Happy 2016! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are ready for the newness and possibility that 2016 brings.
But before we look forward to our desires for the upcoming year, I invite you to pause for a bit. If you are anything like me, I get excited about starting new projects, having new adventures and want to move ahead at full throttle toward my desires. It’s not a bad thing. It’s great to want to put your energy into moving forward. It is how we create our lives. AND before we do that, we want to make sure that our full energy is present to invest in creating our desires. The results will be way better if you can put all of your energy into moving forwards.
Here’s the kicker. We may think we have all our energy being used to move forward but often it isn’t. The tendency at the beginning of the new year is to forget about the past year and focus on what’s next, especially if 2015 wasn’t as peachy as we would have liked. It is super important to finish old cycles energetically before beginning new cycles or else you will still have energy attached to the old past which can drag you down, like a ball and chain. We also miss out on a lot of good stuff, the learning gems, the bits of wisdom we gained as we moved through the tough times. I feel like we don’t celebrate our wins and achievements fully so this is also an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate what was great about 2015.
So how do we finish old cycles? At the end of the year, I like to look back on my year, month by month, and recap what was going on for me at the time. What was happening in my relationships? How was I feeling about my health and well being? How was work going? Did I do any travel? What fun experiences did I have? What breakthroughs did I have? Was I feeling any heartache? Did shit hit the fan?
To be clear, you don’t have to relive the experiences and feel all the emotions you felt at the time. That could be torturous if it was a tough year. You can look at the events and experiences from a place of neutrality, observing them as if you were a 3rd party to them. And when you look at them, take what was good and leave the rest. Take what you learned about yourself and leave the story. Let the story go. It doesn’t serve you any more. The learnings and wisdom you gained do. They help you grow and become a better version of yourself. And take the celebrations and wins with you. You deserved them so give them the credit they are due.
One of the ways we leave relationship cycles open is by holding grudges, blaming and not forgiving. We give part of our energy to those people we haven’t forgiven and by doing so, we feel powerless to change the relationship. By blaming someone or holding a grudge, it means that nothing can change unless that person changes, which we have no control over. All we have control over is ourselves, so by letting the blame go, we take our power back where we can do something with it. It doesn’t mean you have to agree with the person or condone their behaviour. It just means that you get to have all your energy back in you and you let go of the attachment to them. It is a form of freedom for all parties involved.
The relationship I see most of us judging, blaming and not forgiving is the relationship with ourselves. Honestly, letting that shit go is so amazingly freeing! Letting ourselves off the hook for past beliefs and behaviours is one of the greatest forms of self-love I know. So as we move into 2016, set yourself free and forgive yourself for everything. You are human after all and let’s face it, humans fuck up.
Once you have released your attachments to the past year, then you can look ahead to 2016. I am not big on setting New Year’s resolutions as I mentioned in last year’s January blog (click here to read). I prefer to get clear about how I want my days to go and how I want to feel. I picked three words as my theme for last year. This year, two words came to me – fun and flow. I would love for 2016 to be full of fun and flow for me. These are the words I will use to help me make decisions. Does doing this project add fun and flow to my life? Does going to this event add fun and flow to my life? Does saying “yes” to this commitment add fun and flow to my life? Get my drift? So it’s not just picking some words and forgetting them. It is infusing them into your daily life that will make the difference.
So my friends, I invite you to close your cycles from 2015 by taking some time to reflect on your year. Bring all of your energy into this new year. And how do you want to feel and what do you want to experience in 2016? Pick your words and start living them! If you feel moved to share them, email me at laneglenda@gmail.com. I would love to hear them? I have this feeling that 2016 is going to be an amazing year!!!!!
Much love,
Glenda