Goodbye 2022. Hello 2023.

As the end of each year draws near and the promise of a new one stands in wait, I like to look back and consider all of the lessons I was privileged enough to learn while basking in gratefulness for my blessings. It’s a long process and it usually takes a few weeks to work through but it’s my favorite journaling indulgence. There is no better way to welcome a new year than to take stock of all of the moments, memories, and experiences the previous year has gifted me. This last year, in particular, has been a doozy and I’ll be working through all of the wonderment and rubble for quite some time but there are a few things that really stuck out that I thought I’d share.

—Where there is dark you will always find the light. I’ve never witnessed such pain and such beauty intertwined in the same moments as I did this year. It was both magical and tormenting.

—Meet people where they’re at, not where you think they should be. Everyone is a walking story made up of their own interactions, lessons, and experiences. Learning to accept and honor their current place in their individual story not only makes my emotional state so much easier to balance, but it also allows me to openly acknowledge and respect the other souls on this earth in the midst of their own human experiences, without question. That feels good.

—Less anger, more curiosity. Somehow, and so very gratefully, I lost my anger this last year. How I did that is for another time, but for now, I will say that I have learned to replace what used to be an angry reaction to things I didn’t agree with into a profound curiosity to understand. I can’t begin to tell you the magnitude of ways this changed me, not least of which is a depth of compassion that I have never felt in my life. This is the space I operate from now and it is a lovely space.

—More little, less big. Gone are the days when I overlooked all of the intense beauty of the little things while laying in wait for the big thing (which rarely ever came anyway). It has been an eye and heart-opening experience I wish for every person on this planet.

—More less, less more. This is something I learned a few years ago but never truly put into practice until this last year. The shedding of the curse of “more-ness” (believing you need one more “thing” to be happy) has been an experience of pure delight. When the rosy glasses of materialism, stuff, shiny objects, and the need to impress anyone other than myself shattered, so did decades of self-imposed and unnecessary expectations. The weight is gone and I find I no longer walk as much as I do float these days.

—Slowness is the sweetness of life. My mind works at the speed of light and I believed that I needed to harness that and use it to my advantage. I did just that and I did it well. Unfortunately, it also led to me becoming a workaholic and a tired one at that since I lost my ability to sleep. This tends to happen when you train your brain to take on the energetic traits of Tigger. Where I always chose work, intensity, the next endeavor, or stepping stone, I now choose time, relationships, laughter, and fun adventures that feed my soul. The size of my bank account is no longer the deciding factor in how I spend my time and this has changed everything for me.

I also like to come up with words that I use as a foundation for what I hope to manifest and experience in the following year. It helps me remember what my priorities are for the year and that usually keeps me from getting swept up in things that simply don’t serve my greater good. I encourage you to do this as well. It’s not only fun but if you can remember to go back regularly and look at what you wrote down I think you’d be quite surprised at how a simple list of words actually settles a lot when something needs be settled.

• Treasure

• Slow

• Gratitude

• Joy

• Service

• Honor

• Uplift

• Forgive

• Balance

• Adventure

How about you? If you could come up with your top 3 (or more) greatest hits (lessons, experiences, memories, etc) from 2022, what would they be? What words would you put on your list for next year? And what are you looking forward to in 2023?

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If you’re curious about learning how to live your most authentic and best life in 2023, make sure to reach out about my Intuitive Life Coaching and Reiki Services.