2025 Word of the Year

Resonance Painting by Olga Todorovska

I’ve written before about choosing a word of the year over setting New Year’s resolutions. Besides being a gentler way to establish focus and intention in the new year, a word is more flexible - open to the many interpretations and circumstances that we can’t predict at the beginning of the new year.

If we choose the New Year’s resolution “I will go to the gym for an hour every day” or “I will lose fifteen pounds” or “I will win an audition,” for example, anything other than what we’ve chosen will feel like failure. In contrast, if we choose a word like “health” or “focus” or “fluid,” the word can bend and mold to the circumstances of our lives while encouraging us to focus on intentions about what matters.

My appreciation for intentions is influenced by my yoga practice. If you’ve done yoga, or taken on any kind of physical pursuit including playing an instrument, you know that every day feels different. Some days you step onto the mat or pick up your instrument and the reality simply doesn’t match your peak skills or what you had in mind for the day.

Yoga has taught me to set an intention and then step back to observe how it fits in with reality. Intentions can help us stay positive and focused even when the current moment doesn’t match up with our desires or goals, allowing us to accept what is without giving up our agency to make change. There is a lot in life we can’t control - most things, if we really think about it - but there are very few things we can’t influence either directly or by addressing our perception or approach to the matter.

Over the years I’ve found that having a word for the year helps me stay focused on changes I’d like to make or things I want to invest in while allowing me the room to forgive life and myself when they don’t measure up to the grandest ideal. Which is great, because we all know life can take some pretty crummy unexpected turns without giving us fair warning.

I’ve had my friend Ali, who owns an amazing custom print business and inspired my yearly practice of choosing a word, print my word and customized definitions each year so that I can display it somewhere I’ll see it often. I love the gentle reminder that I can choose where my attention rests and take daily actions to support that choice.

At the end of last year, Ali asked me to write a guest blog for her website about choosing a word. You can read my reflection here on her site about how 2024 took some of those crummy, unexpected turns and how I found comfort in the way my word ended up meaning something completely different than I had expected.

Having the second half of 2024 essentially flip upside down really made me think more deeply about what this year’s word should be. I wanted to capture the optimism I feel is part of who I am, but remain realistic which meant zeroing in on what I really want for 2025: I want to focus on curating my interior life - my relationships, working on projects that matter most to me, building a routine and home life that supports health and ease in both those areas. I want to show up as fully as possible in my professional life and take action on my skills and ideas to, hopefully, make a positive impact. What word could support all this while still remaining optimistic?

I landed on the word resonance, which feels especially fitting to both flute playing and the idea of cultivating an earnest daily life and routine with myself and those close to me. I love the way the word resonance captures the idea of staying realistic and grounded in the moment through its implication that we are in tune with what surrounds us.

resonance (n.): 1. quality of being deep and full 2. a state of connection 3. influence of internal and external forces 4. a lasting effect

Did you choose a word for 2025? It’s not too late - you can choose a word for the year at any time. You could even choose a word for each season or big event.

There are actually many smaller ways that I use this tool daily. Choosing a word when I step onto the yoga mat, at the beginning of a practice session, at the start of a new semester, when I’m preparing for a big performance or recital, and when I’m going on a fun trip or hosting a holiday or party are all times that I use words to stay focused on my intentions and how they meet my circumstances.

What are some places you could incorporate a word as a gentle funnel of focus or intention? This practice of setting gentle intentions through language is available to us whenever we need it.