What’s your word for 2022?

Personally, I like the idea of using a new year as an opportunity to reflect and to set intentions, and one thing I find super simple, yet powerful, is choosing a word to represent my hopes or intentions for the coming year.

Around this time last year, I came up with the word lightness to capture my intention of holding things lightly for 2021. That was what I realized I needed most for the coming year. I have a way of taking everything really seriously, which can be a wonderful quality at times, but I’m not always great at balancing that with simultaneously holding things lightly.

I was really conscious of this intention for the first few months of 2021, having chosen a playful pink and blue crystal to represent my intention, and remembering my desire for lightness each time I saw it sitting on my desk. I would catch myself getting in a spin about something and then pause for a second and remind myself that holding things lightly was something I was working on. Sometimes this helped me shift my perspective, and sometimes it didn’t, but it was nice to remember that I at least wanted to lighten up a bit.

For quite a few months in the middle of the year, I basically forgot all about this intention. I would remember it fleetingly, usually upon seeing my crystal, but it stopped feeling like something I was actively tracking. As I started to think about my word for 2022 in the last few weeks though, I was reminded of my desire for lightness, and it’s been interesting to reflect on how that intention shaped my last year.

In looking back, I see that I let go of a lot of heaviness in the last year. I also took some risks that I had thought deeply about and taken very seriously, but it was ultimately choosing to hold those things a bit more lightly that gave me the courage to finally give them a try (ie. deciding to start a family). Staying connected to lightness is something I’ll probably always need to work on, but it’s encouraging to see what’s possible when I do.

As I thought about 2022, the first word that came to me was “open”.

For 2022 I want to be open. Open to what comes. Open to change. Open to new ways of thinking and doing and being. I’m due to have a baby in April, so being open feels like both a literal and metaphorical need right now. There are a lot of big changes coming my way, and I can’t think of a better way of approaching them all than with openness.

So that’s it for me. And what about you?

What’s one word that sums up your hopes or aspirations or intentions for 2022?

If you feel like sharing, I’d love to hear it. If not, I hope you ask yourself this question and trust in whatever answer comes.

Wishing you a joyful and restful evening, and a Happy New Year.