Hello Friends!
I don’t know about you, but the holiday season for me is always a time of deep reflection. When you have a Christmas birthday (don’t worry, my Mom has spent my entire life making it up to me), coupled with a holiday and close to the New Year, self-reflection tends to be on overdrive!
Luckily, I love reflecting. In fact, my roommates in college often used to walk in on me staring at the ceiling of my bedroom. I would always tell them I was just “thinking.” Overanalyzing and marinating over ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and my musings on life always came naturally, probably to my own detriment at times. But come this time each year, I find myself looking back on years past and dreaming about the life I continue to create on this journey we call life.
This past year, like most years, was full of peaks and pitfalls, both personally and globally. I spent time with family and friends, took a life- changing trip to Sedona for a Soul Adventure (which I highly recommend btw), developed a fantastic community of like-minded spiritual supporters, and made investments in my professional and personal future. For me, 2016 was a pretty good year.
On a Global and National level, we continue to see the tragedies coming out of Aleppo. Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. Gas prices were low and home prices increased in the US. David Bowie, Harper Lee, Nancy Reagan, George Michael, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, Elie Wiesel, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher were all laid to rest. By the end of the year, social media was exploding with news about the Grim Reaper taking yet another life. To many, the end of 2016 could not come fast enough – there were simply too many “endings” – lives and potentially civilization as we know it. But let me offer some perspective on these happenings.
In numerology, 2016 was a “9” year (2+0+1+6 = 9). “Nine” years tend to signify completion. It’s a time to wrap up a phase of your life, clear your mind and your space to allow room for new energies and experiences to enter. I don’t know about you, but these last two weeks I’ve gone on a major cleaning and organization sprees! I generally feel this shift in energy from winter into Spring- another time of renewal and clearing, but the energy hit me sooner this year. This is simply the flow of the Universe. And like all things, I believe that the souls that passed returned Home all in their perfectly divine time. And Donald Trump- well, call me crazy, but he very well may prove to be one of the strongest Spiritual teachers in our lifetime- here to teach us about ego and power, to name a few.
When I was in Sedona, many of the healers I worked with discussed the fact that as a society, we have been using our minds and thinking as our dominant means of contributing to society. And this was needed- the industrial revolution, great inventions, knowledge, creation of infrastructure, and ultimately, the development of society thrived as a result of these brilliant minds and contributions. In the process, however, we moved away from our feelings and emotions. Our society thrives on finding ways of numbing out – technology, addictions, and materialism all which serve to distract us from our emotions and take us away from our true path in life. Coming full circle, I truly believe that the global and national issues at hand are bringing us back to our feelings. They are tapping into our emotions and our consciousness, allowing us to send the love and light into a world that desperately needs more of just that- love. So while 2016 has been a year of endings, we have the opportunity to collectively shift our consciousness into one of the expansion of love.
2017 is a “1” year. And these years are all about new beginnings, keeping your thoughts positive and manifestation. So what are you manifesting for 2017? Have you set goals or intentions for yourself for the New Year?
A few years ago a wise friend shared her approach to New year’s resolutions with me. Instead of focusing on eliminating something from your life or trying to stick to unreasonable diets or routines that we inevitably break (and let’s be honest, sometimes by 5pm on January 1st), she said she picks a theme to focus on. Last year I decided to give this a try and it was hugely successful. Not in the sense that I had a super-overachieving year, but more so that upon reflection, I was able to see my personal progress. Last year, my theme was “Believe.”
Yep. Last year was all about believing. Believing in myself. Believing in Spirit. Believing that I can trust the Universe has my back. Believing that I can actually have the things I want in my life. And naturally, the list continues. So as I move into 2017, I’m declaring this the year of “Balance.”
I have been an extremist my entire life. The Go Big or Go Home mentality has guided me for as long as I can remember and I find myself equally happy going big, or being home. That being said, it’s time for me to find the middle ground. Time for life to be somewhere in between the all or nothing. Becoming comfortable functioning in the grey, when I generally gravitate towards the extremes of black or white. I’m excited to see how the journey unfolds. And I hope to be able to shift my own consciousness away from the distractions, technology, and mental gymnastics that come so naturally, and bring more mindfulness to the Spirits guiding me on my journey. I hope that I too will do my part in contributing to the global expansion of love and consciousness.
In closing, I encourage you to think about what word or theme you might want to energize in 2017. I would love to hear from you about where you are headed. After all, you matter, people matter, and we are all connected. Share the love! Feel free to comment below or send me an email with your thoughts.
Until next time Happy New Year and let’s rock 2017!
Photo credit by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
