My Word for the Year

My word for 2016 has been “connected” as in connected to myself, to source or God, and to others. It has indeed been a year for meeting many new people in my life. What I found was each connection has the possibility of reaping even more connections. When you meet one person and they get to know you, they then think of other people you might enjoy knowing…and the circle grows.

I did find out that I’m not wild about big “networking” events, but I do love one of the things that Women with Moxie offers called Quick Connect. It’s like speed dating to get to know other women entrepreneurs. You don’t have to try to impress the person across from you, it’s more about just being you and finding out if you like that person well enough to want to get to know them more. Questions are geared not at giving an elevator speech, but rather at unique things like “what’s one thing you could hire someone else to do?”, “how did you solve a recent problem?” and questions in the broad life category versus specific what do you do category.

After the Quick Connect you can then see who you want to get to know more, and coffee, tea or a walk has been a fun way to get to know many of these people more. I always enjoy the one on one time with almost anyone! It’s also been a great way to find speakers to interview for My Best Year.

Connecting didn’t stop there, I also spent more time with my family by upping my half days from one to two, when my daughter had her second child, and by inviting my Mom out for Thanksgiving. I love that I know my granddaughter, Ava, well and she knows what to expect from me. We’ve had a lot of fun times playing together, whether that’s in her room, at a park, or at the Children’s Museum, and play is good for my soul! I’m also enjoying getting to know my second granddaughter, Edie, as she grows and develops her own unique personality.

Ava and my Mom at Thanksgiving, a bit blurry, but life with a 3-year old is!

I’ve also been trusting my intuition much more. I don’t know if that’s a natural part of the aging process, but I do feel more connected to myself, to my dreams, and to my creativity. I somehow know when an idea is one to follow versus just enjoy from afar and not take action on.

“Connected” enriched my 2016 year. I used it to help make decisions, such as when having a conflict, I would ask myself “what could make us feel more connected?” Or when picking one of two alternatives, I went for the one that enhanced connections, especially those at a deeper level.

I’ve had a word for the year for more than 15 years, as my friend Penny and I would sit drinking champagne in her living room overlooking the San Diego Bay on New Year’s Eve, and coming up with our word. I now use Susannah Conway’s Finding Your Word process to help me nail down my word (or words) for the year, if I need a little boost.

My word (or should I say words) for 2017 are “simple up!” I kept getting “simple” or “simplify” but they didn’t feel quite right…but when I thought of “simple up” it was number one – too corny for me to dream up, as that is the name of my blog…and it felt bigger than me, like it wanted me to explore its boundaries to the very edge. So, I look forward to seeing what I can “simple up” in 2017. To me it’s like “lighten up” combined with simplify. As in taking the weight and complexity away…revealing what’s underneath.

What’s your word for the year? Please share it below in the comments. Thanks!