For a few years, my sister Elizabeth and I’ve began annually by selecting a one-word theme to sum up what we wish the subsequent twelve months to carry.
For 2025, my theme is “Door.”
Why do it? Whereas for many individuals, New Yr’s resolutions really feel intimidating or draining, there are different efficient methods to set our intentions for the subsequent twelve months.
In distinction to a New Yr’s decision, a one-word theme leaves room for creativity, whimsy, and enjoyable.
Over time, I’ve discovered {that a} one-word theme works finest when it’s a phrase with a number of meanings and associations. As an example, my 2024 theme of “Wave” carried many thought-provoking associations: ocean waves, mild waves, waving hiya and goodbye, Underneath the Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai.
It’s a inventive activity to summarize your aspirations in a single phrase or phrase: “Harvest,” “Permit,” “Contemporary.”
Additionally, in comparison with an inventory of resolutions, a one-word theme is less complicated to maintain uppermost in your thoughts, so it will possibly information your actions all year long. To assist me preserve my theme high of thoughts, I write my phrase on an index card and publish it above my desk; my sister makes her theme into her cellphone’s background.
My 2025 theme of “Door” works on a number of ranges.
I’m getting into the “open door” phase of parenting, so a door is an acceptable image for my new stage of life, which is a time of transition and expectation. I like to learn, and literature is filled with vital doorways. And naturally, a door is an precise bodily object, so it lends itself to a visible image.
To select your individual one-word theme, attempt brainstorming an inventory of potentialities, or simply take note of a selected phrase or idea that resonates with you.
To get began, you would possibly ask your self a number of Know Your self Higher questions:
- What would you like extra (or much less) of in your life? (Peace? Satisfaction? Motion?)
- What are you interested in? (Journey? Thriller? Pathways?)
- What’s a particular goal you’d wish to tackle? (One yr, my sister selected “Scorching Wheels” to assist conquer her concern of driving.)
- What phrase has particular energy or significance? (Peacock? Rally? Bounce?)
Your phrase may be a noun, a verb, or an adjective. There’s no flawed technique to choose so long as it’s significant to you.
Listed below are a few of Happier listeners’ one-word themes:
- Juicy
- Magic
- Nest
- Threads
- Mirror
- Resilience
- Season
- Every day
- “Stick with the plan”
- “A part of the hive in 2025”
- Colour
- No
- Heal
- Retirement
- Liberation
- Oasis
- Dissent
- Glimmer
Are you going to decide on a one-word theme for the yr? It’s a surprisingly enjoyable technique to mirror on what we wish from the approaching yr, and to generate concepts to fulfill these goals.
