Time to Reflect and Celebrate Your Year
The end of the year is such a great time to pause, reflect and allow the magic of the season to shift us into a slower, more heart-centered space. I am posting 31 days of gratitude on all my social media platforms, and it has been a good reminder to allow my heart to stay open even amid the busyness, challenges, and changing landscape.
I invite you to ponder a few questions as you close out your year by reflecting on how you were able to soften more into your authentic self, whether as a leader, choosing a career, being able to navigate change, or manage your work load and life responsibilities.
Where did you allow for more ease?
How have you become more sensitive to yourself and others?
What walls have you pulled down allowing your heart to open bigger and wider?
This year’s theme was one of traversing the channels of our heart in all areas of our life by bringing attention to our heart space to support and help balance out all that goes on in our head.
Giving ourselves permission to not know, to make changes, to be scared or sad and to allow the uncomfortableness of change to open us.
I have found great peace in learning not only to slow down and just sit in stillness and quiet, but also to implement a daily practice of allowing everything to be as it is without trying to change it or fix it. This has helped me to go with the flow of that which is outside of me and out of my control. It has allowed me to be more compassionate with myself and others.
I learned a wonderful compassion exercise from Pema Chodram in her book Comfortable with Uncertainty. You breathe in what is uncomfortable, and you breathe out what you desire for the situation, person or event. It is learning to lean into what is uncomfortable and make friends with it, so it no longer creates resistance against what you don’t want and builds compassion with yourself. When you are angry or stressed, you breathe it in, and breathe out what you desire to create a sense of calm. When you see something that is uncomfortable outside yourself, breathe it in, and breathe out what you desire for that person, place or event.
This beautiful compassion practice has allowed me to soften into more of myself and be there in a more compassionate way for others.
May the spirit of this holiday season and the lessons of your year allow you to celebrate all your growth and discomfort as we learn to live with uncertainty and create a more loving, compassionate world.
Peace to all!