The word, fulfillment is a word I'd like to discuss. What does it mean to you? I've had a word of the year, many times, and I found it to be a helpful practice. I can use my word of the year to be inspired every day, in one way or another. Let's talk about having a word of the year. Do you think having a word of the year is a valuable exercise? Before we talk about the word of the year, I want to share with you a quote for the year that I thought was meaningful. I put it up on TikTok to share with the world.

Here's the quote, “be the one who is so busy loving your life, that you have no time for hate, regret, or fear.” I think there's a lot to that quote that's valuable; be the one who is so busy loving your life. And that's related to loving yourself, of course, because if you have a dislike for yourself, if you have a hate-on for yourself, you're probably going to have a hate-on for your life. And so I think it's one in the same. So again, be so busy loving yourself, or be so busy loving your life. I think those two thoughts are very similar.

The next part of the quote is that you will have no time for hate, regret, or fear. Those are all very different things but they are all rooted from fear. Fear is one of those emotions that other emotions come from, including hate, anger, and regret. It's important to embrace fear and just say to yourself, hey, I'm just going to let that fear happen. I'm going to examine it, I'm going to notice it, I'm going to pay attention to it. And I think for me, many times in my life, I tried to not pay attention to it. I tried to push it down, I tried to get busy, so I wouldn't be thinking about it or think about something else.

Fear is something that, if you welcome it, if you are open to it, if you allow it to be, then it won't seem like such a big deal. But that's why I think this quote is really great. “Be the one who is so busy loving your life, that you have no time for hate, regret or fear”. And that quote is by Karen Salmonsohn. And I didn't know this author before I found the quote but I looked her up and noticed she's the author of this book, which I think I'd really enjoy reading, called “Happy Habits: 50 Science Backed Rituals To Adopt (or stop) To Boost Health and Happiness. Keep practicing mindfulness and you will learn more and more about the definition of fear

How can I release a habit that is not serving me any longer? The answer to this question will reveal a very important way to get ahead. This is something a lot of people think of, at the beginning of the year of the year. I haven't read Karen Salmonsohn's book, but I think probably the book is excellent. But back to Word of the Year. So my word of the year is fulfillment, what is yours?  What does fulfillment really mean to you? Well, I think to me, as a mindfulness guy, I think you can choose to be fulfilled, I think fulfillment is a choice. A lot of people do not feel fulfilled in their lives. And that causes them a lot of pain, a lot of angst, a lot of anxiety. And they go day after day feeling as though they have missed the boat. Feeling thoughts like, I'm not achieving enough, I'm not enough. And that is what I have experienced with my clients. A lot of times their anxiety boils down to is this belief that they are not enough, they don't make enough money, or they haven't made enough impact on the world, or maybe haven't authored enough books.

You know what? You are enough. I think that's what mindfulness teaches us. It teaches us to be happy at this very moment. And I think that's why fulfillment is such a great word because you can choose to be fulfilled. Now, it may not be easy to just suddenly decide, I'm fulfilled. The fact is, if you decide that you are going to be satisfied in your life at this very moment, it will give you peace, it will give you a sense of being grounded, so that you can move forward.

Mindfulness certainly does mean to be happy in the moment. Mindfulness also means you can achieve incredible things in your life. It doesn't mean don't look to the future, it doesn't mean don't make goals. You can definitely set goals and have all sorts of plans for your life. But you can also be happy in the moment. So the definition of fulfillment is, “the achievement of something desired, promised, or predicted.

It's important to to think logically about how to be happy in life. How can you feel fulfilled? What do you need to do to feel fulfilled? So fulfillment is my word for 2022.

Why choose a word? Why is it important to choose a word for the year? Hear my thoughts by tuning into the episode.

• Book: Happy Habits: 50 Science Backed Rituals To Adopt (or stop) To Boost Health and Happiness by Karen Salmonsohn

• 496 Stop Missing Your Life; Discover Mindfulness With Cory Muscara