Creating a Powerful Visual Reminder of New Year’s Intentions

Every January there is a natural push to set a fresh path for the upcoming year. Some people write resolutions while others collage vision boards of their goals. I’ve taken a different approach: a single Word of Intention as the focus for the whole year. I am still learning how deeply powerful this approach can be.

In January 2012 a group of my women friends heard Rev. Kathleen McKern Verigin speak to us about using a single word throughout the year as an “arrow of intention”. She shared an intriguing tale with us about a king who was looking for the best archer in the land. He traveled far and wide but couldn’t find anyone who could hit the center of a target exactly. Then he came across an arrow stuck in the perfect center of a bull’s-eye in the middle of the forest. He sent his messengers to ask who the archer was in the nearby villages and finally a small boy came forward. That boy explained that he shot his arrow into a tree and then painted the bull’s-eye around it. Rev. Verigin explained that when we choose a Word of Intention, our lives become the bull’s-eye we paint around the word/arrow of intention. Sometimes the ways in which the word plays out in our life may be challenging, but ideally the word should be uplifting and promote growth.

 Last year my women friends and I each created an arrow with a banner to celebrate our selected word and we hung our banners in prominent places in our homes or offices. My word was “Joy” and I also made a practice of writing down at least five blessings or joys each night before going to bed. As it turned out, 2012 had some tough spots so being reminded daily by my festive banner to note acts of kindness and beauty was a very useful practice. Using “Joy” as my Word of Intention was an excellent way to set my goals daily throughout the year, and reminded me there is always choice in how we see things in our life.

This January I facilitated two art workshops based on the Word of Intention concept. I invited participants to pick from a variety of intuitive cards and select words that answered the following questions. “What are my challenges for 2013?” “What are my gifts for 2013?” “What is the overall outcome for the year?” (If they didn’t like the words that came up, they could toss them back in the pile. There is no wrong way to do this.) I did this exercise prior to the workshops and found it both inspiring and a bit of a kick in the butt. My Word of Intention this year is a big one: “Illumination”. I’m being challenged to both illuminate myself and others. I’m also making note of how this word plays out for me daily.

At the beginning of January 2013 I facilitated a workshop on creating Mandalas for the New Year. As described above, participants found words that resonated for 2013 and then created mandalas to represent the next twelve months. We used iridescent watercolors, markers, and oil pastels on a large square of watercolor paper. Some participants divided their lives/mandalas into sections using artist’s tape and created a visual map of their coming year. Others created a single image representing a single Word of Intention (Examples: “Balance” and “Risk”). What was particularly gratifying to me was seeing each participant exploring more deeply what they really want this year through the process of creating a non-verbal representation of their word. It was clear that some sort of shift or integration happened in that process and lit up (illuminated) their minds and spirits to embrace their Word of Intention.

This past weekend I hosted my women’s group for an art activity to reveal and celebrate our Words of Intention. Most of us had mulled over different choices and decided upon our word beforehand, but at least a couple people were still deciding right up until it was time to create. For this year’s project we decorated small treasure boxes with acrylic paint, decoupage (using elegant Japanese paper), found objects, “jewels”, lettering and glitter. Each box was to represent their Word of Intention for 2013. Step-by-step beautiful treasure boxes emerged from brown paper mache, and grins replaced furrowed brows of anxiety. Art can seem like a foreign language to some but by the end of the workshop, everyone was in the flow and Inner Critics were dispelled. Decoupage has a way of doing that (which is why I chose it).

I also asked the participants of this workshop to make at least twelve (or more) small special pieces of paper to write messages about their experience with their word each month. The idea was to create little reminders of life events that could be seen through the lens of their Word of Intention. Those reminders are the real “treasure” of the box and will be added month by month. It was wonderful to be a witness to their delight as they discovered their latent artistic talents and bonded with each other over messy fun. I’ve written a little note about this “illuminating” afternoon (artful play is so good for the soul!) on a slip of iridescent paper and put it in my “Illumination” treasure box. In December the group plans to gather and share some of our messages about how our Word of Intention shaped our lives. We are all looking forward with anticipation to that ritual as a way to fully honor the growth this year will bring us.

In the coming months I’m excited to discover how creating art with others and alone illuminates my life and theirs. 2013 promises to be a very bright year!