New Year Reflections and Possibility!
"Optimal living is not about perfection...
... It’s being able to grow stronger from the events and challenges we experience everyday.”
When approaching the holiday season and the end of the year it's easy to get wrapped up in "busy-ness" or become critical, focusing only on what we need to do better. We can tend towards perfection, or just plain get overwhelmed.
When our focus is Perfection, life's circumstances look black and white, the world is skewed based upon our perceptual lens of past experiences.
If instead, the goal is Integration, life looks full of possibility, we can learn and grow from our past experiences and change how we show up, as we become more whole, and feel more happiness.
Happiness is more than just an emotional state,
happiness is the feeling of progressing in your life,
and becoming more whole as a result.
Our corner of the world heavily focuses on resolutions for the new year.
Or "resolving mistakes from the past," but when I hear this, I believe we are missing a big piece of the puzzle, when we resolve something we are coming from a limited viewpoint of the past, what has already happened. In quantum physics we learn that the matter or material world, anything we see, is less than 1%. The other 99.9% of this universe is the energy and life force that animates you, the field where infinite possibilities exist.
Therefore, we may be limiting our perceptual lens from seeing all that is possible if we only seek to resolve our past.
In order to open yourself up to more of what is possible,
I invite you to spend time in reflection of the last year.
Set yourself up for success by carving out some time that is solely focused on this, be intentional and kind to yourself.
-You can have fun with it, light a candle, use a fun journal and pen, or sip your favorite warm beverage.
-Reflect on each category of life and ask yourself what is going well here and what needs work or improvement (example areas of life: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, quality of life, character, family, social, vocation, finances).
-Be honest, and don't forget to celebrate your wins, no matter how small.
-Reflect on big and small gratitudes for the last year.
Once you have reflected and processed your year, you're in a more whole place, from here ask yourself:
If I were doing this reflection one year from now, what would the most amazing and empowering reflection of 2023 feel and look like for me?
Journal, or visualize in your mind in full detail. Forget "how" it's going to done and simply let yourself feel as if it's already here.
From this place of "it already being here," ask yourself:
-What would I do differently this year?
-Do I have a word, intention or phrase that sums it up and I can reflect back on over the year?
-Are there specific actions I would start or stop doing?
-Who must I become to live this year I just imagined? How does this version of me walk, talk, interact with the world around me?
I hope this process opens up more possibility for you, and know that you can revisit this any time of year and as often as you like.
At Heart of Life, it’s our absolute pleasure to help you integrate your life’s experiences, stresses, challenges, and to reconnect you with the powerful intelligence within you, so that you may experience true happiness more fully.
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With love and gratitude,
Dr. Jessica