Happy New Year!
Happy Wednesday!
I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and that you were able to take some time off to rest and recharge. Mine was quiet and I really enjoyed that. I did find myself doing all the things to open up the possibilities of a better year than this past one, though. Did anyone else do the same?
My husband mentioned a customer of his telling him to say "Jumanji" when the clock struck midnight in the hopes that everything would "go back to normal." Honestly, I would have been happy to stand on my head, wear my pajamas backwards and do just about anything to have that happen.
One idea I hope to continue doing was sparked (No pun intended!) by a blog entry from a fabulous local woman who owns The Kitchen Studio Cooking School (read her blog here) whose business, like so many others, was affected by the pandemic. She shared the idea of writing down the things that you might be angry, frustrated, and sad about, that happened over the past year, on a large piece of paper and then burn them. Sort of a ceremonial way of not carrying those feelings with you into the new year and leaving them behind. I actually did this with my daughters on New Year's Eve. We have our wood stove going around the clock so we tossed them in there and watched. My nine year old said how satisfying it was. Hopefully it wasn't just because she got to watch a piece of paper catch on fire- but more that she could let those feelings go.
I also, for the first time, attempted a Yoga Mala on New Year's Day (doing 108 sun salutations) and set my intentions for the new year. It's kind of like hitting the "reset" button and start with a clean slate. It was tough but it helped to shift my mindset. My focus was "forgiveness." First, I felt like I had to forgive myself. I have been really, really hard on myself for all of the things I felt like I didn't do or that I felt like I failed at, or could have done better, this past year. Also, I felt like I was carrying around a lot of anger with all of the things I saw failing around me this past year- just as human beings. That is never something that is healthy to walk around with so I needed to "forgive" and let that go, as well.
Both of these “rituals” didn’t right the wrongs or move mountains, but it felt good to have a focus and a purpose. If I was one of many putting some good vibes into the world- maybe, just maybe- 2021 could be a bit better. It may sound super “woo woo”, but like I said, I was willing to try just about anything!
So no, we didn't wake up on January 1st to see that everything is different. It would have been magical if we did. However, I hope that you were able to find a way to leave behind what doesn't serve you in 2021, so that you can move forward.
“You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve, would’ve happened… or you can just leave the pieces of the floor and move on.”