2016 – Core Desired Feelings

I started the practice of picking my Core Desired Feelings thanks to Zewa, in 2014. I really liked the concept and if you’re curious I recommend you go to Danielle’s site and/or buy the book so you can do the exercises.

I usually think about my core desired feelings towards September/October but like with most things, I put this one off for months and months this year, too. I finally sat down on December 22 and decided I’d better get to it if I wanted to have ones at all. These reflective posts help me set the tone for my year and allow me to think about how I like to move forward. Intention setting is a part of how I live my life and I am not ready to stop that, yet. So I made myself sit down and start doing the process.

As I’ve come to expect, I was still quite attached to my four words from 2015 and I wasn’t sure if any new words would come my way. Each year, I feel like I’ve picked the four perfect words and I really can’t do any better. But then, each year, I’m surprised by what comes out of the exercises. So I’ve come to expect the resistance and the surprise. This year was no different.

Like last year, I did all the writing exercises furiously. I didn’t stop and think. I just wrote and wrote. And then I stepped back to see what patterns emerged so I could circle them.

This year’s words surprised me mostly because they sort of felt different and also felt kind of simple. I spent some time looking around for more “perfect” words. Ones that were more complicated, more sophisticated, more layered. Or whatever. But after a while, I just gave up and went back to my original list. It was simple and it was right. I decided to stop resisting. I also gave myself permission to change them midyear (or anytime) if I so desired. Which helped me let go of the drive to get them to be “perfect.”

So, here are my words for 2016:

• true
• kind
• generous
• strong
• brave

I love them.

Here’s what each of them mean to me:

true: being true is about being who i am. doing things because they feel true to me. not doing things that don’t feel true to me. embracing myself just as i am. fully accepting me. when things come up and i need to make decisions, i want to check in with myself and see if it feels true to me. if i am saying yes because i truly want to do this and it feels true in my heart and in my gut. feeling true is about honoring who i am. honoring the best parts of me.

kind: being kind is who i want to be. i love being kind. i want to be kind. it’s the feeling i seek more than anything i can remember in a long time. i want to be kind to myself. i want to be kind to my kids. i want to be kind to jake. i want to be kind to my parents, my sister, my family, my friends, strangers. i want to always be the kindest i can be. it’s what i value the most in others. it’s what i want the most for myself. i feel like i am the best version of myself when i am kind.

generous: feeling generous is somewhat like kind but not fully. it’s hard for me to feel generous when i am not kind but i am not always generous when i am kind. being generous is sort of like ‘abundance’ which was one of my words last year. i want to feel like there’s plenty to go around. plenty of time, plenty of money, plenty more decisions, plenty of opportunities…and on and on. i want to be generous with my life. with myself. with everyone around me. i want to feel spacious, abundant, giving. when i am generous, it puts me on a cycle of positivity. i also believe what you put out there is what comes back to you.

strong: this word came up in so many places when i did my exercises. i want to be physically strong, emotionally strong, mentally strong. i want to feel my strength. my strong willpower. i want to feel strong at work. strong with my health. i want to be strong when tough things happen. i want to be strong when i feel anxious over nothing. i want to feel strong when i’m working on the kind voice inside me. i want to be strong when i am hard on myself for not learning/improving fast enough. i want to feel strong when i feel like giving up.

brave: even though this word didn’t come up specifically, it’s been my word for 2015 and it’s been the best word i ever chose, bar none. it’s served me so well. thanks to this word, i’ve made incredible progress in some of the most dormant areas of my life. it’s been an incredible reminder of what i am capable of. it’s been my favorite companion and i want to keep it around with me throughout 2016.

So here we are. Feelings I want to remember to come back to again and again. My core desires. What makes me live my life fully, as the best version of myself, while honoring my values.

Here’s to a year of brave strength and generous kindness while being true to myself.