Word of the Year

With the new year comes a new word choice that will flavor the entire year. You may remember that last year I chose the word abundance. It really was a wonderful touchstone for 2011. When I started the year I had visions of abundance in the form of money. That was what I THOUGHT I was setting myself up for but what I ended up receiving was so much more.

Having abundance changed my perspective about what I need and what I already have. It really went hand in hand with gratitude because each time I would go into gratitude I would see how abundant I am or each time I focused on abundance I would be carried into gratitude. What a lovely partnership.

During the month of December I started thinking about what word I would like to carry me through the upcoming year. What was I looking to accomplish? The word responsibility popped up and it felt right. As I started working with the word and journalling about it I started to feel a bit...well, yucky about it. I mean, it's not the most inspirational or exciting word I could have chosen. Other people were choosing words that are beautiful, inspiring, and just plain fun and I'm choosing responsibility?! Hmmmm

I got on the phone with my bestie and talked through it. At first we tried to come up with some other words that might fit but nothing seemed to be right. Then I started explaining why I choose the word. I explained that in some areas of my life I fail to take responsibility like in my finances and in other areas I take on too much like around the house. This imbalance has created issues that ripple through my whole life including children that could use some work around responsibility.

As the conversations continued I remembered a talk I had with Laura Hollick when I was going through my Soul Art certification. The idea of responsibility had come up and she encouraged me to dive in a little deeper there and said she felt like responsibility was a huge thing for me and working through it may give me the opportunity to redefine the word for me. Ah, yes, that may explain the yucky feeling I got when thinking deeply about the word...it needs to be redefined.

By the end of the conversations we both knew...responsibility was the right word. I spoke passionately about it and there was excitement that we both felt. Responsibility it is.

So for the next year I will focus on responsibility. Responsibility to my body, my family, my home, my creativity, my finances, my mind, my development, my business, my choices, my life here on this earth. I will learn to let go of areas I have found comfort in and to be honest, a bit of victim-hood. I will encourage my children to embrace responsibility and to take pride in it. I will redefine my ideas about responsibility. I'm excited to see where this leads. We already started the year on the right foot. We had a family meeting where everyone chose one responsibility to focus on for the month of January. Woo hoo!

Have you all chosen a word for the year? I'm wondering what you are going to be focusing on. Care to share?