A Year of Intuition
Over a decade ago, my family was slammed with heartache when my grandfather and uncle passed away only a week apart from each other. Both unexpected.
It was a turbulent and emotional period that acutely drew my attention to the passing of time.
It made me realize how little time I spent in the present moment — always wishing for time to pass more quickly to get to the next thing, or wishing for something to be over faster.
At the end of that year, instead of making a new year’s resolution, I decided to pick a bigger theme to focus on. That first year it was “don’t wish time away.”
I spent the following year paying attention to when I was itching for time to move faster and practicing pulling myself back into the present moment. That theme helped me slow down and participate in my life in a new way.
That initial practice is where my annual tradition of choosing an expansion word was born.
What is an expansion word?
Choosing an expansion word is like choosing a personal growth theme for the year. It’s your self-discovery North Star.
It acts as a reminder of where you're being called to grow.
It plays the role of connector, showing you new and creative ways to explore your chosen word.
It's a form of active meditation, bringing your focus and attention back time and time again throughout the year.
I’ve done this practice with the words like Surrender and Beauty. And for 2023 I’m working with the word Intuition.
How do I choose my expansion word?
To get my expansion word, I use free writing to look back on the previous year and take note of what I’ve accomplished and how I’ve grown. I reflect on the lessons I’ve learned and how that expansion has shifted my life.
Then I pick an aspect of myself or my life that I want to explore more deeply. Since I’ve been using expansion words for years, I can usually sense a theme that’s pulling me in.
The final step is letting my imagination take over and play (side note: imagination is one of the most powerful drivers of a self-discovery practice as it pushes us outside of our routines and habits to give us a glimpse of what’s possible).
I let myself imagine what I’ll learn from the word, what new shifts and perspectives may come into focus. Through this playful exercise, the word begins to take form.
An Expansion Word in Action
One of the main reasons I picked Intuition is because I know I’m a deeply intuitive person, but historically I’ve experienced some resistance with trusting and following those intuitive hits.
That resistance is deeply linked to my early life and not having examples or tools for how to process and trust my emotions (learning about and redirecting this is a huge focus of my self-discovery practice).
Starting my own business has actually been a beautiful space for me to explore and play with my innate wisdom. All of my program offerings were intuited and have been helping others in their self-discovery journeys, so I’ve seen the power of leading with this inner knowing.
But this year, I want to go all-in.
I want to let my intuition lead not only in my business, but my life. And I’ll be honest — that’s way easier said than done. But it’s the commitment I wanted to make to myself because I know there’s a lot of magic to be had on the other end of this practice.
I’m 2.5 months in and already seeing this word spring to life (and the power of it is pretty incredible)! I’m listening to my inner wisdom and putting it into action — even when it pushes me outside of my comfort zone.
Over these few short months my intuition has:
Told me to share my experiences throughout the year (hi - here I am starting action on this) because there are people who will receive healing through my sharing and storytelling
Led me through an intensive 20-day meditation to reveal deep insights around my relationship to health and how to best take care of myself
Showed me how to create a framework to share that meditation experience with others who are at odds with their own health and are ready to take action to change their relationship to wellness (more to come on that very soon!)
Ushered me into a new era of cooking where I’m actually creating my own recipes — this one is really wild to me because I’ve never really loved cooking, but had a desire to connect with it in a new way as part of my health journey
Encouraged me to explore my creativity through writing, which is a relatively newfound and growing interest/expression of mine (there’s a lot of imposter syndrome showing up in this space, but here I am, doing it anyway — comfort zone be damned)
Inspired me to try my hand at gardening to become more connected to nature as another avenue to exploring my relationship to health
All of this has happened since January (wild!). So it seems I’ve opened the floodgates and now my focus is riding the current wherever it takes me.
If you’re down here reading this, I welcome you to join me on this journey. I finally figured out how to turn my comments on (lol, I’m old) and would love to hear any insights or ahas that pop up for you along the way! And thank you for joining me on this journey <3