2020 – Core Desired Feelings

As with all the previous years, I knew I wanted to pick my core desired feelings this year, too. If you want to know more about core desired feelings, please go to my post from 2016 and you can see the links there.

I did the exercise this year as I do each year but the words kept changing this year. As each time, I told myself to focus on how I want to feel this year. What are the feelings I am cultivating? If I get an offer of an opportunity, what are the questions I want to ask myself so I can make a decision around whether I say yes or no? How will I know if this action will make me feel what I want to feel?

I mentioned before that there’s a pattern to my words: I always pick something around peacefulness, something around being brave, something around being open, and then maybe a few new ones. So this year I was curious if I would break the trend.

Here’s what I came up with this year and what they each mean to me:

• Leap: This is about leaping into the unknown. Embracing opportunities. Taking chances. Daring greatly.
• Soft: I didn’t want to choose kind again this year. I liked the idea of being a soft place tho. For myself, for my kids, for my friends, for my husband. A soft, safe place to land. A soft heart. A soft voice. A soft word. I love the idea of soft.
• Release: This is 2020’s equivalent of surrender. I love the idea of releasing things. Shedding layers of unwanted. Releasing the pain. Releasing unwanted beliefs. Releasing what’s weighing me down. Releasing myself.
• Join: I’ve always thought of myself as an “other,” as a person on the outside. There’s much to unpack here and I can tell stories but the point is, I realized a few years ago that I will continue to be on the outside and continue to not belong for as long as I see myself that way. So this year, I will become a joiner. I will join in. I will invite others, I will join when invited. I will show up.
• Delight: I wanted to hang on to the word magic so badly this year. I loved it so much. I also loved enchant or glee but delight ended up capturing the part of magic I really loved. That delightful feeling. I love it.

So there we are. I guess we still have a trend. Release and Soft are my peaceful words, join and leap are about being brave and possibly about being open, too?

I love all of these. Most importantly, I can immediately connect with the feeling I get when I say these words. I feel full. I feel content knowing these are the words I want for myself. They feel exciting and loving.

Here’s to a delightful year of joining in, leaping forward, landing softly and releasing the rest.