New Year’s Resolutions are out. What is in? Because, in the current environment, there is much emphasis on simplicity. perhaps a single word might be foundational to one’s aspirations for the new year.

If 2020 will go down in history as the year of Covid, or the year of insane U.S. politics, or the year of isolation, how will 2021 land? Can we influence the coming year? We have learned to honor connection and self-care. Could we choose to consider 2020 as a gap year, a sabbatical, or as my (current) favorite writer would suggest, a threshold? Join me, if you will, in consideration of a single, motivating, sustaining word to anchor our thoughts and actions throughout the year ahead.

Of course, there are huge words of enormous significance such as HEALING and WHOLENESS. There are the usual FITNESS and DIET words. There are the inevitable words dealing with AGING and lack, translated into LONGEVITY and ABUNDANCE. I have long chosen words such as BOLDNESS or COURAGE or AUDACITY or something that would push me out of my hesitation to do anything uncomfortable. There is comfort in strong words such as STABILITY, MOBILITY (some of my favorite Yoga terms), EFFICIENCY and EFFECTIVENESS. There are the words I use when I teach Yin Yoga – INTENTION and ATTENTION. YIN and YANG are complete.

This year I’m looking elsewhere. Of course, a primary aspiration would be STRENGTH – physical, mental and emotional. other candidates might include ENERGY, CURIOSITY, EXPLORATION, ADAPTATION, RENEWAL, BALANCE.  These are self-explanatory.

I identify as a teacher which means that I also identify as a student. Could 2021 be remarkable as an exercise in STUDY? Recently I completed a course in CONTENT management and realized that significant content, whether in writing, on my website, or in my daily life, is, well, significant. A new word has thus been added to my vocabulary.

CLARITY relates well to organization and problem solving, both of which seem to elude me during these months of Covid! And, I have long promoted the concept of PLAY as valid and, in fact, necessary, in each individual life.

I received a Christmas gift of beautifully crafted Mala beads of Dalmatian stone or Jasper. The attached note suggested that these beads encourage and support SIMPLICITY and PLAYFULNESS.

How to choose? On a very personal level, I prefer the concept of EXPERIENCING to that of aging. Furthermore, one of my kids and I have spent many hours discussing our HOPES and DREAMS. Even now.

My granddaughter offered to share her word for 2021, WARRIOR.  I am tempted. I love the concept of ENGAGED or EXPERIENCED, the “fight the good fight” notion. And, of course, I love Yoga’s Warrior poses (yes, even Warrior 3 with which I struggle). Any of the many Dancing Warrior flow sequences appeal to me and I love the feeling of strength, coupled with openness in Warrior 2. But … war? No, I just can’t go there. I don’t want to fight. I’d rather go with the FLOW.

I do like this one.  FLOW. I imagine the mountain brook flowing downhill bouncing over and around obstacles yet continuing. I imagine the unobstructed flow of air and the rhythmic movement of pedal strokes, running strides or ski glides. There’s a sense of letting go, challenging resistance creatively, and progressing with strength and freedom.  I see flow as active not passive, yet not determined to the point of self-defeat.  “Do your best and then relax. Let things go on in a natural way, rather than force them.” Paramahansa Yogananda.

But I have it. No, it’s not a very creative or original word, but it is right. Just this morning a quotation arrived in my inbox that ended my quest and provided a solution to my word for the new year. It is a curiously timely quote of Emily Dickinson who, though she lived in the 19^th century in the nearby state of Massachusetts, is also considered the “American poetic voice,” (along with Walt Whitman). So here goes: “I dwell in possibility.” Good grief, how simple is that? But that’s it! So, my word for 2021 is POSSIBILITY. What is yours?

And my current favorite writer? I share a part of his Beannacht – A New Year Blessing:

“…May a flock of colours,

Indigo, red, green

And azure blue,

Come to awaken in you

A meadow of delight…

May there come across the waters

A path of yellow moonlight

To bring you safely home…

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

May the clarity of light be yours,

May the fluency of the ocean be yours,

May the protection of the ancestors be yours…

And so may a slow

Wind work these words

Of love around you,

An invisible cloak

To mind your life.”

                                                                         John O’Donohue