Hey gorgeous,
Can you believe 2017 is is about to end in a few short weeks? If you’re ready to bring this year to a powerful close with celebration and love, I have a process just for you.
You’ll want to set aside at least an hour to reflect on your year. So get out your journal, and create some sacred space honor your unique 2017.
1. At the top of your first blank page, write: My Year in Review. The first phase of this reflection is to honor the good. What you’re grateful for, and what you’re really proud of from your year. This is where you get to celebrate anything and everything you accomplished, stepped into, and created month by month. Include the challenges you were able to overcome. Include the joy, the love, and the creation. Really go back in time and remember your year with a focus on the big & small + the internal & external accomplishments. Let your whole body feel this. Stay present, stay connected, and stay grateful.
2. Let Go. The next step is to write about the particularly painful parts of your year. We need to honor these moments too. If we forget about them or ignore them, or try and push them under the rug, we miss the progress, transformation, and lesson. So, find your next blank page in your journal, and begin to write about anything about your year that was particularly painful. Keep writing until you can’t think of another painful thing that that you experienced. Get it all out. These could be failures. Challenges. Heartbreaks. Deaths. Jealousy. Trust yourself. As emotions arise, allow them. Welcome them. If you need to cry, cry. If you need to grieve. Grieve. Welcome all of your feelings, grievances, resentments, anger, or grief with compassion.
3. Forgive. After getting all of your pain out, you may notice there are areas in your life that need forgiveness. Where you missed the mark. And begin a new page titled: Forgiveness. On this page, write all the things you can forgive yourself for.
It can look like this: I forgive myself for:______________. And the truth is _______________.
I forgive myself for not writing an email to my list for 4 months. The truth is I was feeling lost and unsure of how to show up in the world, and I needed that time to safeguard my energy and thoughts. My inner critic was running the show. Thanks to that break I now know how much I LOVE showing up for my community and I believe in myself more than ever.
Keep going until you feel complete. You’ll know when you’re forgiven. There will be a new space that opens up inside.
4. Reflect. Then go back and read through all of your written pages, noting any themes that occur. Take this time to thank every challenge you experienced and the growth you experienced throughout the year. Get curious about the lessons you learned.
5. Then title the next page: The biggest lesson I learned in 2017 is… And write it down. Claim your lesson. Claim your teaching.
6. Then, close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and imagine yourself growing up one year older, one year wiser. Then another year. And another year… Keep imagining yourself growing older until you’re 10 years older than you are now. From this perspective, write yourself a letter of congratulations for the year you just experienced. And then give your younger self some advice from this older, and wiser perspective. Let her know what’s ahead and what she has to look forward to. What sage wisdom can you share with her?
7. Celebrate! Find a way to complete this exercise (and your year) in a way that’s personal and unique to you. It could be dance. It could be walk in nature. What could help you seal this year with appreciation, joy, and love? Just honor yourself and thank yourself with your whole being.
I really encourage you to share your lessons with the world. That could be a beautiful way to complete your year. Giving your lesson away and have it serve another soul who could really use it. I know I’d personally like to hear the lesson you learned this year. Care to share with me? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for taking the time to complete your year, beautiful. Congratulations! YOU DID IT! I’m so proud of you. Thank you for showing up day after day. Thank you for taking care of yourself. For showing up when it was HARD to even put on your shoes. Thank you for feeding your children. For helping anyone in need. Thank you for completing your education. Thank you for spreading kindness. Thank you for saying YES to this life even when it was hard.
You can do hard things. Your year in review is PROOF!
Love,
Chrissy
P.S. Let me know how this exercise goes. I’m here to support you and celebrate you! Reply to this email and let me know.
