Do you want to know the practice that has helped me create a life that I love for the last seventeen years? Choosing a “Word of the Year” to serve as a touchstone, guide, and theme for the year. This has been especially helpful in years that were incredibly challenging, Such as 2010 when I lost my mom, sold my house, and moved 1000 miles away to start a new life. And the year I lost my dad and battled grief longer than I thought possible.
Yet, at each turn, my Word of the Year was there to pull me up by my bootstraps. Serve as a witness to everything I was experiencing. And having a touchstone encourage me to soldier on.
As we approach another new year and begin to close out the current year, I want to invite you to join me in choosing a touchstone for yourself.
Because to say that 2021 has been another challenging year is an understatement.
Like you, I had hoped that we would see a return to normal. No, not that “new normal” that everyone said we needed to make peace with. But a return to what life was like “before”. You know: without statistics on a virus being part of our every day lives. With kiddos back in school – mask free. And adults back to the office.
A return to traveling for the sake of enjoyment. And gathering with new and old friends without complications.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Yet, I am ever hopeful that there is a light at the end of this tunnel that will usher in a period of time where life feels less stressful…and it’s easier to engage in the outside world.
Despite being able to return to “normal” I want to remind you of something super important
No one is failing 2021, darling, even if nothing went “as planned”
And no matter what, you are not destined for 2022 to terrible no matter what happens in the outside world.
If there’s one constant, I have learned in my more than a decade of coaching it’s that no matter what, we can’t go back to an “old” version of ourselves. Because once you stretch and grow and shift and change – even if you didn’t change by choice – life will be different because YOU are different.
Which is why I want to turn to one of my favorite subjects: DESIRE.
“Desire is a teacher: When we immerse ourselves in it without guilt, shame or clinging, it can show us something special about our own minds that allows us to embrace life fully.”
–Mark Epstein
If you’ve been reading my blog for long, you probably know how I feel about following a thread of desire. And doing so can be a holy calling. To take the light that burns in your soul and allow it to grow and burn brighter. You, my darling, deserve to see those desires and dreams become a part of your reality. And that’s why I love this time of year.
Even without making resolutions, you can take the energy that a new year brings and dive into the depths of your desires.
Just because life has been challenging the last couple of years doesn’t mean that your desires aren’t valuable. Rather, it’s all the more reason to pursue your desires. What I know to be true is that in order to do this, we have to make peace with what we can’t control. And seize hold of what we can control – like our thoughts and reactions and the pursuit of our desires.
So how can a person regain a sense of feeling in control of their life when everything feels so out of their control? Look at what you can control in your daily life.
“We seldom notice how each day is a holy place where the eucharist of the ordinary happens, transforming our broken fragments into an eternal continuity that keeps us.”
–John O’Donohue
As you look for a Word to serve as your Touchstone from 2022, I’m going to suggest that as you work through this book to discover your Word for 2022 that you focus on your daily life.
No, I’m not telling you to refrain from setting big goals. However, we need to ensure that we live ourselves and our lives in the process. But the truth in the matter is that many of us need to recover from 2021. We need to find hope, work on our resilience, and heal the traumas we’ve experience in 2020 and 2021.
And while those are big tasks. And while it’s not something that can be accomplished overnight, making good choices today to select a Touchstone for the journey invites us to infuse the ordinary moments.
So, yes, set big goals for yourself if you’re called to. However, don’t forget that achieving the seemingly ordinary or small intentions can be a source of life-giving hope. That way, when you’re ready to tackle the bigger goals. And when those larger, more complex dreams come to fruition, we’re ready to revel in the glory of it.
While it’s easy to say the pursuit of pleasure has hedonistic and have nothing to do with pursing your goals, they can actually go hand in hand. And here’s why: if you pursue a goal and don’t get a reward, then even if you reach your goal, it’s unlikely you’ll feel satisfied about your life.
So, when you choose to focus on how you can make your daily life more loving, nourishing, and enjoyable, you find the courage and the energy to pursue your bigger goals.
Get the most recent Word of the Year book
Get your Free Word of the Year for 2027Workbook:
A Guiding Light for 2027: Discover Your Word of the Year
This newly revised 64-page workbook is designed to help you do much more than choose a pretty Word for your planner. You’ll spend some time looking back at the year you’ve lived, thinking about what you want from the year ahead, exploring more than 1,100 possible Words and phrases, and discovering the Word that feels like it belongs with the life you actually want to be living.
*You will also receive my quarterly newsletter where I’ll continue to serve as your cheerleader for you – and your Word of the Year – by providing journal prompts to help you reconnect to the Word you chose.
A Guiding Light for 2027: Discover Your Word of the Year is free for Subscribers.
Prefer not to join another email list, you may purchase your copy here for $8
