Winter is the perfect time to – come back to yourself, to listen to your heart, give yourself time and be present.
It is a time for retreating, resting, reflecting, recognising and reclaiming. This is an opportunity to reflect on all that has happened in the past year in your life and business.
So often we are too caught up in moving straight onto the next thing on our never-ending list, the next achievement/goal or simply on surviving during a hard time. We don’t take the time or space to honour all we have done, learnt, felt, experienced or achieved.
- Reviewing yourself, life and business at the end of the year is a wonderful practice to cultivate, take the time to reflect and think about what the year has taught you.
- Take the time to pause, to honour and celebrate what has happened, big or small. I invite you to allow some space for being, to re-centre before you move on.
- Write down your reflection with words, phrases, paragraphs, whatever feels true for you.
Using some of the prompts below, look back on the past year, feel the rhythm of it, reflect on times of transition, times of joy, significant experiences, achievements etc.
- How does the past year feel?
- What have you achieved?
- How have you grown?
- What have you learnt?
- What are you proud of?
- Did you have a word(s) for the year? What were you calling in? How do you feel this went?
- What words describe this year so far and how it has gone for you?
- What were your three most significant lessons/experiences in your life and business? Why do these feel particularlyimportant?
- What have you uncovered about yourself?
- What are you feeling grateful for and why?
- What do you need to finish up, complete and end?
- What decisions do you need to make about your future?
- What are you not ready to release yet?
Take time to process all that you have experienced through the last year and what it has taught you. What wisdom and insight have you gained through the past year?
- What are you holding onto physically, mentally or energetically that is no longer serving you?
- What clutter surrounds you? Where are you resisting? What can you release that isn’t bringing you joy?
A few Invitations
- Self-love – Nurture, nourish and be gentle with yourself. Make a list of at least three things that you can do over the last few weeks of the year that are just for you. Notice how you feel about self-care, is it easier or harder for you to implement in particular at busy times of the year.
- Reflect – on where you are. Use the winter energy to stop, pause, reflect, balance and ground.
- Slow down – come back to your breath, your heart and your body. You could take a digital detox, even just for a few hours, taking time to just be so that you can travel inwards.
- Listen to your heart – please your hands over your heart for just a few moments every day to tune in to how it feels and to receive any messages it is trying to send you. If you find it hard to dedicate time to this throughout the day you could try doing it at night when you are lying in bed before you go to sleep or first thing when you wake up.
Four Chambers of the Heart – a check-in tool
Listening deeply to your tender beating heart can lead you to feeling more joy, balance and abundance in your life and your business.
Are you singing, chanting using your voice enough? Is your voice being heard? Are you speaking your truth?
Are you dancing, moving, walking, exercising, moving your body enough?
Are you meditating, slowing down, reflecting and resting enough?
Are you listening and being listened to enough? Are you being mindful of what you are listening to?
You do not have to use these words , find the words that resonate and are true for you, it is your enquiry.
Wonderful post, thank you Jackie.