Hello dear one,
Yes, I did say “welcoming” 2022. I may be an outlier but I am not already wishing to crush 2022 into dust, the way many of us wished we could do to 2020 and 2021.
I’m actually doing pretty well. And I’m actually smiling when I think about the year unfolding itself, day by day and week by week, like a red carpet into the unknown.
I want to share with you the very simple ritual I did to welcome 2022.
I suppose you could call it intention-setting. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say “resolution.”
Maaaaaybe “goal” if I murmured the word “goal” while holding a glass of rose-colored elixir with one pinky extended, while waiting for my flower-petal bath to fill. The kind of “goal” that is supple and relaxed, slowed to the pace of a lazy summer evening.
So, here it is, my ritual, intention-setting, maybe goal if you squint:
1. One word.
I seized upon one word that rings in my body like a bell. For me it’s “vivify.”
VIVIFY.
What will it be for you?
In case I’ve never told you this about me, my alter ego is a flapper from the 1920s, who hangs out by day in living room salons with writer/culture-shapers like Gertrude Stein and Anais Nin, and who hangs out by night in bathtubs full of gin, singing along to the big sounds of the Big Bands.
Vivify or vivification is a word straight out of this other era, my friend, and it’s my mission to bring it back into common parlance in 2022.
2. One word, as measuring stick.
How I’m shifting “vivify” from an idea and a mouthful of a word into a set of actions and choices throughout 2022 is this: when I’ve got a choice in front of me, I measure.
Does it bring more of my word? Then that choice is a yes. Less of my word? It’s a no.
Will this choice or fork in the path or opportunity or decision bring more vivification, more vitality, more life-energy? If so, then that’s the choice I make.
If no, I decline. As gracefully but also as ruthlessly as I can.
That’s it. No frills (except for the fringe sashaying off my 1920’s style dress).
One word by which to guide our steps during this unfurling new year.
May it be useful for you! And if you have a word, will you share it with me? Via Facebook or, if you aren’t Facebook-friendly, simply hit reply to the email version of this post in your inbox.
Viva our vivification,
PS: Photo by Julia Maryanska Photography