It’s a new year; time for a new keyword.

As you know if you’ve spent time here, each January I pick a “keyword” for the year.

I call them keywords because a in the world of the interwebs, a keyword is connected to other words and other ideas.

When you search using a keyword, you get a range of results that are all connected to the keyword. When I pick my word for the year, it helps me to notice occurrences and outcomes connected to my word.

Recently a friend asked me how do I keep my keyword in the forefront throughout the year?

The honest answer is I don’t. *smile*

For me, keywords work kind of like vision boards. In choosing my word, I spend time reviewing the past year and considering what I want to accomplish/receive/explore in the year ahead, but once it’s chosen, my keyword pretty much runs in the background.

Take last year.

…

My word for 2017 was FLOURISH. And flourish I did.

In fact, of all the keyword I have chosen (9 to date), this one manifested the most concretely for me. Just look at my metrics. *smile*

• I spent more time performing. In fact, I performed 32% more than in 2016.
• I worked with nearly 30 new collaborators/musicians.
• I doubled my out of town performances.
• I broadened my range of projects, including singing a contemporary black opera in July and being invited to sing in an operetta which will premiere this February (Dead Mother King, Feb 23 & 24th).
• I filmed and released a video about my artistic philosophy and upcoming recording project.
• I held 30+ songwriting sessions to create/discover the songs for my upcoming album
• I successfully completed my first Kickstarter campaign.
• I went into the studio the week before Christmas to record my solo album, “What the Music Says Do.”

I knew I had a lot to accomplish in 2017 and that I wanted it to be a year of planting seeds for future growth. Now, I have noticed in this self-supervised life of mine that movement often creates momentum, so I worked to perform more, write songs and raise funds.

That said, I did not wake up each day thinking “Okay, time to flourish.” In fact, it felt like a number of the opportunities in which I participated this past year simply “showed up.”

(In truth, I was being invited to participate based on work I had done in the past, but the fact these projects came this year, I attribute to the power of my keyword.)

…

So on to 2018.

While it no longer feels original to tell you that I had trouble finding my keyword for the year … I did.

Having come off a big year with a big ending (three days in the studio with a dozen musicians), I spent the first weeks of January napping and getting ready to go back to school. I began to listen to all the audio recorded in December (twice as much as most projects my engineer told me *smile*).

So while I knew it was time to pick a new word, I felt too busy and too tired.

I jotted down ideas as they occurred to me:  visible, up, clear, rest, self-care, balance, learn, appear, savor, etc. I even briefly considered if it was time to reuse a past keyword. But, given this is the 10th time that I’ve chosen a keyword, I had faith that the right word would come.

It took longer than usual, but my keyword for 2018 is REPLENISH.

replenish — v. to make full or complete again, as by supplying what is lacking, used up, etc.

v. to supply (a fire, stove, etc.) with fresh fuel.

v. to fill again or anew.

Looking for your own keyword? Here are some ideas:

share, focus, explore, allow, release, start, finish, relax, birth, flourish, savor, simplify, balance, create, dare, prosperity, plant, discover, nurture, wellness, nourish, creativity, discipline, perform, shimmer, power, present, authenticity, beam, be, embody, imperfect, willing, rejuvenate, unpack, …