“The river does not struggle to reach the ocean.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

I have not set resolutions in many years, because I have always seen how I can never live up to them…and then when I can’t live up to them, I feel crappier than even before I set them. Instead I choose a healing intention for the whole year.

This is easily my favorite year end ritual since the past few years- to choose a word for the year. Which also doubles as the intention of the year as well.

I’ve found that after years of setting goals and resolutions which fizzle out in intensity and appeal after a few weeks, a word based intention creates a wonderful level of focus. It is sort of an anchor to come back to when you feel lost along the way. My word for last year was: Positive. And, I can say with great satisfaction that, that is the first thing I wrote as a something I have achieved in 2025 in my journal. Positive everything, was at the forefront of all that I did in the last year. 

My word for the new year 2026 is FLOW

After years of effort, growth, healing, unlearning, and becoming, I felt something in me quietly ask for a different quality of living. Not more discipline. Not more striving. Just… ease. Presence. And Trust, trust in the Divine Plan.

Over the years, I have seen how deeply we’ve been conditioned to believe that healing must be hard. That progress comes from pushing, controlling, or fixing ourselves. But both my professional work and my personal life have taught me something gentler and far more powerful: Healing actually happens when we stop fighting the current of our own lives.

Why FLOW Feels Healing Right Now

I feel this tiredness in the air, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. The tiredness of holding everything together. Tired of anticipating what might go wrong. Tired of believing that if I loosen my grip, everything will fall apart.

From a nervous system perspective, constant control keeps us in survival mode. From a spiritual perspective, it disconnects us from trust. FLOW invites a different experience…one where safety, regulation, and intuition lead the way.

When I am Choosing flow as my word of the year, it doesn’t mean I am giving up responsibility. It means I am releasing the belief that force & control is the only path forward.

Affirmation:
I allow myself to move at the pace of healing.

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FLOW Is Psychological Flexibility in Real Life

One of the strongest predictors of well-being is psychological flexibility, i.e. the ability to respond to life as it is, not as we wish it would be. FLOW is that concept, lived.

Instead of asking, “How do I make this happen?”
I’m learning to ask, “What is life/Universe/The Divine asking of me right now?”

Sometimes the answer is action.
Sometimes it’s rest.
Sometimes it’s patience, grief, or trust.

FLOW teaches me that none of these states are wrong.

“When I let go of who I think I’m supposed to be, I become who I am.” ~ Carl Rogers

Affirmation:
I trust the timing of my life.

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Surrender Without Losing Myself

For a long time, surrender felt dangerous to me. Like something I couldn’t afford. But I’ve come to understand that surrender isn’t about disappearing, it’s about collaborating with something wiser than my fear.

FLOW is not passive. It’s deeply attentive. It requires listening…to the body, to intuition, to the quiet signals I used to override in the name of productivity or progress.

This year, I’m practicing letting my decisions come from Divine alignment instead of urgency.

Affirmation:
I release the need to control and strengthen my ability to listen.

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FLOW and Rebuilding Self-Trust

Choosing flow is an act of trust, especially self-trust.

It means believing that my pauses are meaningful. That my body’s wisdom matters. That I don’t have to earn rest or clarity.

For anyone who learned to survive by over-functioning, FLOW can feel like a radical form of healing. It gently rewires the belief that safety only comes from effort.

“You don’t have to push the river. It moves by itself.”~ Barry Stevens

Affirmation:
I am safe to soften. Life supports me as I unfold.

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How I’m Practicing FLOW This Year

FLOW isn’t a concept I want to admire, it’s a practice I want to live.

I’m practicing it by:

• Pausing before reacting
• Listening before deciding
• Letting rest be productive
• Allowing clarity to arrive instead of chasing it

Some days, flow looks like movement.
Other days, it looks like stillness.
Both are equally valid.

As this new year begins, my intention is simple and spacious:
To move with life instead of against it.

Closing Affirmation:
This year, I trust the current. I flow.

Tell me, what is your Word of the Year 2026?

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