Of course, if choosing a word of the year works for you then I’m really glad for you.

But this year I’m noticing there is pressure building around this, like we’re supposed to choose a word of the year, like it’s a requirement for living as soulful, awake, creative being.

Well, I don’t want to choose one.

Working with intention is powerful. It’s not something you should do just because everyone else is doing it, or because it’s time to buy a new calendar.

It’s also not something you can always necessarily narrow down to one word.

In fact, narrowing down a whole year to one word can stifle your intention to move forward.

Choosing a word of the year is a way of working with intention and so it’s bigger than your word.? In fact, your word of the year is charged with the energy with which you select it.? Working with intention is a deep and layered practice, and in the act of narrowing it down to one world, you may be working against yourself.

Are you picking a word with the hope that 2015 will go easy on you?? You are filling your intention with your fear that you can’t handle your life.

Are you picking a word with the hope that 2015 will bring you your Big Dream without you specifically naming and claiming the dream directly?? You are filling your intention with your fear that you can’t have your dream.

Are you picking a word with the hope that in 2015 you’ll be happier than you were in 2014?? You are filling your intention with all the un-met grief of the sadness of 2014.

See, WHY you choose your word is every bit as important as WHAT word you choose.

And why you are choosing a word instead of an intention or a goal or a resolution or anything else really matters.

Don’t choose a word of the year just because everyone is doing it!? Look inside your own heart to discover what is right for you.

Intentions thrive on clarity.

The whole process of bringing it down to one word is not necessarily clarity-inducing.? Yes – for some people, in some situations, it’s great.? But as a general thing that everyone does at the end of every year?? No it’s not a great approach.

For me, for 2015, I am not choosing a word.? I am choosing a direction: inward.? Grow your Depth, Nurture Your Brilliance.

I’m really ready to go where this takes me, and I know that I have no idea what that even means. I just know that I trust my intuition and I’m in this, like really in this, for the whole process.

If you can’t say that you’re willing to walk through the fire with your word of the year – don’t bother picking it.

Because picking a word and not being willing to stay present with the journey it takes you on is only going to add to your baggage for the next time you want to work with intention.

?Oh remember that time I chose abundance as my word of the year and then wound up in debt? That stuff doesn’t work for me.? <—- this is a form of self-sabotage

Your clear intention will light the path between where you are today and where you want to be.

It won’t necessarily make walking that path a breeze.

It will usually mean walking through a hell of a lot of your own stuff – your own patterns, fears and limiting believes that have so far successfully kept you from having the thing you want.

You’ve got to do the work of shifting all of that stuff INSIDE of you before you’ll ever see anything change on the outside.

Sometimes, when people talk about words of the year, it feels like they’re hoping the word will operate as a hot air balloon that will just gently easily bouncily float them over to what they want.? All that is is another way of breaking your own heart.

Remember that you don’t have to get caught up in the holiday hoopla.? You create your own path.