“there is a god[dess] in you, can you feel her dancing?”

photo credit :: COLLEEN ATTARA

Shortly before the end of 2017, Colleen Attara posted this photo holding the word ‘ease’. In the caption she mentioned it “being the perfect word for her in 2017″…

I rarely set New Year’s resolutions, but this photo really got me thinking: what a perfect way to enter the new year — without putting pressure on things needing to be accomplished, tasks to adhere to or ways you want to change yourself — why not choose a word and see how it carries with you in the upcoming year?

So I grabbed a pen to make a list. I started replaying 2017 and asking myself leading questions: what were fun moments? Easy moments? Playful moments? Particularly hard times? What are ways that I had a chance to grow or change, or ways that I stayed the same? and on and on…

After percolating on the list for a long while, it was only late last night during the storm that the word popped into my head — DANCE! I dance in the supermarket aisle, I do a type of ‘dance’ in yoga, I dance around my house to keep warm, and I also danced this morning whilst shoveling snow. It feels so playful AND personal and of-the-moment — exactly the ways I’d like to be this year.

My hopes is to carry this word throughout 2018 and this year’s Squam retreats, too… because how FUN was it when we all danced with Dr. Giavanni Washington last fall? She has some seriously awesome moves that I added to my repertoire! 😉

I’d love to know — have YOU chosen a word for the year? How did it come to you, and how do you foresee yourself carrying it into 2018?

“upon my birth
my mother said
there is a god[dess] in you
can you feel her dancing?”
-rupi kaur