abracadabra: my one word focus in 2022

The last week of the year is one of my favorites. The warmth of the holidays with family is lingering, and there is time to rest, rejuvenate, and reflect before the hustle and bustle of a new year begins. I wrote a blog last week called Abracadabra: I create as I Speak inspired by the holiday series, Dash & Lily, that I watched on Netflix this month. Following my post I continued pondering the magical word "Abracadabra". It is said to originate from the Aramaic word “avra kehdabra” meaning “I create as I speak”. As I thought about that phrase, I wondered how often I create my own reality by the words that I speak aloud and quietly in my thoughts. Why am I my own worst enemy? I continually am questioning my actions, my words, my creations, my thoughts and conjuring up false realities in my head of what others think of me. It’s something my empathic self has battled my whole life. I feel emotions across a room, a text conversation, or a Zoom screen. The internal dialogue goes something like this: Why did they not use a period rather than an exclamation point in their text…are they mad? Why did they leave me on “read”...did I say something that offended them? Their tone is different than normal…is it something I did?  It’s sounds childish and it's embarrassing to admit, but it’s true. As an empath, I know when something is off…I feel it. The issue is, I too often absorb the emotions or actions of another and take them on as my responsibility to fix, or worse assume that the emotions are related to something I did or didn’t do. It is exhausting, and quite honestly destructive. It saps my energy and joy and causes me to spin into a lonely and negative place. 

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I know that I was given the gift of empathy for a reason. It allows me to be placed in someone else’s shoes. I’m able to read a room and respond accordingly. I can sense when someone needs to be listened to. I want to embrace the beauty of this trait and establish some healthy habits to keep my negative self-talk in check. As I look towards a brand new year, I’ve decided to choose Abracadabra as a one-word to help me speak into existence the reality that I want to create in 2022. In each daily interaction I have a choice to filter the emotions rather than absorb them as my own. I have the choice to speak words of kindness, praise, and truth to myself, rather than allow myself to spin into a negative spiral of self-talk. I have the choice to speak words of courage, love, and joy to those I serve, regardless of whether I think they want to hear it.  I have the choice to speak my big audacious dreams into reality, rather than talk myself into thinking those dreams are for someone else. I will be saying abracadabra a lot this year. It will mostly be in my own head, but if I say it out loud you’ll know why! Let’s create a magical 2022! I’m ready! Abracadabra!

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Would you like to create a one-word focus for 2022? Find some One-Word templates that I created in Canva below. Share to #CanvaOneWord and #OneWord2022! Would love to hear what your focus is for the year ahead!

Canva One-Word Challenge Template

Canva One-Word with Overlapping Circles Template