For the past ten years, when the calendar turns to December, I choose my new Word of the Year. One word on which to focus my attention to attract that attribute or blessing into my life during the coming year.

“Celebrate” was my goal that first year. After my mother’s death, I lost the ability to stop working and just have fun. I can’t remember how much celebrating I actually did. But I do remember that I began paying attention to moments worth my excitement. Moments in which to build memories. To call friends and say, “The sun is shining. Let’s have some fun and celebrate its light.”

Another year I chose “Prosperity.”  Not because I wanted to become a millionaire and fly around the globe on business every month.  But to remind me of all the ways it was possible to prosper.  Some of the places in my life where I recognized that prosperity at the end of that year included: friends, knowledge, business progress, and joy.

The year I spent with “Gratitude” opened more doors for me than I could have imagined. It ended with me published as a co-author for the first in a series of books on gratitude.

Each year has been a growing experience. While I choose my Word of the Year with great hope that it will help me manifest something I need, or think I need in my life, some years become lessons in how not to attract what I don’t desire. It takes attention and patience to remember that thinking “I don’t want to end the year without finishing this novel” is not the same as “I write with ease and joy, easily reaching my goals.” Sometimes it takes a LOT of attention and patience.

Some years I learned more about what I didn’t want as I followed where my Word led me. Others revealed that I needed to carry my Word forward, watching it unfold into a second year. But each year brought new possibilities into my life.

Now it’s time to reflect on the coming year. Where do I want to focus my efforts? Which lessons does the Universe have in store for me? What opportunities will my new Word bring?

I don’t yet know. I feel my soul percolating with purpose, sorting words, holding them to the Light and polishing them until they gleam. Any minute now my inspiration for 2016 will reveal its shining self. Until then, there are several more days in which I will practice “Create.”

What will be your Word of 2016?