This season is a powerful time to gain clarity around your needs and values - giving you an authentic foundation for growth in the new year. All you need is the intention to observe.
Many of us just looked at the calendar and realized it's time to coordinate plans. Maybe you are gathering the energy to gather calendars, plan the meal and buy the gifts. Maybe you are along for the ride, about to be pulled through someone else's steps associated with the season. Or you could just be filled with anticipation and joy for what's to come!
No matter how you experience of the holidays, the years seems to stack up continually more and more expectation. Joyful memories carry expectations of repeating the good while rough years carry the dread of repeating the bad.
My challenge to you is to do something different this year. Instead of pushing your way through (with either constant indulging or avoiding), commit to using this year to learn about what drives you - what you really want and need. You have an opportunity to use this time intentionally - and for yourself.
Rather than focusing on everyone else and going through the proper motions - use this powerful time to gain self-awareness around what you are and aren't getting from your life.
This time of year is emotionally intense because it brings our expectations to the surface. Even those who love the holidays tend to carry stress around making sure everything is exactly as it is "supposed" to be... "The stuffing must be exactly how grandma did it!"
The natural rhythm of this season is one of raw expectations for ourselves and the people in our lives, making it the best time to gain awareness around what you want and need - simply by observing and understanding what you are feeling.
The most powerful thing you can do during this time is to use it for your personal growth. Commit to the idea that this year will be the last year you simply feed the cycle. It doesn't require that you do things perfectly, that you confront the elephant in the room or that you resolve some deep-rooted tension. What it does require is your willingness to observe yourself.
The first step to growth is rooted self-awareness around what you want and don't want. That awareness is absolutely key - and this is the optimal time of year to discover it. All it takes is for you to pay attention. I invite you to join us on a path of intention and self-discovery this holiday season, a path that will give you rich insight into how you can make the most of life - in the new year and for all the years to come.
This series will run from now through the new year with a weekly post, some tools to guide you through the process and some words of encouragement. In the end, I hope you use this time to gain clarity around your own needs and values - so that you can start the new year focused on the things that will propel your life in the direction you truly want. Our expectations for ourselves and the expectations of others are one of the biggest chains we carry around our necks. Take advantage of this intensely powerful time to identify those expectations alongside your own needs.
Through this process I invite you to connect with me personally, comment on the blog and sign up to work with me one on one! I'll be taking on new clients in the new year - a perfect time to use the new self-awareness you've gained and start tackling your goals from a place of clarity and self-empowerment.
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