In with the New Year!

Happy New Year!  

Doesn't it make you feel hopeful for something fresh and new?  That's what's great about the new year.

This is the time to close out the old and make space for the new.  First we need to wrap up the old year. We can keep all the good memories, successes, and lessons learned from the old.  We can recap on good feelings, good relationships, and good change we saw in ourselves and the world around us.

Next, we can and need to let go of the negative stuff. It will weigh us down mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  Forget the disappointments, the failures, the losses, and the traumas.  I know that sounds hard to do, but we will carry it in our bodies if we don't.

You may have lost someone close to you.  Allow yourself to grieve and then move on knowing that they are in a much better place free from the worries, sadness, and hurts of life.  Their spirits are freely floating around and they are watching over us.  Some people may not believe that, but I have seen time and time again how clients of mine have felt their loved one's presence and signs of them around.  Remember the good things about them and let go of the sadness.  They would want you to.  They want to see you happy.  They share that happiness with you.  They don't want you to be sad.

We also need to forgive others, for our sake.  We carry them around energetically with us if we don't.  It's okay to be mad for awhile, but then you have to let them go for your health.  Forgiving them doesn't mean you have to stay in relationship with them.  Either distance yourself in some way, move on or vow to not allow them to walk all over you.  Teach them to treat you differently.

The great thing about a new year is that we can release whatever happened this past year and leave it in the past.  Once we release the past and close out 2013, we can then move on to 2014.

How do you want next year to turn out?  What do you hope for?  What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to experience?

Before you start writing a list of things to do for a new year's resolution, start with a vision.  Have the picture in mind.  How do you want to see yourself?  How do you want to see your life?  Keep it broad.  What feelings do you want to feel?  Do you want to be happy?  Do you want to see yourself getting up every morning happy and ready for the day hopeful that it will be great?  Do you want to see yourself smiling and laid back enjoying life?  Start with the snapshot.

Then make the vision more specific in what you see around you.  Do you envision a new location, a new career, a new relationship?  Maybe you already have this and you just envision it being better.  Maybe there is a bigger plan in mind and you see it starting to take shape this year.  Change can take time.  As long as you are moving forward in ways you want, don't worry how long it takes.  I think life is a journey and that there is a bigger plan for our lives.  We just need to stay in tune with it.

Once you have a better focus on what you want, break it down into small, manageable pieces. Don't start with a scary to-do list that requires lots of motivation, which of course dies out quickly.  Think about what you can do this week to work toward your vision.  Then each day, wake up and assess what can be done today.

Action

Recap:
1. Close out 2013.  What was good?  What do you want to let go of?
2. Form a broad vision of you and life in 2014.
3. Funnel it down into a more focused vision.
4. Organize it into weekly goals.
5. Each day, meditate on what you can do today.