The top New Year’s resolutions for 2021 were:
1. Get in shape / exercise more
2. Lose weight
3. Save more money
In 2020 the top New Year’s resolutions were:
1. Lose weight
2. Improve finances
3. Exercise more
The top resolutions for 2019 were
1. Exercise more
2. Save more money
3. Eat healthier (#4 was to lose weight)
Notice a trend?
What in the world? If folks were able to actually accomplish their resolution, they wouldn’t be making the same ones over and over.
In the past few years, I’ve played with a different way: One Word.
One Word isn’t a resolution, it’s an intention.
There is a tightness, a black and white quality to a resolution. A resolution is a goal, something you want to be different, something you either do or don’t do.
An intention, on the other hand, is a feeling, a process, an approach, something you want to weave into everything. I can apply an intention to anything: my work, my relationships, my health, my social action...and perhaps my goal.
For more than a decade, I’ve used One Word to nudge and rudder me through my days. Every year, I’m amazed at the power of this simple practice. And each year, the new word builds on what came before.
MY ONE WORDS
2011 – OPEN
2012 – RELEASE
2013 – SPACIOUS
2014 -- WORTHY
2015 -- FREEDOM
2016 – heARTful
2017 – AWAKE
2018 – HEALING
2019 – CLEAR
2020 – CALM
2021 – TRUST
2022 —
To choose a word – or more accurately, to let a word choose me – I ask myself, What is something I want to feel more of in the coming year? Not, What do I want to do or have or be this year? Instead, What do I want to feel more of?
When looking for a my word, I often make the mistake of thinkthinkthinking about it. Time and again, it doesn’t work. I’ve found that the better approach is to invite a word in, to make space for it and see what happens.
What word pops up in three different articles that you read? What word does your partner, child and teacher all say within a single day? What word do you see on a sign that leaps out at you?
A One Word intention is a gift to yourself. Hanging out with that intention – and often on sticky notes all over my office – allows the possibility of my word infusing everything I do.
What about you? Did you do a One Word practice in 2021? Has your 2022 One Word found you yet? There’s still plenty of time, so rather than rush to find it, take a breath and see what arrives. See what you want to infuse into everything in 2022.
P.S. And when you’ve found it, please share it in the comments! The piece of art that I’ve started above is waiting for all of our words to become part of it!