We think in words.

Our thoughts determine our actions, which guide our actions.

Therefore, the words we choose determine our lives.

At the beginning of each year, my wife and I sit down at a local coffee shop and we make plans for what we’d like the year to look like.  At that meeting, we:

• Set our goals for the year
• Determine our priorities
• Set our intentions
• Picture what we’d do “if money were no object” (I can assure you I’d be writing this from a tropical climate if that came to be)
• Determine what we are releasing that served us well in the past but no longer fits (including grudges, resentments, habits, and material clutter)

What might be the most important item on our agenda is choosing a word for the year. Call it a theme if you wish.

In 2014, we chose “Prosperity.” In 2015, we picked “Abundance.”

This year we opted for “Gratitude,” a feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.

We decided that when grateful, we are more open to possibilities (which was our second choice of themes).

If you haven’t already, choose your word for this year.

Write it down. Remember it. Find ways to practice it. Watch the difference it makes in your life.