So long 2024! As we prepare to welcome 2025, you might want to reflect on your experiences and set your sights on the year ahead. This period offers a wonderful opportunity to contemplate the energy we wish to bring into 2025 and beyond.
In January, we’ll delve deeper into this concept, drawing inspiration from the book, 365 Ways to Feel Better: Self-Care Ideas for Embodied Wellbeing. We’ll explore various methods to focus our energy, intentions, and awareness, utilising the Reticular Activation System. This approach combines scientific backing with a gentle, reflective practice that honours the new year’s energy in a way that can positively impact your entire year.
WATCH OR LISTEN TO EPISODE 38 OF THE FEEL BETTER EVERY DAY PODCAST ON YOUTUBE OR VIA YOUR FAVOURITE PLATFORM
Choosing your word of the year
Many people select a “word of the year” to guide their focus. This practice has gained popularity. My recent choices include Pleasure, Joy, Love, Abundance, Peace and Healing. For the upcoming year, I’ve chosen the word HARVEST, reflecting my desire to acknowledge past efforts and recognise personal growth instead of only ever looking forwards.
The concept of Harvest can be particularly helpful for others, like me, who are future-focused, serving as a reminder to ground yourself and acknowledge achievements. It encourages us to recognise our DONE list alongside the never ending To do list, celebrating how far we’ve come in our personal journeys.
One thing I’m really proud of and excited to finally be sharing is the new look (sound) podcast with additional bonus content for every episode for Half Moon (free subscribers) and Full Moon and Super Moon members of the Sole to Soul Circle. If you’re not already a member, you can join us at selfcarecoaching.net or selfcarecoaching.net/sole-to-soul-circle/
For more than 20 years, I’ve been sharing loads of self-care tools but by being more strategic in my approach now, it’s a better curated experience for you AND is making my life easier, working with my ADHD brain.
But this is me – how about YOU? There are so many qualities you might choose from.
Personalising your approach
While some may find it challenging to choose just one word, the act of focusing can be empowering and effective. Remember that there are no strict rules and you might want to consider:
– Selecting multiple words that resonate with you
– Choosing a word for each quarter or month or even week and day!
– Creating your own unique approach to setting intentions
The key is to find a method that feels authentic and inspiring to you personally
As we approach 2025, take some time to reflect on the qualities you’d like to cultivate in your life. Write down all the words that call to you, then listen to which one speaks the loudest. Remember, choosing one primary word doesn’t mean neglecting other important aspects of your life.
Whether you’re settling on a single word or exploring multiple intentions, the process of embark on this journey, consider sharing your thoughts and chosen words with others.
Not only does this help solidify your intentions, but it also creates a supportive community of individuals working towards personal growth.
Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a new year of self-discovery (in a gentle, joyful way!), growth, and positive change.
May your chosen word or words guide you towards a fulfilling and peaceful and ______[you decide!]____ 2025.
le grá,
TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 38 OF THE FEEL BETTER EVERY DAY PODCAST
Welcome to the end of 2024, and we’re working with recognising what you want to be open to in 2025 and beyond. We’ve done our releasing with the Yule Log (episode 37 of The Feel Better Every Day Podcast).
I hope you were able to join us for that. I’m recording this before it, and it’s a wonderful time of year to think reflectively compassionately and gently and just get clear about what kind of energy you want to be bringing into the new year.
In January, I’m going to be going into more depth with that, working with the book, 365 Ways to Feel Better, Self-care Ideas for Embodied Wellbeing, looking at different ways in which we can focus our energy, our intentions, our awareness and ways of working with the Reticular Activation System.
There is science behind a lot of this now but it’s also just a really lovely, gentle, quiet way to honour New Year energies in a way that can have a positive impact on your entire year and beyond.
So for today, you’ve probably heard people talk about their word of the year. I’ve been doing this for several years now, I’ve had everything from Pleasure to Joy to Love to Abundance to Peace to Healing and this coming year I decided a couple of months ago (it came early for me this year) HARVEST.
I’ve been self-employed for more than 20 years and I do an enormous amount but 2024 was a year of an enormous amount behind the scenes sorting. In terms of I started working with a virtual assistant who’s been helping me make more of the resources I’ve recorded over the years or written over the years more accessible in an easier format.
I’ve a bit of a library going on with the selfcarecoaching.net website and it’s an ongoing process as is my Substack. I’m also creating some other resources, The Self Care Coaching Collections and online courses.
And I’m still working on a couple of books. I’m doing an enormous amount working on the journal that I’m editor-in-chief of, the Irish Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, as well as having a private practice, supervision, Self care coaching, trauma-informed and ADHD friendly therapies which I adore.
I’m really lucky that at 49 I’m happier than I’ve ever been and I want the same for you. Whatever your age.
I want you to really think about what you want more of. I think for me, Harvest as my word of the year came to me because I am recently diagnosed with ADHD, very very future focused.
This morning, at time of recording, I was really anxious about my NCT test, my first ever because I only learned to drive this year and it took all my energy and focus and awareness and about an hour after I got back and little Beatrice Lobster (my car) had passed, someone said, “Congratulations!” And I had no idea what they were talking about. Because I do so many different things, I forget.
Harvest already has been a way of helping me ground more and acknowledge my DONE list as well as my To do list. I recognise how far I’ve come with my own trauma recovery, with my own healing as well as focusing as much as I can on where I want to go.
So that’s my word for the year! As I said, we’re going to be going into more detail with other ways of setting intentions, we’re going to be looking at Sankalpas (positive intentions used in yoga nidra), working through some of the ideas in the book in early January but if you were to just think, right now, what words (and again, ADHD brain, the idea of picking just one word, why would you do that? I want all the words but I’m also joyful at the idea of harvest as my main word) would you pick?
If, like me you have lots of qualities you would like to bring more of into your life, let yourself! Write them all down and then get a sense of whichever one is calling to you most loudly at this time.
It doesn’t mean that you can’t work with the other energies as well, but as someone who’s been told to focus more since I was a small child, I hate using the word myself and yet the more we can focus, the more effective we can be. The more empowered we can be. The more we can help others as well as ourselves.
Let me know how you got on. There’ll be an extra video for free subscribers of the Sole to Soul Circle where there’ll be some journal prompts around that. And also, there’s a deeper dive video for Full Moon and Super Moon members of the Sole to Soul Circle with a gorgeous energy clearing practise, Ho’oponopono.
If you haven’t already upgraded and you would like to, you can do so from as little as €8 a month. If you do the annual plan, it’s even cheaper and you get lots of extra deeper dives and other goodies coming your way.
Thank you for watching, thank you for listening, thank you for sharing, subscribing, commenting, liking, engaging in any way.
If you found this helpful do please share and do let me know what your options for your year, for your word of the year are, what your contenders are and if you’ve already settled on one.
And it might be that, I mean some people choose a word for a quarter or a word for a month or a word, there are no rules. There ARE lots and lots of self-care ideas, so let yourself make your own rules and enjoy.