Happy New Year 2022!
I know, you read the headline a couple of times and thought…TYPO. While typos happen, 2022 was intentional. 🙂 Stay with me as I explain why.
Often when a New Year is upon us, we take time to think about, write down, and plan on goals that we want to accomplish in the upcoming year. You know, the ‘dreaded’ New Year resolutions.
I invite you to approach the upcoming year differently. Pretend that today is a peaceful day in late December 2021. You are sitting in a comfy chair and looking back on the amazing year you are about to complete. A lot went right for you, and it brings a BIG SMILE to your face. You laughed a lot this year. Your relationships were strengthened. You enjoyed your work. And a few magical experiences took place that you didn’t even know you wanted. What a year it was… 2021 was better than expected.
Listen, we are just coming off a tough year for many. It’s hard to see big changes for the better when you’ve just moved through 2020. However, the more you allow yourself to step into the life you want to live, the life you deserve to live, the more it will begin to unfold.
As we say goodbye to 2020, I invite you to take some time with this project and think about that late day in December 2021. That day that you are smiling and grateful for the amazing year you’ve just had. Get into that space and write it down. Write down the small dreams that are a shoo-in to happen. Write down the stretch dreams. Write down the BIG dreams. Write them all down. Keep your attention on how good it will feel for it to happen. Please do not focus on how it will happen.
Here are some tips to get you started:
Remember, it’s about FEELING good! When you start to vision an exceptional year, put yourself in the feeling place of it. Sure write down exact names and places, AND then get into how those people and experiences make you feel.
Focus on living in a state of appreciation. Even in the best of years, there will be moments of sorrow and frustration. A great year isn’t about only rainbows and puppy dogs; it’s about embracing the celebrations and the sorrows. I encourage you to create a daily practice of focusing on the appreciation. It’s certainly easy to appreciate good times, but I promise you, when you are gentle with yourself and find ways to appreciate your struggles, the intensity of them will lessen.
Now, look at the different areas of your life and how you want them to be in 2021:
Health: How do you want to feel about your health? Perhaps it’s more active and a focus on fitness. Perhaps it’s you needing more time to relax. Write down what a happy, healthy year looks like and feels to you.
Relationships: Relationships are so important in our lives from family, friends, colleagues, and LOVERS. We are an interconnected species and rely on each other. Before I continue, I want to again state…
Others enhance (or detract) from our lives. We are the ones that make it.
With that said, how do you want to feel in your relationships? Is compassionate communication important to you? Do you want to feel safe so you can be vulnerable with those close relationships? Do you want to feel appreciated and respected by your relationships? Focus on each type of relationship from family, friends, colleagues, romantic partnerships. Whatever relationships you want to have in 2021, write down what healthy and happy relationships look like and feel like to you.
Career/finances: While career and finances are two different categories, many have them connected. If you would like to separate them and make a list of how you feel about a successful year financially and within your work, I encourage it. Are you looking to change jobs? Start a new business? Retire? Strive for a promotion? Further your education? Write down what a happy and healthy financial and career year looks like and feels like to you.
Home: Wherever it is that you call home, how do you want to feel in it? You can visualize where you currently live and how you can enhance it. Or, you can visualize where your ideal home is and get into that feeling place. Do you want to feel safe? Cozy? Modern? Country? Write down what a healthy environment you call home looks like and feels like to you.
Service: Being of service is a great way to boost feeling good. It can be as simple as sharing a kind word, smiling, saying thank you, or holding the door open. It can be donating financially to an organization you believe it, or it can be volunteering. Write down what it looks like and feel like to positively impact others’ lives during the year. I promise you that your service to others will enhance other aspects of your life.
Bucket list: Create a bucket list if you don’t have one—a list of places and experiences you would like to do before moving to the stars. The bucket list isn’t just for 2021; it’s for anything that you want to accomplish in your lifetime. Write it all down. Then, take a look at the list and choose a couple that you accomplished in 2021. Get into the feelingplace of being in that location or living that experience. Write down how it looks and feels like to have fun bucket list moments. Here is my bucket list.
Once you have created your magical 2021…
Write down a few easy tasks you can do to move you closer to your end goal. You can break it down later into more actionable items.
Visualize daily ‘living’ what you wrote down. Just a few minutes each day. And if you miss a day, or ten, don’t beat yourself up; get back to visualizing a feel-good year.
Stay in appreciation. I want you to feel your feels. Anger, frustration, sadness, and fear will visit. That’s okay, feel them, and then move forward into feeling a little better.
Closeout your list by writing down ‘this or something greater for the highest good of all involved.’ Many paths can lead you to feel that 2021 was a magical year. You’ve just written down some options that you are aware of, but others are also available. Allow other ways to present themselves. Your job is to focus on how you want to feel within your body, relationships, career, home, community, and memorable experiences.
Your magical year isn’t a destination to achieve. It’s a journey to embrace and live.
Until next time, I wish you the best year of your life.
Big ((hugs)) and much LOVE,
Carol
Affirmation:
I appreciate where I was, where I am, and where I am going. All is well.
Words to LOVE by:
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet.” – Anne Frank
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” e.e. Cummings
“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” T.S. Eliot
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
“Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” – Helen Keller
“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” – Paulo Coehlo
Sounds for your Soul:
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