My Word For 2020

Here we are in a new year.... the start of a new decade!

I was on hiatus the last month, taking time to reflect, rejoice, release and renew!  It feels good to be diving back in with teaching, writing, and sharing with you.

For the last few years after I reflect on the year past and create intentions for the year to come, I try to hone in on one word that will support all my intentions for the year.

So often no matter how good our intentions are at the turn of every year, they usually get dropped or forgotten, due to how much most of us already have on our plates, and how much energy it actually takes to create new habits and behaviors.

But I’ve found that distilling it down to one word to practice embodying, helps me stay focused on cultivating a way of being that will support all my doing!

My word for 2020 is RECEPTIVITY.

We are in the midst of rapid, drastic change as a collective. The way we understand our world and our place in it, is getting rearranged and it needs to if we are going to survive as a species.

I feel like this year is going to be asking a lot of all of us….. a next level of showing up for our commitments, our values, and our vision for our lives and this world.  

I know that sounds like hard work, but it is also an opportunity to step into more capacity, consistency, and resiliency. 

There are two ways to approach this kind of internal and external work.

1) You can force yourself to show up through discipline, guilt, fear, or shame.

2) You can align yourself with something more powerful than you, and respond to what is being asked of you with the power of the universe guiding and supporting you.

Instead of forcing yourself to show up for life through will power and discipline. What if you could tap into a well of wisdom, creativity, and courage that lives inside your body? 

What if by listening to your body wisdom and opening to pleasure, you were able to receive all that you deeply desire?

This is why RECEPTIVITY is my word for 2020!

RECEPTIVITY is the quality of being open to receive, your sensations and emotions, the people around you, and the environment.

RECEPTIVITY helps us listen to one another, not just the words but the underlying emotions and subtext driving them.

RECEPTIVITY helps us locate ourselves in space, it is how we feel the ground under us, the temperature of the air around us, which way is up and which way is down.

RECEPTIVITY helps us soften our defenses, it invites us to stop pushing our agendas and listen to what is needed in this now moment.

RECEPTIVITY helps us create connection, community, and fosters empathy and compassion.

When we truly become good receivers, we can give back from our fullness. 

We can engage our work with inspired creativity. We have help in all that we do from known and unknown sources. 

We become vessels for love to move into the world through our actions.

SO HOW TO DO WE PRACTICE RECEPTIVITY?

WE GET EMPTY

We take time to find stillness in our minds, bodies and lives. Create space to sit in silence, or walk in nature. Try breathwork for clearing emotions and looping thoughts. Release agendas, grievances, and harmful stories through prayer, dance, journaling, ritual.

WE LISTEN

We learn how to listen to learn. Listen to your thoughts, get to know when your inner critic is speaking, or when you are ruminating about the past or the future. Get to know the stories you tell yourself, and then ask yourself who is listening to these thoughts? Listen to your body sensations, your emotional ebbs and flows, how does your body communicate its needs with you? Listen to what people are really saying, beyond your reaction to it. Why are they communicating with you, is there a need or desire present, are they offering you something in the conversation? And listen to the environments you are in, what impact do they have on your body, how do you feel in them, what’s your relationship with the space? Is the space supporting or depleting you?

WE SOFTEN

We learn how to soften the places we hold tension in our bodies. Learn how to bring breath and loving awareness into the constricted parts of your being. Learn how to create safety for the parts of you that feel guarded and shut down. Learn how to soften your grip on being right, and be open to the multitude of realities that we co-exist with. Bring playful, pleasurable movement into your daily life. Lean into what feels good, and really enjoy letting it in. Create space for your imperfections, your mistakes, and your vulnerability. Cuddle more, create cozy spaces to nest in, pet animals, hug trees.

WE LET EMOTIONS MOVE

We learn how to embrace the full spectrum of our emotions as sensation and energy. Before you pour your emotions out to a friend, or spew them on someone or the space around you, pause and receive them, sit with them, get to know them. Tune into where emotions create sensations in your body, and describe the texture or flavor of them. Soften the parts of your body that tighten when feelings move. Get good with laughing, and crying, growling, and moaning, let your emotions have sound. Find the shapes and movements that help you express and release different emotions. 

WE SAY THANK YOU

We learn how to be grateful for what we receive. We are receiving all the time, even when we are not intentionally practicing it. We receive prana in our breath, we receive nutrients from the sun, water, and food we eat. We receive the infrastructure, rights, and lessons from those that came before us. When we acknowledge the things we receive from the micro to the macro, with ‘Thank You’ we invite more of it. Feelings of unworthiness or entitlement can block the many gifts and opportunities that come our way, but gratitude undoes those obstacles and makes us better receivers. Fear of why we are receiving something or what we will owe, can also get in the way, like money, or a compliment, when a ‘Thank You’ is all that need be offered back, to complete the cycle.

There is so much more to say about this divine quality, but it’s best to receive the rest it a little at a time.  I hope these suggestions inspire you with some ways to practice RECEPTIVITY. Of course all of this is easier said than done, which is why we practice, we make mistakes, and we get support. If you find your self wanting my support in cultivating this divine quality, send us an email!

With love,

Kamali