How is everyone doing? How are things going? Are you getting into the swing of the new year, have you set your intentions, are you sticking to your resolutions? Yes? No? Maybe you're a little like me, and would find it useful this time of year to press pause, take a little stock, and check in with yourself. I know a lot of my posts lately are about "what do I want to take with me throughout the year," or, "how do I want to experience this or that," but that really is how I use my Winter months. As the year winds down, I take a look back at what worked, and what didn't, what I want more of, and what I'd like to have a lot less of, and spend some time figuring out exactly how to make that happen for the incoming year. I focus on what I want to grow, and expand, more than the things I'd like to quash, mainly because I've found in my life, what I dwell on, I just get more of ... You know what they say: What you fight, you ignite! So, instead of battling all of the things I'd like to eliminate from my life, I like to keep my attention trained on everything I want to increase, and as the good things proliferate the bad things just kind of naturally get pushed out entirely.
Overall, it makes for much more peaceful transitions, a happier experience, and is a lot less exhausting.
Once I've decided what I'm working toward, I begin each January by mapping out, and practicing how I'd like to spend the rest of the year ... A little "try before you buy" sort of thing. Like, can I really spend 12 whole months on this journey, in this way, or do I need to change up a couple of things to make life run a little more smoothly? And that's what I use the Lunar New Year for. To me, it's the perfect time to reassess everything, lift the hood, kick the tires, and make the necessary changes for a successful year. If you celebrate the dawning of a new year on January 1st, and you had all of your intentions in place, and you've managed to slip off the wagon, or you're clinging by a finger ... Here's your reset! And frankly, I think it's going to be a doozy, so you'll want to hop back up and get a good seat.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not encouraging folks to go out and start appropriating things that aren't ours to be fussing with. We don't need to be invading, and taking things over, and acting like we invented them, but I definitely think it's a worthwhile activity to learn about cultures that are not our own, and partake in celebrations, and incorporate pieces that we find uplifting and useful into our own regularly scheduled lives. I mean, honestly I think we should all be celebrating a lot more holidays anyway, because I've always felt that anything that causes us to slow down, savour the moment, and increase our joy and the pleasure of being alive is a wonderful thing.
Plus, there's this Christmas-horse-skeleton-thing I'm really looking forward to getting into if I can remember it this year.
Anyway, the Year of the Ox is upon us, and with it, a time of unwavering determination, and strength of character will be ushered in. Everything I've read about it sounds refreshing, and hopeful in that some of the very best change in life comes as the direct result of putting a little elbow-grease into whatever you're doing, and I think this is going to be a year that involves a lot of hard (but rewarding) work, discipline, and organization— three things that will always have a spot in the dictionary of my Love Language, so I am stoked! Besides, what better time than now to correct your path (if need be) than with this confident, and steadfast energy fueling your decisions? It seems like we've got the perfect opportunity to lay down a solid foundation before 2022 (Tiger) roars in with all of its excitement, and passion.
So wherever you are, and whether this is your first Happy New Year of 2021, or your second, may you have good luck, good fortune, and an abundance of happiness all the rest of your days!
