If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know I am a big fan of Christine Kane’s Word of the Year Discovery Tool. I’ve been using it personally for years and I strongly recommend this intentional practice for all Wise Well Women. If you haven’t tried it yet, don’t worry… it’s not too late. You can download this free resource here.
“Refresh” is my word of the year (Refresh was my word in 2014 when I first wrote this post), so I was thrilled to see Christine’s message in my inbox today. Mid-year is the perfect time to “reset” and give focused attention to your intentions. This is the time of year I stop to check-in on the status of my markers and milestones. I always come away inspired and re-energized to step up. Ready to join me? Keep reading…
Hit the “Reset” Button on Your Word-of-the-Year
by Christine Kane
We’ve recently crossed the halfway mark of 2014.
Back in December, if you read my Word of the Year Discovery Tool, you chose a word for yourself. It was a word to guide you through this year.
This practice of choosing a word-of-the-year (rather than making resolutions) is something I wrote about in a blog post back in 2006.
Since then, all kinds of articles get written about it, jewelry artists create custom-made word jewelry for people who want to wear their word, and Facebook hops with discussions about it. The month of January is all abuzz about it.
But let’s revisit it NOW, in July.
Here’s why:
In the world of entrepreneurship, the idea of intention all too often revolves around ego-driven achievement. I believe that choosing a word for the year is so compelling because it takes the “should” out of our own leveling. Our word calls us out, rather than driving us to work harder.
But we have to wake up and be aware of the many ways this is happening. Sometimes this requires that we transcend the traditional ways we would normally interpret certain situations. Or that we take a 10,000-foot view of our life unfolding and say, “Ah, there’s my word again.” Or that we celebrate the ways our word has made us break out of our old prisons of limiting beliefs.
So let’s reconnect with those fabulous intentions you had at the beginning of the year. It’s a great time to come back to center and get clear again.
Here are some ways to hit the Reset Button on your word-of-the-year, and get re-inspired:
1 – Check-in. See if your word still applies. Ask yourself if this is still your word-of-the-year. (Sometimes a change is in order!) Go get my Word of the Year Discovery tool and revisit the process again.
2. See or say your word every day. If it’s not already where you can see it, post it, paint it, photograph it… whatever may inspire you to see it every day, just to remember.
3. Unsplatter yourself. Have you over-reached AGAIN? Did your word somehow multiply, and is now more like seven words? If so, then it means you’re creative and enthusiastic. Congratulations.
However, there’s a problem with perpetually over-reaching.
And that is that you never experience completion or success in ANYTHING.
Similarly, when you focus on one single intention, often the other things you want will begin to manifest effortlessly. (OR you come to realize that you no longer want all those things!)
So come back to your word. It’s the foundation, the catalyst from which all this other stuff will come.
4. Stop trying to figure out HOW. I call it “The Unstoppable Power of Intention” because when you set an intention, you don’t have to know HOW.
Yes, of course, you take action. But you don’t “figure it all out” first. Trying to figure out HOW it could possibly happen is just your scarcity mindset trying to take control. (How’s that been workin’ for you so far?
5. Dismiss your ego. (Again.) You can spin your wheels for years trying to discover an Academy Award-Winning Life Purpose, or waiting ’til you’re “totally at peace.”
Don’t set this trap for yourself. The simple action right in front of you is all you need to take. (And sometimes, it might be deceptively boring!)
6. Celebrate. Acknowledge your successes. Recognize your progress along the way. Realize that no one goes from idea to outcome, from goal to success, overnight.
Celebrate the little milestones along the way. Forgive your setbacks. Realize that slashing your other three tires because you got a flat doesn’t make a lot of sense, and keep going.
So, let’s Hit the “Reset” Button!! If you chose a word of the year, what’s your experience been so far? What’s happened? What hasn’t happened? And most important, how is opening you up? Share away and let’s do some celebrating and reconnecting!
Oh, and if you want to grab my Word-Of-The-Year Discovery Tool, it’s here for the taking.
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Christine Kane is the Mentor to People Who are Changing the World. She helps women and men Uplevel their lives, their businesses, and their success. Her weekly Uplevel You eZine goes out to over 32,000 subscribers. If you are ready to take your life and your world to the next level, you can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://christinekane.com.