Happy 2019, dear readers!
It's been a while. Not that there hasn't been anything to say, it's more that there is always so much to say and so little office time to jot it down.
That's life with a pre-schooler. It forces you to do things in a new way. The anti-perfectionist way. It's not easy to adapt, but there seems to be little choice. So here it goes, my improvised message to you:
Last year on Dec 31st I wrote a very special piece about the 10 Proven Tips for a Balanced Year Ahead which involve rituals I go through each December & January in order to take inventory of my life in the current year before honing in on desired dreams and wishes I want to manifest in the new one.
It's a great process and I stand by everything I mentioned in the article 100%, but this year I broke tradition and didn’t write things down, well not in extended form, due to lack of personal reflection time.
So, when I found myself on New Year's Eve and then New Year's Day without having completed many of the steps from my list in writing, I realised it was time to improvise and get cracking with action anyway.
We spent New Year's Eve at home, just hanging out and enjoying one another's company and pondering aloud all the blessings we recall having touched our lives that year.
I managed to make a bullet-point list of all the blessings I could recall from the past year, and the thing that surprised me most was that the joy and blessing I felt from spending time with people far outweighed the joy I felt about accomplishing great feats, including a major renovation project in my home or the business success we had had.
So, thank you friends, new and old, for making the year so special for me!
Following my own protocols as best as I could, on New Year's Day, we made a point to do something new together, and so we went on an adventure to find a labyrinth that a friend of ours had made, high up in the peak district of the island. We had tried to find it a while back without luck, but this time we got lucky.
It's a rather small and unpresumptuous circular formation made of stones that is hard to spot in a land of endless stones. But the energy around the formation is quite energizing and appealing. Impromptu, we formed a line and followed the maze, turning this way and that, my husband, 3-year-old daughter and I taking turns stating our wishes aloud for the year ahead. Everything off the cuff. Everything from the heart.
Stipe happened to have a bell in his pocket and began ringing it after each statement. The three of us reached the center of the formation, and then made our way back out in similar fashion, but this time I started chanting my favorite mantra for manifestation, "Har, Har" (which is quite catchy, it seems) and my companions followed suit, much to my delight!
Once we exited the maze, we felt magical and blessed. Blessed to be alive, magical for being able to call out our dreams under heavenly skies, with the wind, and Divine nature as our witness.
Though I kicked off the New Year without having made my lists in detail, I must say that this improvised version felt very powerful and true.
The lesson here is that when you don't have time to be your best or do your best, just do the best you can. The Universe knows when you are sincere. The Universe listens and responds to you.
And because my inbox was flooded with Christmas and New Year's messages, probably just like yours, which I sadly had to delete due to lack of time to ponder them, probably just like you, the ones that did manage to stand out before deleting were those that gave simple instructions and seemed to come from the heart.
So here are my 4 best New Year's inspirational tips for you, from my heart:
1. Create a Gratitude Treasure Chest: Get a container of some kind (a box, a glass jar, etc.) and place a statement of gratitude in it each day, or each week, or whenever you feel inspired. Read the contents at the end of the year to close it on a high note, and for pure inspiration as you move into the new one.
2. Get out there and do something new, big or small, planned or improvised. The rush of energy from experiencing new things will help build wind in your sails for a time to come. Enjoy!
3. Forgive yourself for any perceived failures and start anew today! Whatever it is that you are empowered to do now, whether it be one small step or one giant leap, the trust you place in life and your heart's whisperings will certainly bring great rewards. This I know to be true.
4. Chant "Har, Har" for 3 minutes while cupping your hands up and down, as you focus on your goals coming to life! You'll absolutely love this mediation! This magical manifestation tool comes from the teachings of Kundalini Yoga an instructs us to sit in Sukasana with eyes gazing into the 3rd eye, while forming a cup with our hands below the navel, outer edges of the hands on the pinky side touching.
Chant “Har" while circling the hands up around the heart chakra, connecting the inner edges of the hands together along the index and thumb side, keep your thumbs pointed away from the rest of the fingers and form a cross with them - in doing so, we keep the ego at bay and let the mantra of “God’s Gift” and the cup of manifestation do the work - and then bring your hands back in the starting position and repeat the mantra "Har" again.
The mudra and mantra chanting are repetitively and rhythmically done for the next 3-11 minutes, all the while, the heart & mind are focused on that which we would like to manifest, as if it were being born strait out of the Manipura Chakra, with the loving energy of the heart connecting and guiding us to receiving the positive outcome(s) such manifestation(s) will bring.
For added power, pull in the naval point as you chant each "Har". It is said that the navel is the place of re-birth and when we focus the sound frequency there it makes it even more powerful.
I have always found this exercise to be extremely profound.
My New Year's prayer for us all:
May work together with great energy and achieve powerful, uplifting results for ourselves and those we come into contact with. May we respect and learn from one another, and grow brighter and more joyful as a result. May we tap into the wisdom and experience needed to perform our work and live our lives with excellence, abundance and light. May we love and appreciate one another as reflections.
May we be blessed, now and always. Har, har!
Namaste,
Evening, Stipe & the little one