What Is your Theme for 2017? | Co-Active Training Institute

What is it about the New Year that fills us with hope and possibility? In reality, the start of a new calendar year is an arbitrary line in the sand that allows us to mark the passage of time in an organized way.

That said the shift into a shiny new year does provide us with an opportunity to examine our lives anew. We can “begin again” and make fresh choices about how we move through our days. We can re-orient our attention to focus on areas of our lives that are more meaningful and make a long awaited decision to let go of habits that are not life affirming, embracing practices that nourish and grow us.

This is especially important as we move into 2017. At its most positive, we are in the midst of disorienting and challenging times. Moving forward, Co-Active coaches and leaders will need to consistently model Co-Activity if we are to generate a world that truly works for everyone. We will need to open our hearts so that we can stand firmly for ourselves without attachment or hostility. We'll need to open our minds so that we can embrace fresh ways of thinking. And we’ll need to open our individual will and collective will so that we can move forward in new and effective ways.

In order to “walk the walk” of Co-Activity, we must strive to stay grounded, strong and clear. Think of your spirit as a garden. What are the habits and practices that generate fertile soil and healthy stability? What are things that create arid conditions or hurricanes?

In my coaching work with my clients, I’ve found creating a central theme for the year much more useful that generating a dry list of New Year’s resolutions. I find that designing a theme for the year creates an organizing context that fosters deeper meaning and provides a foundation of resonance that fuels needed change.

My theme for this year is “The Incredible Lightness of Being”. Keying off a very cool movie title, it reminds me to travel lightly. I am pointed toward those things that nourish clarity and lightness in me and away from being heavy-handed and becoming burdened with worry and fear. I am reminded to trust my world and myself.

What’s your theme for 2017? How will it serve you in who you want to become in 2017?