What is a word of the year? How can choosing a word of the year for you and your pet shape your relationship and deepen your connection over the new year to come? Animal communicator Shannon Cutts introduces you to the power of selecting a pet word of the year for you and your pet.
We are entering the time in every year when we will be tempted to make resolutions. Or at least to set intentions. Or do something different than we did last year and find some concrete way to articulate our plans to ourselves and the world.
How is that going so far?
How has it gone in past years?
Does it feel like “you” – like something the real you does and can really get into doing?
Or has it felt a little….weird?
Personally, I like setting intentions a lot better than setting resolutions. (The word “resolutions” just doesn’t sound fun to me.)
But there is something I like better than setting intentions, too.
And that something is choosing a word.
Yup. One single word.
My love affair with a word of the year started the same year I discovered my thyroid had decided to retire early. I was struggling with intense lethargy, inexplicable weight gain, digestive upset, constant sweating, cystic acne…..you name it, if it was uncomfortable and potentially unsightly or publicly embarassing, I had it. At last, I finally had a diagnosis to go with it, but I needed a heck of a lot of motivation and encouragement to do anything with that diagnosis that might change my daily struggles into anything resembling triumphs.
And I was way too tired to set any long-winded new years resolutions or intentions. A single word would have to do.
I chose the word HEAL.
This word got me at least motivated enough to head to my laptop and google another word, “yoga.” Five whole seconds later, I discovered my now-longtime yoga teacher. I started doing yoga online every morning. And I started to feel better.
That next year, a slimmer and brighter and much healthier me chose a new word of the year, BRAVE.
The year after that, as I continued to improve and strengthen, my word was EVOLVE. Then GIVE. Then RECEIVE.
Oh, and I always posted my word of the year right by my bed so I would see it first thing in the morning and last thing each night. My word helped me when I was feeling down and it kept me motivated to believe in myself when it wasn’t easy to do.
My word of the year still has this effect on me, by the way. So much so that now I often choose a word of the week as well (but only on the weeks when I’m really organized!).
This year, I am once again choosing a word of the year. And this year I’m taking it up a notch as I consider what my chosen word will serve and support. This year, for the first time ever, I am taking my word of the year beyond the purely personal into the realm of who I am in the world, my work and my relationship with others and this planet we all share together.
I won’t tell you what my word of the year for 2022 is….not yet.
First I want you to consider what YOU want to choose for your own word of the year! And I’d love to invite you to choose a word that includes the connection you have with your pet, what it offers you, what you are working towards together, your vision for how close and connected you could feel to each other.
This is especially helpful when you are welcoming a new pet to the family, by the way.
But it is also great to do with your pet at any time in your life together.
Need a little help selecting your word of the year?
One of my coaches, Christine Kane, has an awesome tool I highly recommend called Your Word of the Year Discovery Tool. You can download the tool and work with the prompts to select a word that rings true for you on all levels.
Or you can just reach within into your own intuitive space and see if a particular word arises inside you.
Your pet word of the year might be influenced by something you and your pet have gone through this year that you want to leave behind you, such as anxiety or illness.
You might choose a word of the year to support a goal you and your animal are working towards, such as better health or a closer bond.
You could even choose a word of the year that focuses on a quality you know your pet is capable of developing, such as calm or confidence.
These are just some ideas you can use to put your brain to work pondering word choices. But please don’t stop there at the mental level. Your true word of the year lives in a deeper place inside you.
To find it, while your brain is still busy paging through its lists of vocabulary words, open up your heart. Feel into your spirit to evoke your 2022 word of the year for you and your pet.
Allow your soul to drift and dream. Notice where that dream leads you and then put a word to the quality of that dream.
What word best describes and embodies your 2022 dream for you and your animal love? I’d love to hear which word you choose for 2022.
Would you like your pet to weigh in on their word of the year choice for 2022? I can help!
