Each year I select a word that resonates with the upcoming year. Often it is a word of what I feel will unfold: a word of what I want or feel will manifest, and most often it is a word for everyone!
In 2014 it was balance. In 2015 it was movement. And in 2016 it was visibility.
And for 2017 the word is …. fulfilled!!!!
I look for continuous signs and synchronicities in the last few weeks in the year to show what may come in the following year. And this word kept bonking me on the head. The final blow was when I was watching Tony Robbins in a live stream presentation from Las Vegas earlier in the month. He spoke about how we have a human need to grow to the next level, we instinctively want to improve the quality of our life, and we crave living life on our own terms. In doing this, we must master two skills: the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment.
In mastering the science of achievement, learn from high achievers and do what they do, become obsessed about what you want to achieve, take massive action and find effective ways of moving forward, and in doing this find and be in grace/God because as you acknowledge and appreciate where you are, the more that will show up to move you down your path.
Now in the art of fulfillment, this absolutely bonked me over the head. This is different for everyone, but it’s figuring out what fulfills you. Think about that? What fulfills you? Why do you spend the time the way that you do? Is it because you have to or because you want to?
It’s a very deep question and I really pondered. I do a lot, I have monster goals, I am constantly growing and learning, and I have lots of passion projects. Most people get dizzy when they see all that I do and all that I have planned. But in the end, what about all of that fulfills me?
Tony said, success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. Fulfillment requires growth as a person while you contribute and give. It’s about trading expectations for appreciation and living in a beautiful state. It’s about being obsessed to find beauty in everything so that you live in a beautiful state of mind. This beautiful state sustains you even when things are not going your way. Because when you live from a beautiful state you are high energy and high peak performance. When you a frustrated, overwhelmed, worried, fearful, beating yourself up, you are in a suffering state.
Wow.
Too many people choose to suffer. So why not choose a beautiful state and find fulfillment every day?
So how does being fulfilled relate to you? I find that most people can generally be placed into two categories: (1) people who have goals, dreams, plan, take action and aim to be the best version of themselves that they can; and (2) people who go with the flow of life, who are content but secretly waiting for something better, but are not necessarily setting goals or taking steps towards what they want.
If you are a goal and dream-driven person, being fulfilled is finding out why you are goal and dream-driven, what makes you tick, work long hours, plan and strategize, work on intentions, affirmations, have vision boards all over the place, and work on being your best you every day? It can be exhausting, yet why does it feel rewarding?
If you are a go-with-the-flow-of-life person, finding fulfillment is in the introspection of looking at your life and deciding whether it’s what you want when you come to the end of your days. Will you look back and feel that it was the best life you could live?
Fulfillment is different for everyone. Without fulfillment, whatever we accomplish in life doesn’t matter. At the end of our life, no one ever wishes for one last conference call, staff meeting, email, cleaning the house, or being at the whim of someone else’s schedule.
So as we bid farewell to the crazy life-changing energy of 2016 (which was a 9 ending year in numerology) and welcome in the radical changes of 2017 (a 1 year of beginnings), I hope that you’ll spend some time to identify what fulfills you. It will be time well spent and could change how 2017 unfolds for you.
Give yourself radical permission to find what fulfills you and then put your time there in 2017!
Happy New Year to you … I send you my best wishes for a fulfilled year ahead!
About Allie Phillips:
