A Year in a Word

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Whether you were Snapchatting at midnight from Times Square or at home stacking zzz’s, 2016 came to a close this weekend. Without question, this past year was one for the books–heartbreaking, unpredictable, and miraculous at turns.

Trying to describe the year in just a few words is difficult. Fortunately or wistfully, the calendar has turned for all of us. Instead of looking backwards, we turn our attention to the future.

While there is no way to fully anticipate what this next year will bring to our doorsteps, we can make a decision right now about how we will respond each day that it arrives.

As always, we can choose the lens through which we assimilate and understand everything, events that impact the whole globe and those that only touch our world. One way to do this is to choose a word of focus for the year. One to hold with intention.

My friend Bill calls this his “word of the year”. Think of it as a rudder. A way of maintaining our True North in the midst of calm waters or the most turbulent squall. It’s a way to support integrity and promote reconciliation between what happens externally and how we understand it internally.

There are as many different options for a word of the year as there are words and people. It’s less about making the right choice as it is about making the right-for-you choice.

My friend chose empathy this year. A powerful lens. Perhaps you have empathy down and what you’re trying to gain is a bias toward action? Technically, that’s three words, but this is your year and your word(s). Make them work for you.

Here are a few more suggestions to get your juices flowing… Engagement. Stewardship. Yeasayer. Humility. Rest. Coupleship. Art. Wisdom. Wonder. Discipline. Mystery.

2017. It’s your year. What’s your word?