Every year in January, I choose a new word for my New Year ahead.

I always call it my INTENTION word (rather than a ‘resolution’), because Intention feels spacious and allows me to stay open and attuned to shifts, as my year progresses.

Some years I’ll make a vision board, or a word collage. This year, I’ve explored a journaling and drawing process to come up with my word.

I began by reflecting over my year - what worked and what didn’t, then circled key themes that felt important to honour. My key topics were ‘grief practice’, ‘distilling’ and ‘prose’

From here, I chose one theme that I wanted to deepen into over 2025, by asking:

What Do I Need to Strengthen, Transform, or Deepen around this Topic?

My inner answer arose as …

To me, Soul Deepening is about rooting in, bunkering in almost, to prioritise the quiet, listening voice within my cells, bones and psyche.

Whereas Spirit to me feels like an open, rising expanse of possibilities, Soul lives in the depths of my Earthy existence and Body.

I’m discovering how My Soul and Earth Soul overlap and how they support each other … akin to a deep-dive exploration between matter and the Universe itself.

Rather than a rising up, to me, Soul Deepening is a travelling down, or coming through the veil of ambition and striving, back to a sort of awaiting stillness within me.

Like a dear old crone sitting on an old velvet chair at the back of a bookshop, smelling of old books.

Speaking of books, I’m noticing I’m leaning into audiobooks, poetry, prose and grief works for guidance and tips, from those who have walked the Soul Deep Path (Pixie Lighthouse, David Whyte, John O’Donohue).

What I’m sensing in with my Soul Deepening is that it takes great dedication, spaciousness and attunement, as well as lots of alone time in nature … a real slowing down to notice the nuances beneath my westernised existence, to truly notice what’s usually unseen.

ripples and reflections of ocean and sand patterns on shallow sea

I sense it’s a big task and that it means taking extended periods of regular time in my cocoon, while I rest, attune and be rearranged by what I meet, down in the depth of Soul Deep. I sense there’s a lot there.

What this means for me in practice is a slower year, less output as I focus on input. Employing stronger boundaries as they become known to me. Engaging in regular poetic and therapeutic arts practices, like painting and journaling and drawing to assist me to process as I deepen, moment to moment.

I will be documenting my processes and from time to time, sharing what I’m coming to know here on my blog and on my newsletter (you can sign up to below if you too are travelling this path)

Love,