What’s your ritual for the beginning of a new year? I’ve always had some sort of ritual like setting new year’s resolutions, writing down goals, or just thinking about what I will do differently. However, since studying myself my ritual for the new year has become much more meaningful.
My new ritual involves several steps. To help me reflect on the year that has just ended, I find it useful to ask myself some questions and then journal on the answers.
The New Year Is A Time For Reflection
The past is about learning from mistakes and the harsh lessons presented to you in your efforts to progress in your career and life. This is why reflection is a useful process. Taking time to reflect on our paths, successes and struggles helps us to identify how we may have stumbled along our journey. Understanding ourselves deeper can be a powerful way to shape and create the life we want for us.
Read on to find out more about my new year’s ritual and feel free to give it a go!
New Year Ritual: Step One
Reflect on the year that has ended by answering the following questions. Use a journal or notebook if you’d like to look back to last year. This is what I would recommend.
- Which areas of my life did I focus the most energy on?
- What were some of the experiences that brought me the most joy?
- What were my biggest struggles this year? And what did I learn from them?
- What can I appreciate from the past year?
New Year Ritual, Step Two: Bless and Release
I love this process. I don’t know about you but I can sometimes spend a lot of time and energy focusing and holding on to things that are not helpful or useful to me. This process helps remove any negative feelings you have towards something so that you can make room for more positive thoughts, feelings and actions.
A useful question to get started on this is:
What is something (including thoughts, feelings, behaviours, people) I want to bless and release (or leave behind) moving into 2023? Feel free to choose more than one!
Write your answers on separate pieces of paper. Thank each of the things you chose for showing up this year -this is the blessing process. Next, you destroy the paper to symbolise the release. You can tear it up, shred it, burn it, or whatever gives you that feeling of release.
If you are going to burn the paper please do it safely!
New Year Ritual, Step Three: Fill The Gap
Once you have released something you need to replace the gap left behind with positive things. Again, this can be thoughts, feelings, behaviours, or people. Otherwise, the gap may just fill up again with the negative.
The question to ask yourself for this part is: What is something I want to take with me into 2023?
One of the things I am blessing and releasing and leaving behind in 2022 is self-doubt and worrying about what others think of me. This has held me back in so many ways, so it’s time to let it go.
What I am taking with me into 2023 is to express myself fully and step into my natural confidence. The next part, and probably the most challenging, is for me to become this new version of me.
What about you? What are you going to leave behind in 2022 and what are you going to take with you into 2023?
If you’d like to explore how you can move towards becoming the new version of yourself, why not book a call with me? I can help you come up with your next step action plan that will help take you closer to living a life you love.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy 5 Steps To Letting Go Of Your Limiting Beliefs.
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