2013 was the first time I chose a word for the year. I’d heard about the practice from Susannah Conway, but it turns out many, many women share it. Heather from Learn + Explore + Share explains that Ali Edwards was the concept creator — doesn’t that sound like a juicy role? — and she provides a lot of great resources on the topic.
My word for 2013 was love. It was chosen rather capriciously while standing on one of my favorite beaches in Northern California last January, but it has served me well. Early 2013 required significant healing and self-love brought on by realizing, as I mentioned in my recap post, that I was standing in my way rather than standing in my power. Acknowledging, accepting, and moving forward from that took love, acceptance, and self-care.
In thinking about my word for 2014, the first thing that came to mind was community (I even painted a mini-watercolor about it). That thought came from the realization that I want to deepen my ties to Silicon Valley through new friendships and to broaden my connections to interesting, empowered, creative people, wherever they are in the world.
When I later talked to my friend Cassandra, she suggested intuition based on my 2013 learnings. She’s right that a big learning from 2013 was that I have intuitive sparks but I don’t always heed them, so I trusted my intuition this time and decided that intuition didn’t feel exactly right for my 2014 word either.
As I meditated further, connection came to mind. Connection is the basis for my photography and it fits well with both intuition and community, deepening connection to self and community. I turned to Susannah’s Unravelling the Year Ahead guide, which suggests you can have one central word and four supporting words. Thank you, Susannah! – That’s exactly what I needed to hear this year.
So, without further ado, my word for the year, 2014, is: Connection.
Photo by Matti Vanni, Creative Commons by-nc-sa
In support of connection, I’m turning to my old pal love and adding in community, intuition, and health—in acknowledgment of my desire to strengthen connection to self, spirit, and community.
Excerpted from Susannah Conway’s Unravelling 2014
What’s your word for 2014? And how did you decide on it? Share in the comments.
Cheers,
