By Patricia Young.
The best way to start the New Year is embracing the lessons and gifts from the previous year. During my time off, around the holidays, I did a closing ritual where I went deep and connected with everything that I accomplished last year. I really did an inner and outer inventory and decided to write down my major lessons, and committed to starting my year embodying them and feeling immense gratitude for all these blessings.
In full transparency, 2015 was a year filled with beautiful and rewarding experiences but a lot of challenges too. Everything I’m sharing here was born out of those struggles and pain, and I decided to share the depth of my lessons so they empower you to create the best year ever! Because the truth is, that the way in which we respond to struggles and challenges will make a big difference in our lives - we either grow and transform, or stay stuck and take on the victim role…it’s our choice!
I want you to make this New Year, the year in which you break free from your comfort zone, self-imposed limitations and old agreements that are keeping you playing small. My wish for you is that you have the courage to claim who you really are, honor your own truth and live ON purpose with every cell of your being - no matter what you encounter along the way.
Here are my 6 powerful insights:
- We’re always creating, whether we’re conscious of it or not – We’re constantly making choices in life - we don’t get to not create. Knowing that we can live life by design feels like a breath of fresh air. If we live by default, we let life dictate the terms to us and then we will fall into the victimhood trap. Choose to live consciously and you’ll start seeing the results you want.
- We always choose expansion or contraction in our lives - and we always choose one to the expense of the other! Expansion is our natural state and we’re able to be in that state when we’re open and allowing, when we are in-flow with life. Contraction is the result of our conditionings, old agreements and thought patterns that we developed in life - mainly based on a fear and lack mentality. We cannot live the life of our dreams and live on purpose if we’re not in-flow, and we’re not taking actions that will take us closer to what we say we really want. Here’s the painful truth, you will only be able to create and achieve what you’re ready to receive.
Contraction = not allowing = not being open to seeing and receiving the good that’s already in your life
Just be aware that when you feel contraction is time to look inward, and explore what needs to be healed and released, so you can open yourself up for an upleveling in your consciousness and awareness – great growth and expansion is the result! A miracle itself!
- We’re always committing to something – If we’re not experiencing what we really want, there’s a part of us that, unconsciously, doesn’t want to achieve it. That unconscious part is like the bottom of an iceberg. We really don’t have commitment issues, we’re always committed to something – consciously or unconsciously. Are you committed to consistency or inconsistency? Are you committed to growth and making a difference or hiding and playing small because it’s safe? We’ve made unconscious agreements in our lives that served us at some point, but we can’t experience change and different results without doing things differently - we really change when we consciously commit to stop following through on those old agreements and take inspired actions that are in alignment with what we really want.
- We’re always divinely supported (even if we don’t see it) – Sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to work, and we fall into a downward spiral. We start feeling like a victim, not supported by the Divine and some old wounds can get triggered. The truth is that even if we don’t see it at the moment, we are ALWAYS supported and guided, we only have to stop resisting and be able to surrender. Everything always works for our highest good. Usually, a detour or a stepping stone was exactly what we needed to move forward and heal or learn something that would open up the channel for more goodness in our life. Oh, but it’s so hard to see it while we’re in the middle of it, right? Keep reading, because there’s more…
- There’s always a gift in darkness if we’re willing to see it – When we’re forced to be face to face with our fears, shadows, doubt and desperation we have to get excited because we’ll be leaping forward once we go through the process. Something that has helped me a lot is to ask Spirit and my higher self, “what is it that I’m being asked to see?”. In these moments, we can be guided to look deeper into wounds you thought you had healed, but in reality, there were still some layers that needed to be released. There’s no way we can move on in life if we’re not willing to have the courage to look at them, eye to eye, and from a fresher perspective, release them, otherwise, we will continue to carry them as old luggage and sabotage every effort we make to have a better life, a better career or a better business.
- Not using our vision as a compass will bring pain – If we don’t have a clear vision and plan in place, if we don’t use our vision as our compass for all our decisions, we will get scattered and lose focus on what we want to create. Knowing what we most desire to accomplish (or become), affects our lives in important ways. It impacts what we think about, and it changes the way we spend our time, our money, and our energy. My suggestion is that you avoid making decisions that come from fear and desperation because they usually will bring regrets. When making decisions, ask yourself “Will this bring me closer to my vision”, if the answer is ‘no’ then reconsider, we always have so many options - if we’re open to see them!
We can lose our way sometimes when we get distracted by fears and doubts, and start drifting away from our path. But when we hold our vision of purpose safe in our hearts, no matter what’s going on around us, we will honor it despite of the circumstances, and we’ll avoid looking at the side paths that are not really our divine mission and vision.
Wishing you a year of courageous growth and transformation so you claim your magnificence and shine your light even brighter into the world…
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writeoncreative says
Patricia,
Thanks for sharing your insight. I find the statement “We are always committing to something.” quite powerful. When we step into mindfulness and simply ask ourselves in each moment “What am I committing to?” , I believe we’ll experience big shifts.
Write on!~
Lisa
mpetje says
Great tips Patricia. I am learning how to not fall into a victim trap when money is not coming in. Love what you said that decisions based on lack of or fear never work out. I am currently getting ready to let go off my PT job that barely pays $15/hr. I am worth so much more!
Mateja Petje, MS, LMFT
http://www.NaturalStressManagement.com
Sue Kearney (@MagnoliasWest) says
Wow, this is wonderful timing for me, as upleveling is happening right now, and gulp, it’s a huge shift in mindset and there’s a big measure of fear present. Thank you! This is very helpful. For me, especially point #6.
Andrea says
Thanks for sharing your lessons. I particularly relate to #5 — there IS always a gift in the darkness.
josee says
Great ritual to start the year Paticia. Thank you for your insights. I particularly like the second one - We always choose expansion or contraction in our lives. Much truth in that. As for your wish, I declare this year to be my best year ever as I am unstoppable in stepping into my role of leadership.
Stacey says
Thanks Patricia. I really resonated with “Contraction = not allowing = not being open to seeing and receiving the good that’s already in your life”. I’ve heard this said in different ways, but how you simplified it to it’s core essence is sticking with me. Great article!
Lea Tran says
Thanks so much for this thoughtful post, Patricia. I agree that it’s so important to realize that we are always being supported, even if it doesn’t feel like it. We just have to change our perspective!
Tina Games says
Excellent blog post, Patricia! ~ And I couldn’t agree more - having a clear vision is so key! Being a visionary myself, if I’m not navigating via a clear vision - I’m totally lost! ~ But as you’ve stated so beautifully, there’s a gift in the “being lost.” We just need to see it - by being open and allowing, and trusting what the universe wants us to see.
martha1436martha says
Patricia love the way you shared your vulnerability with us and I have the same practice New years Eve day I look back at what I accomplished and the celebrations and the challenges that I went through and the gift in those lessons. Thank you for sharing!