Cultivate
For the last decade, I’ve chosen a theme word. 2022 will be the eleventh year of this practice, and it’s served me so well, and I’m excited to continue the effort!
Theme words are always chosen in October or November of the year prior … and are discovered through a combination of efforts. I use the free workbook from Susannah Conway, and every dictionary I can get my hands on. Add to that, an elevated and keen awareness of which words seem to fall in my lap. All of those make the short list. Then I narrow down based on intuition and what lands solidly. Over the following year, I reflect consistently on the chosen word, how it can play out, or influence my choices and decisions. It’s been quite grounding and something to focus on in my life.
The past words, (along with some context of how the year played out):
2012 - Rediscover; 2013 - Expand
2014 - Hone. This was the year we settled back into life in the United States (Florida) after living in New Delhi, India for three years, and one year in Singapore. It’s the year I licensed as a real estate agent and opened my relocation company, 8th & Home.
2015 - Fierce. We were living during this year, in Loudoun County, Virginia (outside of DC). This was the year I began publicly speaking in earnest, and began exploring the red thread of my lived experience, and how that informs the unique person I have become.
2016 - Focus; 2017 - Disrupt. Looking back on these two years, these word choices both projected a LOT of trauma, and prepared me for it all. The kids and I had just moved to Ohio (to follow my husband) and a few months later, he was fired (we don’t talk about this enough, as a society!). I Am A Triangle, my online community had grown to nearly 17,000 members and we were majorly disrupted by Trump’s election, the ensuing travel bans (we literally had members separated from their families), as well as disrupted when I made the decision to move our group from Facebook to Mighty Networks. The final major disruption was the choice to move back to Omaha (after moving away in 2003).
2018 - Onlyness, with a side note of grace. This year, multiple words that made the short list. I posted to Instagram, sharing the list, and well, you can read the rest of that story here.
2019 - Sophrosyne. I didn’t know it yet, but the meaning of this word (soundness of mind, wise moderation; discreet good sense) would serve me well as I sought to decouple and detach from others’ wisdom and intelligence as my guiding authority. This word / theme was also foundational in beginning to mentally prep for the power of solitude and stillness. 2019 was the last year that I consumed alcohol.
2020 - Tend. Oh this sweet and gentle word. I shared more on my Instagram feed but this year was a pivotal turning point for so many reasons.
2021 - Resonant. My Instagram post shared the definition as being strong, and deep in tone, having a lasting presence, enduring, continuing to sound or play out, clear and loud.
Reflecting on 2021, inside of various pillars of my life, I feel that Resonant and I did each other proud:
My elevated name recognition allows for continued impact and traction.
Work was been solidly grounded in only those efforts that have lasting impact in Omaha
Prioritized opportunities to help model trusting our intuition with our kids.
Well-established riverbanks (riverbanks are the NEW boundaries!) around my creativity - writing, tattoos & gardening.
Honored all parts of my soul and matched the resonant concept 100% - and modeled it for others.
So, what will it be for 2022?
Cultivate
Create a new condition, by directed effort
Prepare, work on, grow, and care for
Promote, or improve the growth of, by labor and attention, or study
Seek the society of
Devote oneself to
Develop, make a special effort
Produce, by culture (bring culture to it)
(Medieval Latin: to till, care for, toil over, worship)
Another exploration of the word cultivate brings these words:
Further
Harvest
Encourage
Train
Refine
Foster
Acquire
Raise
My resources - just like my energy - deserve to be protected, cared for, and cultivated. My resources - just like every other aspect of the natural world - have their own growth cycles. I don’t expect freshly planted seeds to produce on my timeline … and so in 2022, I will buck the systems that center urgency and scarcity. I know that patience helps cultivate connection as its own kind of wealth, while fostering the bonds that nourish me, keeping me flush and in the flow. I uphold the longevity and wellbeing of the pack (the community), to deploy true change and impact. We cannot - for one minute - assume that those with bestowed and claimed power will act in the best interest of the whole, of the collective.
I will be crystal clear about what I most want to build, make, earn, and cultivate. With that comes brutal honesty about what I am most afraid of happening, if and when I succeed at this effort, when I let my uniqueness and talent truly take space, in this place. Inside of this work, I will smash to smithereens all that keeps me from happiness, joy, and abundance. I allow myself the opportunity to live a little more freely in my power, a little more fiercely in what permission I give myself to choose to challenge societal and cultural norms.
I will collectively cultivate conditions for change and impact.
Less chaos, more cohesiveness.
More opportunities for the community, less barriers.
The future depends on what we do in the present. Mahatma Gandhi
Cultivate Resources
Cultivate Generational Wealth (with / for others)
Cultivate Opportunities
Cultivate Protection
Cultivate Leadership Growth
It’s exhausting to wade through the muck to find synergy, compadres, trueness and trust. We need to both relearn and lean in to holding more than one truth at a time in order to accomplish our work. That means cultivating and supporting leadership growth. It means removing bricks from the heads of true leaders, so we can reclaim the very thing our culture has so casually given away, or locked away. 2022 will be an opportunity to cultivate co-design, co-learning, so we can restore (rebirth?) possibility inside our individual spheres of influence, to benefit the entire ecosystem of our communities.
So what does this all mean in reality, day-to-day? I will continue to push boundaries, but stay hyper-focused on my two pillars of impact (Convening and Implementation). I want to cultivate expansiveness. Those who are on a leadership growth path with me will increase salaries and opportunities. My family will experience more intentional presence from me, with bigger containers of time to be in close proximity. Our home will be cleaner with reduced clutter. I will refine my health habits, and develop sustainable ways to keep my loved ones fed and fueled. My heart and healing process will be open, vulnerable, anchored, and fully alllowed. Community in 2022 resembles a Hoberman Sphere: a small and select (and shifting) group of people to connect with, while also opening up full access to my network and connections.
My cultivation work will function in a cycle: dilemma / mess / opportunity / gap ————-> back off, rest, reflect ————-> resources, gathering ————-> zoned in - focus ————-> hand-off ————-> refuel ————-> repeat!
I have the audacity to envision life as a cornucopia that magically replenishes. I also can visualize the bounty of windows of wealth that will benefit the whole community, for lifetimes. In 2022, everything I have a part in will have the vibe of “everyone wins.” I have choices, a timeline, and metrics (I’ll never find a definition for myself in the old or current structure). I view today as one small, barely definable building block, waiting for next year’s unlimited, wildly and ridiculously possibilities.
“I am beginning to think that in our time, we will correct almost nothing, and get almost nowhere. BUT, if we can just prepare a compassionate and receptive soil for the future, we will have done a great work. I feel at least, that this is the turn my own life ought to take.” Thomas Merton, Book of Hours
(another part of my annual practice is to create a Spotify playlist to accompany the Word of the Year: Cultivate playlist. Enjoy!)
