A Guiding Light for 2027

Discover Your Word of the Year 

A reflective workbook for choosing a Word to guide the year ahead

I chose my first Word of the Year more than twenty years ago, and I’ve chosen one every year since.

Some Words have made immediate sense. Others have taken their sweet time revealing why they belonged to me. Over the years, my Word has become a touchstone, a reminder of what matters, a way to return to what I want, and sometimes a quiet companion through seasons I never could have anticipated.

That’s why, when I began coaching in 2011, one of the first resources I created for my newsletter subscribers was a guide to choosing a Word of the Year.

And I’ve been creating a new edition ever since.

A Guiding Light for 2027: Discover Your Word of the Year is a newly revised 64-page workbook designed to help you do much more than choose a pretty Word for your planner.

And you can choose the way you’d like to receive it.

Get the Workbook Free

Join my quarterly seasonal newsletter and I’ll send you a complimentary copy of A Guiding Light for 2027: Discover Your Word of the Year. A few times each year, I’ll send you a seasonal love note with essays, reflection, practical ideas, and news about books and workbooks. During 2027, I’ll also give you an occasional nudge to check in with your Word and notice what it may be showing you as the year unfolds.

Subscribe to Debra’s Email List Here.

Prefer Not to Join Another Email List?

I get it. Your inbox may be quite full enough already. If you’d rather simply purchase the workbook without subscribing, you can buy the complete 2027 edition for $8.

No newsletter signup required. Just your copy of the workbook and plenty of room to begin exploring what you desire in the year ahead. And how choosing a Word of the Year can help you create a year that’s nourishing.

Purchase the Word of the Year Workbook for $8

What’s Inside A Guiding Light for 2027

This workbook isn’t simply a giant list of Words with a few blank pages attached.

Before you choose your Word, you’ll spend some time with the year you’ve just lived, the year you’re moving toward, what you want, what matters, and what may already be asking for your attention.

Part One: Bidding Adieu to 2026

You’ll look back at the year you’ve lived, celebrate what was good, acknowledge what was difficult, notice what you learned, and consider what you’re ready to leave behind.

There’s room for gratitude and grief, wins and disappointments, saving graces, patterns, forgiveness, unfinished business, and the ordinary moments you don’t want to lose simply because the calendar is turning.

Part Two: Exploring the Journey Ahead

This is where we spend some delicious time with desire.

You’ll explore what you want more of, what you want less of, what you’re curious about, what you’d love to learn or experience, and what might make your ordinary life feel more nourishing.

Because desire doesn’t have to mean blowing up your life.

Sometimes it means wanting more dinners at the table. More beauty. More affection. More adventure. Better sleep. More time to read. A class you’ve always wanted to take. Fresh flowers on the kitchen table. Or finally doing something about the ridiculous little thing that annoys you every time you walk through the room.

The important thing is being willing to tell yourself the truth about what you want.

Part Three: What Word Wants to Be Your Guiding Light?

You’ll explore more than 1,100 possible Words and phrases and begin noticing what catches your eye, keeps returning, or seems to flirt with your attention.

You’re not looking for the most impressive Word.

You’re looking for one that means something to you.

Part Four: Choosing Your Word for 2027

Here, you’ll narrow your possibilities, play with language and meaning, listen to your intuition, and consider how a potential Word might actually show up in the life you’re living.

The right Word isn’t necessarily the one that sounds best on Instagram or looks lovely written across the top of a journal page.

It’s the one that feels like it belongs with you.

Part Five: As the Year Ahead Unfolds

Choosing your Word is only the beginning.

You’ll find ways to keep it close, notice how its meaning changes throughout the year, and return to these pages whenever you want another little moment of reflection.

Some years, your Word may announce itself loudly. Other years, you may barely think about it for weeks at a time and then suddenly realize it has been quietly doing its work in the background.

That’s part of what makes this practice so interesting. You choose your Word at the beginning, but you don’t get to know everything it may become.

You Don’t Need a Workbook to Choose a Word of the Year

You may already have one whispering in the back of your mind.

But after more than two decades of choosing my own Word and fifteen years of helping other women choose theirs, I know there’s something lovely about giving yourself enough time, space, and good questions to discover what’s underneath the first answer.

Sometimes looking back at the year you’ve just lived changes what you think you want from the next one. Sometimes a question catches you off guard in the very best way. And sometimes you begin absolutely certain that you know your Word, only to discover another one patiently waiting underneath it.

Your Word might remind you of something you want to cultivate, something you’re ready to release, something you want to protect, or something you’ve been longing to make room for.

It may help you make a decision months from now that you can’t anticipate today. It may steady you during a difficult season or encourage you to say yes when an opportunity appears.

And you never quite know what meaning it may gather as the year unfolds.

Ready to Discover Your Word for 2027?

Choose whichever door suits you.

If you’d enjoy receiving my quarterly seasonal love notes, I’d be delighted to send you A Guiding Light for 2027 as my gift.

Sign up for Debra’s Newsletter + Get Discover Your Word of the Year for 2027 for Free

If you’d prefer not to add another email to your inbox, you can purchase the complete workbook for $8 with no newsletter signup required.

Purchase “A Guiding Light for 2027” to help you discover your Word of the Year for 2027 at a cost of $8

Either way, I hope you’ll give yourself a little time to look back, look ahead, get curious about what you want, and discover what Word might want to accompany you through 2027.

Purchase Discover Your Word of the Year for 2027