The day has slipped by me and I am not sure what I have done. It is day two of a new year and I have sat fallow for the last week of 2023 trying to get my head around what the last year brought – both positive and negative. I think in some way I was hoping a quiet week would help me release the negative and allow me to enter this new year with only the joy of the last. It sounded like such a great idea.
I tried a variety of journal prompts last week with this idea in mind. Write it out – give the negative words that can stick to the page. Words that can stay in the 2023 journal.
One idea from Anna Brones’ sub-stack referenced a tradition in Norway about a midwinter pause called Omen days. This is about 12 day from Dec 26th to January 6th. In this time period you look for omens – hints, messages or symbols that might have meaning as to what this new year might bring. Each day is connected to a month of the year. I wrote out the twelve months and began. I loved this idea but three days in and I was sitting each night just putting words down. I found no inspiration each day and by the sixth day I was just listing things. They were good things and maybe good things to look back on through out the year but somehow it did not feel right.
I turned to Maggie Smith and her statement about resolutions since I had just finished her book (You can Make this Place Beautiful. I have also read Keep Moving) She looked at the Latin meaning for Resolvere – meaning “loosen” or “release”.
This fit into my thinking of releasing 2023. What can we loosen? What can we release? Indeed I have plenty I which to release from last year. So I wrote in hopes of this loosening and releasing. I wanted to move into this new year with less weight on my shoulders.
There were several other quotes I held onto last week in hopes of working through this process of loosening.
Katherine May the author of Wintering says
“Midwinter is a process not an event. It is lived and experiential. “
There was this from Steven Levine and Soft Belly Meditation
Soften
Take a few deep breath…
Soften the muscle that have held fear for so long…
Let the awareness be gentle and allowing…
Have mercy on yourself…
In soft body, in soft mind, just letting it be there
I then returned to Suleika Jaouad’s list of five questions. Suleika is the creator of Isolation Journals – author of Between two Kingdoms and a NYT writer and also has a sub-stack. I wrote to these questions at the beginning of 2023. So I returned to see how I started that year. Did it prove to be a guide into the year.
The questions or 5 lists are:
- What in the last year are you proud of?
- What did this year leave you yearning for?
- What is causing you anxiety?
- What resources, skills and practices can you reply on in this coming year?
- What are your wildest most harebrained ideas and dreams?
These questions finally seemed to center me and let me reflect and let go of and appreciate the ups and downs of last year. I saw the year for what it was and now could turn my eyes to the coming months.
A side note I had written down six items in my wildest ideas list and I actually did four of the six in some way or fashion. I found that really interesting.
So today as I finally sat down with the new 2024 journal and cracked it open to page one I was worried I would not have my one little word to begin the year. I have for years now started my new journal with my one word that I have used from Two Writing Teachers. Pen in hand, the date written and there was my word being scrawled across the page. This year the word is or will be about STRENGTH.
I see the need for strength on the physical level to over come some of last years health issues. Strength in the emotional sense is needed to deal with some of the weight of last year that still needs to be resolved. Strength in action to help myself and others move forward in positive steps. (Especially as we move into a long year of politics and division not only in our country but around the world.)
It was a bit of a journey but I am glad I was on it and now feel ready to see what this year will bring.
Have you found your one little word for the year? Or set some intentions that might lead you forward?
Here is to a New Year and New words to write as we move into 2024!
Words from JL 
We chose different words, but I think our reasons for our choices overlap. I share your concerns about the world and our political divide. I bought Maggie Smith’s new book but didn’t like the overlap w/ Keep Moving, so I abandoned it and gave it to a friend. Now I’m thinking king I might need to read it, maybe via audiobook.
Her new book is different and I almost quit several times but am glad I finished it. It could really be a part of Keep Moving but I found it interesting to see how she worked to manage this major change in her life and that of her family. If you go back to it I would love to know what you think.
I love the way you detailed your journey in search of your OLW. I’m glad to see you found it or it found you. I think strength will provide you with many opportunities to move forward. I think we’ll all need strength for the year ahead and strength to act on our feelings.