How is this year going so far? Have the New Year’s resolutions come and gone? and you are just left feeling bad about yourself, like you are a failure? There are many reasons why this mindset is doomed to fail and there has to be a better way of working with this difficult time of year. Here are my top tips 🙂
1) Slow down, rest up ~ and don’t put an additional pressure on yourself with unachievable resolutions. So ease yourself into the year if you can, be spacious with your time because the whole rest of the year is connected to how we come into it. Go within or Go without.
2) Clear out the clutter ~ new year we will need more space for new experiences and opportunities to come into our life so getting rid of the old stuff simply makes room for the new. I have a yearly ritual of totally spring-cleaning my room ~ clothes, photos, vision boards, creams, clutter is all sorted and moved around or chucked out, clean sheets and then a move round of the furniture, add any lighting needed and I am ready to move cleanly into my New Year.
3) Gather Information ~ if it interests you find out what this year could bring ~ there are many different types of forecasts ~ astrological, numerology and others. So 2016 added up to 9 which is a year of completing cycles which is why it was so turbulent for so many and 2017 adds up to 10 which becomes a 1 which is a cycle of new beginnings. The energy still feels quite unstable because as we all know that the passage just before birthing anything new is dark and scary.
4) If you follow earth cycles as I do then you have a whole lot more time to fit all of the above in 🙂 It is about remembering that this time of year is dark, wet, cold and that nature is not ready to wake up yet … slowly, slowly come out of hibernation. For me, I plant my seeds for the following year on the Solstice (Dec 21) and then I have 6 weeks to do the above before Imbolc (2nd February) where I begin to look for signs that winter is thawing and spring is round the corner. Look at the snowdrops, sometimes they push through snow and ice because they know it is time to wake up. You see what that does? I have more time and space and I don’t have to completely transform over 1 night or even 1 month. Easier.
5) Do it for yourself ~ every day, really every moment is an opportunity to be that version of yourself you want to be. Why limit yourself or confine yourself to an outer authority of when and how you should do anything.
6) Book something to look forward ~ I have finally learnt that the reason I do not enjoy my birthday (early feb) is because it is dark and wet and cold not because it is my birthday! This is the second year running I will be putting on a retreat in February because I know by the end of January I will need some sunshine, more light and fun.
d has darkened, the inner world expands.