What's the word?

Subala means beauty and strength in sanskrit, the language of yoga. Beauty and strength are two very powerful yet dichotomous words.

If there was one word that I would want to feel every single day, it would be Subala. It reminds me of other words like grace, poise, composure and allure. I like feeling like these words. I enjoy the feeling I have when my day and schedule are together, I am accomplishing my checklists as the hours go by, I am feeling successful and making a difference and most importantly, I feel enough. I want to feel like that all the time! Right? Right.

As the moments of the day or week slip by somehow or another I lose sight of Subala. A skipped workout/yoga session, too many yeses when I really meant "I can't, I'm already overcommitted", a fleeting feeling of discourage runs over me and before I know it I am overwhelmed with more negative self talk and the "why me's?" Then I wonder, where did my Subala go? Where did that woman who is strong and beautiful go [because in these moments she doesn't feel "Subala" at all!]

That's what your first journal entry needs to focus on. The feelings you get that make you feel the most beautiful and powerful. The moments that strengthen your spirit and give you the encouragement to go a little further for the success and smile.

I task you to inventory the past year's highs and lows. Do it. 10 of each. Your top ten most amazing moments and the downfalls preceding them. You can summarize the moments but go back and take an emotional assessment and write down how you felt. For the positives, write them all out. Same for the negatives.

After you've come up with your lists, it's time to do some research. You can call it soul searching, but I don't believe you are lost. I want you to look up all of your positive words and find a synonym in the thesaurus. I want you to read the definitions - are they aligned with your goals, feelings, environment and world? If they aren't - scratch them out. Single Strike. No white out and no scratchies. Just a single strike because we might be coming back to them. Start writing out new words based on the definitions you've found and you might just find a word that "sits better with you". What do I mean by this? Do you ever just hear a word and think "That sounds great/beautiful/peaceful?" I love those words. They make you feel good just by saying them or listening to someone say them. Those are the words were looking for. The words that make you feel good by some bigger definition that you can attain on a daily basis to also feel good. Bingo.

Have you ever heard a word that just doesn't sit well with you? Some people get cringy at the word moist - yeah. If you winced, it's cringy to you. That word doesn't bother me as much as curdle does. I also don't like pus, as in exudate. STAY AWAY FROM THESE WORDS. They have no use in your manifestations of the year. Truly, their antonym might be useful so you can retain your list for that reason only. I will wish that you feel as strong and happy about the positive opposite as you do your cringy word!

This might take a few days to complete. To really do this and do it well, you need to take a microscope to your life. You need to examine your personal life, love life, educational life, work life, spiritual life and future life too. The word lists you are coming up with may only pertain to 3 or 4 of these subjects; were looking for that one word that comprises them all. It might be difficult but that's how you find your word of the year.

I think that to be fair, we need to have 5-6 words to focus on at any one time. Then theres no stagnation or boredom. You can also focus on different realms of your life and take these words where ever you go.

By the end of this activity you should be a linguistician. Trust me, I already know! Please share your word of the year in the comments below and as always <3

my heart hugs your hearts. namaste.