Welcome to Part Two. We’re ready to walk into the spirit of the new year. {Looking for Part I?}
We begin this new year with meaning, purpose, the intention to who/what we are and who/what we are becoming, and an idea of who/what can support us.
It usually takes a solid 4-6 weeks to complete this process (combining Parts I and II), which is perfect because it is usually just before the Winter closes, giving you space to become settled into the “new you” before Spring dawns with a budding and blooming Earth. Remaining aligned with the Creator of Earth (and all that is created within it) is key.
In Part Two, here’s what we do:
- Brainstorm (and shortlist) Your New Word of the Year
- Choose Your First 2-3 Releases
- Finalize Word of the Year & Choose a Guide
- Select Your “Verb”
- Record Your Last Menses
- Set Intentions
Since this is a process, I want to share how you can borrow it for yourself with step-by-step action items that you can repeat.
Brainstorm + Shortlist) Your New Word of the Year
Review your Release, Keep, and Create columns from the Setting Intentions for 2023 sheet. As you study and meditate on it, something stirs in you, causing you to create a shortlist of words to concentrate on. {Sometimes, only one word comes, and that’s fine too.} This a tender process because lots of things could come up, and it’s important that you are attuned to choose the most fitting word for where you are right now.
Your “word” is not limited to singularity. It could be a pair, like Structure & Organization, or it could be a phrase like “It’s all good.” Do not overthink or try to force anything into a mold. Remember, this is a process, not a test. Take time studying, praying, and meditating over your shortlist until one word becomes obvious. {Want to read some of my clients’ 2023 Words of the Year?}
Choose 2-3 Releases to Address First
As you ponder your Word of the Year, choose 2-3 releases that you will intentionally give your attention to for the first quarter of the year. Which ones make sense to start with given all the work you’ve done so far in the process? Also, consider what those releases may require of you and if the first quarter of the year is a good time on your calendar to bring yourself to do that work. Much of you being intentional is also being seasonal. You know your calendar, schedule, body, time, and energy–so work within it!
In your journal, bullet-list the 2-3 releases you selected and include a quick note about why you are leading the year with them. You will return to this during the New Moon season. For January 2023, the New Moon is January 21 in the States.
Finalize Word of the Year
Once you feel settled and confirmed on your word choice, finalize your word(s)/phrase of the year and commit to it. This is not to say that you cannot make adjustments throughout the year, but it is to frame and order your year. I am a fan of “sleep on it” and “talk it out.” So, I like to sleep on it once more and see if anything new or confirming visits me in a dream or in an early morning download. I also like to use my daytime hours to talk it out with one of my trusted friends because she helps me to mentally, emotionally, and spiritually sort and situate.
Pair your Word of the Year with a guide. This is a quote, mantra, saying, prayer, chant, or Scripture (from any Holy Book) that complements your word/phrase. Be mindful of retaining your spiritual or religious system.
We associate a guide because it is incredibly easy to lose information in our brains. Our brains receive approximately 11 million pieces of information a day. They filter through these pieces because they can only process about 26 pieces of information at any given moment. I cannot tell you how many times, in January, I’ll ask new clients, “What was your Word of the Year from last year?” Some reply, “If I had one, I do not remember it.”
While some of that is a lack of intention throughout the year, it also informs me that those clients did not pair a guide for memory’s sake. Once you forget your word or lose sight of it, the power of its intention begins to wane and is sometimes lost. We want to avoid that. Your guide will help you remember and stay intentional because you can easily memorize or already know it. Whatever you decide, add it to your daily quiet/prayer time.
For example, last year, my word was “growth.” I used my saying “We grow as we go” as my guide and attached it to my intentions last year to keep my eyes on that prize. You could probably ask me a few years from now what my 2022 Word of the Year was, and I’d be able to tell you. Help your brain out and choose a guide for you to memorize and associate with your final word choice.
Select the “Verb.”
Intentions are about action. You have to do something (or become someone/thing). Your word of the year must be activated; otherwise, it’s only a dormant word (usually a noun) passively sitting on a page. You have to breathe life into the energy you want. The simplest place to start is by assigning a verb.
What will you capture as evidence of your manifestations and/or answered prayers? What action will drive your intentions all year by way of your word of the year?
For example, my verb (last year) was “to accomplish.” I purposefully sought to accomplish a number of intentions that I had set both for the year and for the month as it related to “growth.”
This year, my word is “explore,” and my verb is “learn.” I purposefully seek to capture what I have learned throughout the year as I explore.
Learning will drive my exploration. That energy will assist me in setting intentions, tendering reflections, and making any tweaks and adjustments along the way for what I come to know with time.
Note the Date of Your Last Menses
If you are a menstruating woman, choose two blank pages in your journal to prepare. Draw six squares on each page to total 12 and head them with each month of the year. In each square, you want to add the following:
- Menses Cycle: [the dates of your period]
- Moon: [full, waning, new, waxing]
- Moon Cycle: [red, white, pink, purple]
- Female Energy: [maternal, healer, growth, inner work]
Each month, record these four things related to your menstrual cycle beginning with January (or any month you start).
Set Intentions for the New Year
You may have this process completed by January’s New Moon. If so, save this last step until that time. If not, keep trekking and save this last step for February’s New Moon.
Return to your Keep & Create lists and consider your Word of the Year and its verb. Choose 2-3 from each list and lull them over with the 2-3 releases you already selected. When it comes to setting intentions, you must be mindful of balancing a pair of two things well: (1) Foresight {care or preparation for the future} & Insight {your ability to see into things} with (2) Surprise {something unexpected} & Spontaneity {something developing or occurring without plan or effort}. [If you are a current client of mine, I often call the second pair “feedback.” It’s your awareness of anything relevant or revelatory in real time as you do life and tender your transactions and tradeoffs.] These two together help give birth to the intentions you set.
Setting intentions is a mind to create action “now” (or “present”) to manifest in the “future.” With that “mind,” you want to exercise your foresight and insight with the knowledge you have already attained or collected. {This is why journaling, calendaring, recording, and tracking are important!} This is the part of setting intentions that you can completely control and own.
Next, in the “manifestation,” you want to leave space for surprise and spontaneity. This part leans into what you did/do not know, cannot fully control, and have to accept. You must leave room for time to pass and reveal what you did not know. Then, make your adjustments with newer and more relevant information. Just like a plan, it must exist, or nothing gets done or is left to chance. Likewise, you know to write it in pencil because some parts need to be updated to mirror real-time events and real-life happenings.
Now, set your intentions for the month. In this case, a “month” is the period of time from the new moon-to-new moon. Since that period also mirrors the zodiac timeframe, you can think of it as one sign to the next. Under January’s New Moon to February’s New Moon, that would be the Aquarius season.
I hope you enjoyed your final round of the process. The last two steps are repeated each month under the New Moon. I’d love to hear anything new you learned! If you’re setting intentions with me all year, subscribe to my email list to receive Full Moon (reflections) and New Moon (intentions) notifications from me to stay on track and in synch.
We grow as we go®️,
