One of my favorite New Year’s rituals is choosing a word of the year.

There’s more to my New Year’s reflections, imaginings, and schemings than this, but I love the practice of trying to distill the energy of the 12 months ahead into a guiding word I can return to when I’ve lost the thread.

And each year, my word becomes almost eerily prophetic and finds expression and realization in ways I didn’t expect.

In 2018, my word was expansion. This year, my word is deepening.

Last year, I threw myself into life, tried new things, chased opportunities, and changed in ways and directions I couldn’t have imagined a year ago. And there was so much goodness that came of it.

This year, I feel the pull to tend to the roots – to deepen into devotion and intention, to be really clear about what matters most, remain realistic about my capacity, and live accordingly.

It’s reminding me that sometimes, life asks us to say no to some of the goodness present or available to us in order to invest in another possibility.

And sometimes devotion means stepping away from what is perfectly okay (and maybe even wonderful) because it is incongruent with the commitments we’ve chosen or the frequencies we’re committed to cultivating and amplifying in our lives now.

This has already been hard. I don’t like to pass up opportunity or let go of goodness.

But it’s been helpful to remember that I’m limiting the width in my life to amplify the depth. I’m stepping back from growing outward so I can lean into processes of growing inward.

Paradoxically, limits can set us free, and boundaries can open up spaces of infinite possibility.
(Or at least that’s my working hypothesis for the year).

So whatever 2019 is asking of you, I hope it opens, deepens, and catalyzes you into whatever goodness awaits.