New Year, New ____ (Fill it in yourself)
Hello …. How are you today?
We are about to start the New Year which feels like a blank page, right?. We look back and we can see everything that has happened to us. We close our eyes and we can clearly feel what we’re thankful for, what we’re ready to forgive, what’s hurt us, and what’s felt great. However, the calendar change to the New Year brings silence, mystery … and questions.
Surely, you have many wishes in your heart and you’ve maybe made a New Year resolutions list. There are people who decide to wait until some days of January have passed before taking action and there are those who are willing to say goodbye to the old year determined to make changes in their lives as soon as possible.
Pause
The first thing that comes up for me is to pause and to take a deep breath to make room for this moment. Transitions are a huge inner challenge. This one in particular marks the contrast of all the hustle and bustle, brightness and speed of the Holidays with the slower pace, the return to everyday life and to living with a quiet soul in January. We know that we have to say goodbye to the old year but the lack of control of the New Year brings up some uncertainty (or a lot!). That’s a lot to take for us little humans who crave certainty so much! However, January is an invitation to believe, to have faith, and to allow ourselves to not know. If it serves as an anchor against uncertainty, try to put into practice rituals that will ground you. You might want to make a gratitude list, to write a journal, to pray, to contemplate, to walk in nature, and even to get more sleep.
January
From the Latin "Ianuarius", is the month dedicated to the god Janus. Janus was the god of doors, beginnings, and ends. He was the god of changes and transitions, of the moments when the portal that separates the past and the future was crossed. As the god of beginnings, he was publicly worshipped on the first day of January (Ianuarius), the month that begins the New Year. Understanding what the month of January means is highly graphic because it’s exactly what we go through year after year. We have to cross the threshold of what we know to get into a new land that we can barely see.
Transitions
How do you feel with the transitions from one stage to the other? What feelings come up for you? Are you curious? Do those feelings overwhelm you a little? How do those feelings manifest in your body? Do you have butterflies in your belly? Do you feel some tightness in your chest? What does your body want to tell you with those signals and how can you soothe and nourish yourself?
I’ve already told you that transitions are difficult for me but I go through them and once I have made my passage, I usually feel very good. The first sensation I have, however, is some constriction at the base of my throat. I must admit that I feel uncomfortable when I don’t have control over changes. Only when I let go and surrender, do I start to relax. This reminds me of the time I had to cross the glass bridge on the rooftop at the Riu hotel, Madrid. My first reaction was one of total fear. I felt as if I was walking in the air with nothing to support me under my feet. However, when I saw that my daughter was walking through it so calmly and happily, I understood that I needed to cheer myself on. I was simply telling myself stories that had nothing to do with reality. That example is great to illustrate all the times we move along telling ourselves terrible tales of how things are going to turn up which have nothing to do with real life. Many small actions can help us bring about positive changes as long as we honor our deepest needs.
6 keys to transitions
What can we do in this transition from the old year to the new one? (and in all transitions in general)
Move more slowly. This doesn’t mean that we’ll walk like a tortoise or in slow motion. It means we need to focus on one activity at a time.
Prioritize what is important and deliberately choose where we’re going to spend our energy and where we are not.
Set healthy boundaries to take care of ourselves.
Meditate and / or do tapping EFT.
Balance the energy we spend outside - family, work, social activities- with rest and solitude- little naps and sleeping hours according to our needs, and time for ourselves.
Exercise from yoga and tai chi to something that makes us sweat. Let me highlight that exercising is one of the most common New Year's resolutions. Tip: start small to sustain it over time.
Heads up! New Year’s resolutions
Tony Robbins says that at the beginning of a new year, everybody makes resolutions. However, without a plan, our New Year resolutions will quickly fail. If you’re considering making changes in the New Year, read Tony Robbins’ quote below:
“This year, instead of setting yourself up to fail with a resolution that’s uninspiring or unattainable, set meaningful, actionable goals instead – and make a plan to achieve them. When you do New Year goal setting right, you’re able to pace yourself and enjoy your progress along the way."
Tony Robbins
It’s wonderful to have new goals for the year ahead. New Year, New Life, right? But ... what if instead of setting big goals we set small goals that are achievable? Why not making small habit changes that will help us achieve our goals? What about focusing on developing tools that will work in our favor for all the above? How about move offensively and not defensively? What I most wish for this coming year is that we honor ourselves at all levels - physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Our bodies have their times, our emotions bring us messages, our minds need rest, and our spirits need to align with the faith that we’re always being guided.
Thank you 💖
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you because you are there reading / listening to this attentively an, because you write to me and inspire me. I’m grateful to you because the more we are, the more I feel like committing to writing and podcasting every week. I love sharing with you a little of what I do in my therapeutic work and a little of what my clients, like me, are feel on our wellness journey.
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A big hug! ❤