in or near Colorado, so for those of you who haven’t taken time to go through an exercise of imagining what’s possible for 2024, I have created an opportunity for us to work through one together. It is a virtual gathering on January 29th, you can find more information about it here. I’m calling it the Year of You, because after all, it is.
It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, I am excited to join you to begin the next part of your Unfolding journey.
If this post resonated with you, I think you’d love my newsletter.
