The New Year is a time when a lot of people feel the pressure to make big drastic changes in their lives, simply because of a calendar flip. Or is that the only reason?
January 1st rolls in right after the holidays. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Yule, none or all of the above, we cannot escape the Holiday Season and all of it's highs and lows. Even though I see much of the true 'reason for the season' drowned by consumeristic ideals and family triggers; we can't escape the richness that the darkness of winter brings upon us.
Seeds are planted in darkness
We sow the prospects for a new life not in the height of the growing season, but deep in the dark earth, hidden away from the immediate rays of the sun. There, the seed is nurtured by the warm, moist, nutrient rich soil, until it is ready to make its own food from the light of the Sun.
To yield the best crop, a farmer will turn the soil over to oxygenate it as well as test the soil chemistry and add any necessary nutrients to create the best environment for growth, depending on the needs of the crop they wish to harvest.
"When a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower" -Alexander Den Heijer
So, before planting the seeds, or resolutions, of the new year, be sure to turn your soil, adjust the chemistry, and make the necessary changes before introducing the new round of crops.
The seasonal "low point" of winter offers us the silent stillness of introspection. Without the hustle and bustle of summer (or the fabricated chaos of holiday shopping) we are inclined to a slower paced lifestyle as the world outside grows colder.
And being around family can certainly show you places where your soil may be, well...less suitable for growth (*cough*cough>>triggers<<cough*)
Confronting your triggers head on is a sure fire way to set yourself up for success, even if it's a little messy in the meantime.
Ready to get honest?
There's only one thing you need to be successful with these journal prompts, other than a journal and a pen, and that's self honesty. If you're not being honest with yourself, at least to the level of self awareness you're at right now, this exercise will be of little use. If you want to become more self aware, and therefore more successful in all areas of your life, schedule a Life Activation session.
So, set aside some time to take a few deep breaths, quiet your mind, and set yourself up for success this year. PS. you can use this formula anytime you're setting a goal, not just for the New Year. ;)
1. What is your top goal for the coming year? (pick one)
Yup, if we're going to start tending to this soil, we need to know what crop we're planting so we can then determine the specific needs. Pick just one for the sake of this exercise, it doesn't have to be specific, we'll get more detailed as we figure out why you have yet to be successful at it. Rememer, it's a goal and not a reality for a reason. I told you, self honesty is required here, which brings me to...
2. Are these goals in alignment? In other words, are they yours?
Sometimes we can get caught up in the 'shoulds', and fall prey to other people's expectations and never end up living the life that *we* truly want. For this reason, I believe it's valuable to pause and ask ourselves, if this is a genuine goal, or one that you feel you 'should' want due to external influence? Is this really what you want, or something you think you should want in order to achieve a status that fulfills other people's expectations.
If you're stuck, and unsure what your answer is, before going on, take a minute to explore your 'why?' Why do you want this? Next I would suggest receiving Life Activation ;)
3. Have you attempted to achieve this in the past? And if so, what were your stopping points, why haven't you been successful (yet)?
More than likely, if this is one of your top goals, it's something you've attempted to achieve or incorporate into your life in the past and have yet been unsuccessful. At the very least you understand the importance of this goal. So, what were the excuses to not doing/being/achieving it? What got in the way?
4. What was/is the thought process or belief system behind the excuses?
Whenever there's something we want to do (remember, we got rid of 'shoulds' in question 2, this is about what YOU WANT to do), but don't do, there's a thought process behind it that makes it acceptable to ignore. The thought process is that whatever you are putting infront of the thing you want is more important, or that you aren't worthy (important enough) of receiving it. For example, if you don't have time, there's something you're doing instead to utilize that time that isn't what you want, or isn't what you want as much, but you're still choosing it.
Sometimes there really isnt enough time, and in that case, I would say you're doing too much. Because if we have no time to do what we truly want, we are not doing the things we are going to our best capacity.
5. Who told you this?
Whenever there is a disingenuous belief system, aka one that keeps us from our desires, it's never native. Meaning, it came from somewhere else; something we heard from a parent or teacher in our formative years that we decided to be true, and to weave into the fabric of our reality. So, this is something that was told to you, outrightedly or indirectly.
If you're having trouble remembering, close your eyes and feel into your body. Likely these questions are triggering an emotion which will elicit a feeling in the body, that feeling can trigger a memory from your past, and it may not immediately seem relative, but if you allow yourself to feel into that memory, it will teach you something about where you are now, or the thought process that is creating your now.
Hold on to this memory, and the version of you that lives there and ask yourself...
6. What do you actually need?
Often the reason why we are not living the life of our fullest desire, is because there is an unmet need. These needs usual come from childhood, where all our needs were supposed to have been met. Don't feel badly though, I've never met anyone whos every need was met.
Even Siddhartha (Buddha) left his life of total luxury to pursue a higher purpose.
When you can meet your inner needs, you will have more freedom to achieve your greatest desires.
7. What can you do differently this year to resolve these unmet needs.
These may or may not have anything to do directly with your goals. If your goal is to loose weight, maybe your unmet need is actually more rest. If you goal is to make more money, maybe your unmet need is to invest more in yourself. Often times these unmet needs are some form a self love. Love takes on endless displays, what do you need most and how are you going to provide it for yourself?
This is where you need a plan with action steps. This is when you need to pull out your calendar and actually schedule it in, once you know exactly what it is you need. Maybe you need it everyday, like looking in the mirror and telling yourself "I love you." Whatever it is, make the commitment to make it real, because guess what, thats your true New Year Resolution.
Sure, you can keep the original goal on the horizon, but my bet is, if you can love yourself a little more, and show it, by fulfilling your unmet needs; your original goal and lots of other things in your life are about to get a whole lot more manageable.
Our greatest achievements lie behind the places we resist
Things like therapy and somatic experiencing can be helpful in uncovering insights into your childhood, unmet needs, etc. A path of Spiritual Self Mastery however, beginning with Life Activation will address these issues at their root: the energetic imprint caused by these disrupting emotions.
Addressing these inner, core issues is the key to unlocking higher levels of success that you haven't yet achieved. The Universal Hermetic Ray Kabbalah program systematically dismantles these limiting belief systems so that your manifestations can flow more clearly and cleanly from Source to the physical.
It all starts with a Life Activation.