My Word For 2024 Is...

(Words for the year work a kind of magic. What will yours be?)

I’ve been playing with the Bing AI image generator and having a LOT of fun!

I was feeling wobbly, foolish and a little afraid. It was nine years ago, and Kaspa and I were just about to move into a four floor hotel and re-launch it as a Buddhist temple. What the hell did I think I was doing? Who was I to run a temple? What terrible mistakes was I going to make?

I asked a senior Buddhist colleague for advice. What would help me to be a good Buddhist minister, and to run a healthy community? She gave me three words, and I have carried them with me ever since. She said: enjoy your life.

Over the past nine years, in amongst dealing with a cornucopia of leaks, being a sometimes-necessarily-strict landlord, feeling grumpy about my work-life balance and the terror and grief of leaving our Buddhist Order to strike out on our own, I have tried to enjoy my life.

I have trusted that a resentful Satya would make for a tainted community, however hard I tried to cover it up. I have trusted that people will only want to learn about the Dharma if they can see how happy it makes me, and how much consolation it brings me. I have trusted that people will learn to bloom in their own unique ways if I keep blooming in mine.

I have trusted that, if I enjoy my life, the ripples of happiness will spread out from me and wash over other people’s toes.

I often choose a word for the year, and it does seem to work magic. Even if I forget my word for weeks or even months at a time, when I look back over the previous twelve months I can see how it has shaped me quietly and gently. It’s as if I’m agreeing to look at the whole year through a particular lens, or to worship a God with a particular specialty. It’s as if I’m handing myself over to a power beyond myself - me with my small dreams and my limited imagination.

I am making a declaration to the Universe. I am ready for abundance! I need spaciousness! I want healing, or clarity, or joy! Bring it on!

Next year I will be fifty.

I have already planned a six week break from work in the Autumn, the longest time out I’ve had for three decades. I will complete my year of twice-daily prayers for the Earth, and I’ve got exciting plans for my second year of Going Gently (see below).

What better year to sink into the ongoing project of enjoying my life. What better time to put myself at the mercy of my word for 2024: ENJOYMENT.

I love the way ‘joy’ nestles at the heart of it. I feel a fizzy curiosity about the light it will cast over my year. I wonder if it will lead me to fresh interests, or to appreciating what’s already here and hidden and wonderful. I hope it will also affect me when things (as they are sometimes sure to be) are difficult. What surprises will it bring?

I wonder what word you want to bring into your life. Here are a few tips:

⭐ Keep it as simple as possible.

⭐ Rather than trying to swipe at it like a net at a butterfly, keep perfectly still and wait for it to alight on your hand instead.

⭐ Do some brainstorming. Let yourself open up to crazy words and silly words and words that ‘aren’t you’ and all the rest.

⭐ Ask your friends what they think your word should be. Feel free to ignore them but they just might have a gem...

⭐ If you can’t choose between two, then either pick one at random, or choose the one that makes you happier, or keep both. If you can’t choose between three or more then maybe ‘minimalism’ should be your word… (Only joking. Take abundance!)

⭐ Do a final check. When you say your word, does it light a spark of happiness or excitement inside you? If not then it’s probably not the right word. Give yourself a bit more time and trust that it will come.

When you’ve found it, you might want to write it in your journal or stick it on your office wall or just carry it gently around inside you, like a baby kangaroo. Allow it to have a life of its own. It will!

Here’s Ralph lying on a paper bag. What more enjoyment could any dog ask for?

But wait - don’t go and start thinking about your word for 2024 just yet… I have two more tasty treats for you.

First I want to share some of my exciting plans for Going Gently next year. We’ll be having a year of ENJOYMENT.

We’ll shimmy into 2024 with Gentle January. This will start on the 1st with my Anti-New Year’s Resolution invitation - if give me five minutes every day, I will offer you self-forgiveness in return. I’ve also got Playful April in mind, and maybe even a Naughty August (those two words are making me feel gently transgressive already. Maybe I’ll eat my advent calendar truffle before breakfast…)

I’ll continue to release my new monthly videos, starting in January with an introduction to Internal Family Systems (the way of seeing things that changed my life). These videos will help you to get to know yourself through the lens of IFS, to handle the spiky and troublesome parts of you, and to bring calm and compassion to your whole system. There will also be more Love Notes, more How Not To Worry pieces and who knows what else *excited face emoji*

I’ll be putting my yearly subscriptions up soon (because I’m worth it and so are you) so now’s a good time to become a Going Gently Supporter & get access to all of this.

A reminder: I like to frame my paid subscriptions as you making it possible for everyone else to benefit from my writing, as well as it being a gift to yourself and a gift to me. Thank you. Also, if your finances are too tight for the fee, just message me.

Two more scrumptious treats.

This post by Bailey on

Art Dogs

left me bursting with joy (and no - it’s not that Nick Cave). Make sure you watch the swishy videos!

Nick Cave

And this is a song which I’ve shared with you before and I will probably share with you again. It’s by the inimitable Beverly Glenn-Copeland. Tell me you can listen to this all the way through without feeling a frisson of something good. I challenge you.

Go gently, my lovelies, and enjoy your day.

Don’t forget to share your word for 2024 with me in the comments!

Satya <3