Happy New Year! Wow, how did we get to January 1st, 2016!? Did you rush in, slide in, mosey ~ along in, welcome in, hop, skipped and jumped in; or not really sure…you are just here!?
That’s the thing about time. We don’t get a say in it…it just happens. The lead up to Christmas was manic for me and my family and I found that I blinked my eyes, when I felt like I had finally caught up and was ‘ready’…and Christmas was all over.
However, New Year’s Eve was different. I intentionally thought about it beforehand. Both in how I wanted to spend my evening and also how I wanted to start the New Year off. I planned for it and it seemed to arrive ‘in time’. As in…I was ready and aligned with it. I felt I had some choice over how it played out. Christmas on the other hand, has so many expectations attached; that I tend to look forward to it being over, so I am never really ‘there’ with it.
I am happy to say that I hopped, skipped and jumped over into January 1st 2016! I was in bed before twelve last night, but awake as it struck midnight. I sent out a silent wish for how our 2016 might look like and I woke up this morning with that thought still in my mind and feeling enlivened and amped!
For the past couple of years, I have ditched the regular NYE resolutions-making and elected to invite in a ‘word of the year’ (WOTY), to live by and guide my waking thoughts, intentions and actions. Last year’s word was ‘Grace’. Many years ago, I had the privilege of observing a good friend deal with one of life’s challenges…loss. More specifically, a break up where she was left by the man she loved. I will never forget the immense grace with which she held herself throughout that loss. She taught me…showed me the meaning of the word Grace. To keep one’s dignity intact, hold compassion for the person who ‘wronged’ her, to envelop her pain in a vast container within and not hit out or ‘hot-potato’ the negative baton that had been thrust on her. She was Grace personified and I so very grateful that I had the opportunity to see such a powerful process in action. You see, in the past, I have not dealt with pain, loss, hurt or abandonment very well. I hit out, back…hurt back. I didn’t like the way that made me feel, however, back then, I didn’t know any other way. I continued to lose peace because of my own ongoing suffering and the suffering I had inflicted on the ‘other’. Also, I am pretty sure my karmic levels were a bit dicey as a consequence!
When I made the decision last January 1st, to take on the word ‘Grace’ as my WOTY; my intention absolutely, was to harness this thing called Grace, so as to preserve my own peace first and foremost, as well as to honour the peace of those around me.
It worked.
‘Hope. Believe. Embrace’ Original Painting by Tanya Cole
Last year a couple of interactions with various people, proffered up the opportunity to consciously apply Grace to potentially reactive situations and experiences. Without going into the detail of those situations; what happened was, that a deep commitment for the sacredness of my own internal peace, took priority over any need for my ego to react in being treated poorly by another person. This gave me pause and the grace to respond from a place of compassion and respect for the other person. Sure, I placed some new boundaries up and created some emotional and physical distance from that person; however, I still honoured them when in their presence. I said a silent prayer or wish that that person healed their own internalised pain and anger so they didn’t keep repeating the behaviour and then I let it go and continued to focus on my own surrounding peace.
Given that my WOTY last year had such a powerful effect on me, I am very excited about this years WOTY. In fact…this year, I have two words. They had been flitting around in my mind for a few days last week and after sitting with them and connecting with how they resonated with me; they and I, have become firm friends of my mind.
The words that I have chosen for 2016 are ‘Honour’ & ‘Align’.
I won’t share just yet, what I think the reasons are for me having chosen these words. I think I will leave it to the beginning of next year, to qualify them and reflect again, on how they might have served me in 2016. Either way, I am very excited about the year ahead and I trust that these two words will guide me and also further deepen my self awareness and shape my personal growth. For that, I am already very much grateful, ahead of time.
So, if you haven’t already, I encourage you to free yourself up from feeling enslaved to a raft of resolutions and instead, sit quietly and ponder a word or two. Like a good drop of wine…let it mull around for a while and see how you like it. If it makes you want more…then go for it!
Have a great one!
…2016…here we come!
x Tanya
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