Word of the Year

I don't choose a word of the year. Instead, I choose a process to deepen, support and stabilize my connection to divine order

I don't choose a word of the year. I tried it. It didn't work for me. I am a shape-shifter and I like my 'word' to change as I change. Still, words are remarkable focal points, especially when I can't focus and become overwhelmed with options.

How I choose my words

I remember that words are infused with energy. Every. Single. Word. fills consciousness with itself.

Some words evoke memory. When I say words like 'ice cream truck' or 'circus' or 'first date' - most people remember an experience. Some words evoke visual, auditory or sensory impressions.

When we are reading or watching a film, the mind is filled with image, it is full. Mind loves image. That’s why we savor a beautifully written book: word + image. It’s why lush cinematography sends us swooning. It’s why advertisers use words and images to get our attention - and then, sell us their products.

(Word + Image) captivates our attention. Word + Image creates effects.

Though the word 'apple' is not an actual apple, the word on the page can set off a response from your body. You may salivate. Your stomach may rumble, reminding you it's time for a snack. You may take action - reaching for an actual apple, taking a bite. Imagining the apple created awareness of hunger for an apple - the lack of an apple.

Which brings us to my problem with word of the year.

The first problem is how most people choose their annual word

I have 30 pounds to lose. So I choose: Skinny. (Or maybe, I take a more enlightened approach and choose the word, Radiantly Healthy.

My husband and I are arguing. So I choose: Happy Couple. (Or the more enlightened: Namaste at home.)

I need to earn more money. So I choose: Wealth. (Enlightened word choice: Abundance.)

When a word like ‘skinny’ or ‘Namaste at home’ or ‘Abundance’ becomes a focal point (which is the whole point of choosing a word of the year) we will begin to see IMAGES of skinny, of loving couples, of wealthy people EVERYWHERE. (Law of Attraction is better than a Facebook algorithm. It KNOWS what you are focused upon and sends you more and more of that. The problem is, if you are focused on the word ‘skinny’ from the word/image that you are ‘fat’ there’s a clang and a bang inside of you. Dissonance.

Seeing images of what you believe you are not amplifies your awareness of what is missing. Like the image of the apple makes you hungrier, images of what you are missing make you feel stuck, frustrated and eventually hopeless.

The problem isn’t choosing a better word. The whole system is flawed. It’s built on the assumption of mastery, of pushing through, of overpowering the problem with your will (willpower).

And the assumption of mastery is built on the assumption that your thirty pounds, your argument with your husband, your lack of wealth is your fault.

The system blames you as it condemns you. It holds you outside of blessing, telling you that you’re fat, you’re a bitch, and that your lack of ‘abundance’ is the result of your own flaws.

This whole system is built on the binary that you are either perfect or imperfect, good or evil, broken or healed. It was built by a collective mindset of fear - which sees anything outside the margin as broken and separate from blessing. This same system then builds an entire architecture around healing you, fixing you, selling you shit to perfect your imperfect body, face, mind, heart and soul.

This is why I don’t like word of the year. I prefer honoring. I prefer generosity. I prefer inclusion and radical blessing.

Process of the year: Surrender it. Bless it. Give it to the Goddess, to the Mother, to the angels. Let them restore it all to divine order. Trust them.

Process mantra: This is not mine. It belongs to God.

Process mantra: Nothing is wrong with this, with me, with you.

Then, stay in steady connection with the inner word, the OM, the Adonai, the Allah, the Shekinah, that is already in connection with you.

Let the ‘word’ that you are choose you. Let it speak, sing and chant its way through you. Let your body respond.