This will be the third year that I have chosen a word for the upcoming twelve months. My first year it was independent, 2011 has been all about expansion and in 2012, I’ve decided my word will be trust.

I have learned through paradox {and reading about others’ experiences as well as from my own} that the word you pick will not necessarily mean that you sail through the year on the wings of the joy and delight it seems to promise. Oh no.

Last year, for which I chose independent, I instigated two relationship break ups {after two extremely tough, if shortlived, relationships} and travelled to New Zealand on my own for two and a half months, among other things. This year most of my expansion was internal and at least not, thank goodness, physical. 😉 But it has been profound, extremely difficult at times and certainly not what I might have imagined for myself when I picked it.

I say ‘chose’ and ‘picked’ in the loosest sense. These words seem to pick themselves. Even when I have a few in mind, one persistently jumps out like the kid who sticks her hand up to answer every question the teacher asks, her face bursting with ‘pick me!’ enthusiasm. This year I toyed with ‘let go’ {which I couldn’t have because my inner pedant couldn’t hack a two-word ‘word’ :)}, ‘clarity’ and ‘surrender’ but trust insisted on being The One. {For the record, I’m keeping clarity and surrender as side orders.}

Based on my previous experiences I can only imagine what might come up for me over the next twelve months. As I said, the word chosen tends to mean all your shit around that word will come up and smack you in the face until you learn the lessons you need to progess. If it’s starting to sound like a less than pleasant prospect, don’t get me wrong; you will need to learn these lessons anyway, and there can and will be many splendid and delightful things that also manifest under the umbrella of your word.

So trust it is. For me that means trusting that the universe has my back, that I am exactly where I need to be, that I’m always doing better than my inner meanie would have me believe, and most importantly trusting myself and my inner guidance to take me forward. It means much more than that but this post is already longer than I’d planned!

Do you choose a word for your year? What have you decided on for 2012? I’d love to hear your experiences  if you’ve done it before too.

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If choosing a word for your upcoming year sounds like something you’d like to get in on…

Goddess Leonie does a 101 page {!} workbook which covers this and many other joyful things to help you transition from the year passing into the year coming, including a calendar. It’s $9.95 or free if you’ve signed up to the Goddess Circle.

Susannah Conway does a less vibrant, shorter and no less gorgeous version which may suit you better if sparkles and rainbows aren’t really your thing but you still like to answer questions and fill stuff in.

Also Mondo Beyondo does a word for the year thing as part of their six week ecourse, which is possibly where I first heard about it when I did it myself, but I don’t remember.

{These are not affiliate links, I just kept coming across them as soon as I started considering my word. There are plenty more people talking about it.}

Whatever 2012 brings you, I wish for you peace and miracles and more love than you could ever imagine.

xoxo