How to work with your Word of the Year
You’ve picked your Word of the Year. You’ve reflected and journaled. You made a sweet new vision board that features your word front and center. You’ve even thought about it once or twice since New Year’s Day. So, now what?
DON’T JUST THINK ABOUT IT
How many times have you picked a word and then forgotten all about it by the end of January? That’s because picking a word and thinking about it aren’t enough to create change.
Contemplating a Word of the Year may point you in a direction for your positive growth. Thinking about it may even inspire you to make some changes in your life. But if thinking about it were enough to make ideas into realities we’d all be peace-filled, self-affirmed, and radically abundant. Unfortunately, change doesn’t work that way. Thinking about your word isn’t the same as living it.
If you want to experience the change your word is promising, you need to get it out of your brain and into your life. You need to embody it.
EMBODY YOUR WORD
Merriam-Webster tells us Embody means 1. to give body to (a spirit). 2. to make concrete and perceptible, 3. cause to become a body or part of a body, 4. to represent in human or animal form.
To embody your word means you bring it to life in your life. That means you become the human, physical representation of that word in the world. You don’t just think about peace, you ARE peace. You don’t just think about commitment, you ARE commitment.
Embodiment is taking something ephemeral and conceptual and making it physical and perceptible. An idea you’d only thought about in the past becomes something that you and others can see, feel, hear, touch, smell, or taste. When you embody it, your word is something that another person can see that you are BEING.
Embodiment is the necessary leap your word has to take to go from your mind to your life.
TWO PRACTICES
We aren’t so used to embodying our thoughts in our culture. That’s why so many of our words stay stuck in our heads and don’t ever seem to become part of our lives. In my work as a dance/movement therapist and a yoga instructor I’ve helped hundreds of people embody positive qualities so that they could live them more fully in their lives. Here are two simple ways you can play with embodying your word:
Get into the feeling state of your word
Take a comfortable seat somewhere where you won’t be interrupted
Receive 3-5 deep breaths to really sink into your body and become present
When you feel present, call your word to mind and repeat it several times in silence
Let it resonate like a heartbeat on the inside
Now let the heartbeat of the word start to spread out inside of you
FEEL the energy that that word carries and let it infuse into your cells
Stay until the you feel yourself taking on the physical sensation of your word
After meditation, journal any insights you want to remember
Get physical with your word
In a standing position, feel into the physical sensation of your word
Now pick a stance that conveys the physical sensation - this could be a variation on a yoga pose or any pose that feels like how your word would stand
(Don’t censor or judge yourself - your word wants to stand in a particular way - trust it!)
And/or
Pick a song that captures the feeling state of your word
DANCE the song of your word
(Don’t censor or judge yourself - your word knows how it wants to dance)
Put your song on playlist and keep it close to remind you of your word
AT FIRST IT SUCKS
These practices lay the groundwork for you to live your word, not just in your mind, but in the world. And you need that kind of groundwork. That’s because when you first set out to bring a new quality into your life, something unexpected happens.
Nobody tells you this, but at first you’ll see all the ways that you’re not living up to your word of the year. And it will suck. Your word might be integrity and you’ll notice how often you tell lies. Or you’ll see how frustrated you always feel even though your word for the year is peace.
Noticing these misalignments won’t feel good. In fact, it may feel so bad that you’ll be tempted to give up on your word. But that would be a mistake.
BRING IT FORWARD
The moment you see that you’re not living up to your word of the year is a potent moment. It holds the possibility for real change. This is your moment to rest back into the foundation you set with your felt meditation, poses, and dancing your word. Sink into fully embodying your word. And then BRING IT OUT in your life.
So…
If you word is trust - embody trusting yourself and your instincts
If your word is integrity - embody integrity even when it’s hard
If your word is peace - embody peacefulness inside when things go awry
Sometimes embodying your word will go easily, sometimes it will be a challenge. But the outcome is less of the point than the actual process. The more you do it, the easier it will be and the more your word will become a reality for you.
EMBODYING INNER SILENCE
Last month I led a winter solstice class which was designed to be restful and quieting for the students. Only. My day was wild. It was our first full day of winter break with my kids, my 7 year old was hyped up on holiday magic and there wasn’t a moment of quiet to be found.
When I got to the studio I was frazzled and my mind was racing. I knew that I didn’t want to pass on my stress to the students. So I put on music that set the tone. And I sat for meditation until I could feel a shift. I intentionally embodied stillness and inner silence. By the time I signed in to Zoom I was a physical vessel of the quietness I hoped my students would experience during the class. And I’m sure they felt it.
LIVE YOUR WORD IN YOUR LIFE
You picked your word for a reason. You know you want it in your life. Be willing to do more than think about the change you want to create. Embody it!
Remember, embodiment means making your word into something you can perceive. If you do the groundwork to set a strong foundation for living your word in the world, and if you don’t let moments of misalignment take you off your course, then this can be the year your word finally comes alive in your life.
Don’t know what I’m talking about when I say Word of the Year? Google is your friend. You’ll find a lot of resources to help you find exactly the right word to shape your year.