What Does Your Soul Long for in the New Year?
By Jan Blencowe, Mercy by the Sea Program Presenter
Posted on
The waning of the year and the darkness of winter may find you naturally turning inward and musing about the past, as well as yearning for a glimpse of your future.
As the calendar page turns, New Year traditionally calls for resolutions, goals, visions and plans to be put in place as the old year dies away. In the space between the long exhale of the passing year and the deep, invigorating inhale of the new, you may find yourself seeking a deeper understanding of what will nurture your soul in the coming year.
Around the time of winter solstice, one beautiful end of the year practice is to enter into, what has been seen since ancient times as “a time outside of time.” This is an opportunity free from the “shoulds” and “oughts” that dominate your everyday world and discover what your soul needs and longs for in the coming year.
If you keep a journal or day planner (even your calendar will do), it is beneficial to light some candles, brew some tea and, during the longest and darkest nights of the year, review where you have been.
When you acknowledge with truth and honesty things from the past year that drained your energy, weighed you down, and didn’t feel in alignment with your deepest values and soul’s calling, you begin to catch a vision of how you might set new intentions for the year ahead.
It is here in the darkness of winter and in the inner sanctuary of sacred truth that you can begin in very creative ways to map out your future journey and your future self. Your mapping may be in list form or long hand journaling. It may find its voice as a poem or a vision board. Whatever form it takes, it should feel expansive enough to hold all of the possibilities you can imagine. It should allow you to see yourself blooming bigger in the coming year, and choosing ways of doing and being that support, encourage and nurture your soul.
As the season turns from autumn to winter release the old year and begin the new. With mindfulness and intention, you can gain greater clarity and insight into what is calling to your soul. A year-end practice of remembering and reviewing helps you let go of what didn’t serve your soul’s highest good, and ensures that you’ll be living into your core values, and most authentic self in the new year. The in between time around the winter solstice is an auspicious time to set intentions and create the vision for the kind of life you want to live in the new year.
Retreat leader Jan Blencowe is a certified Creative Depth coach, and a licensed JourneyCircles™ facilitator. She is offering an end-of-year program, “Clear as the Night Sky: Gaining Clarity and Vision for the New Year,” on Saturday, December 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Mercy by the Sea.
Learn more about Jan and her work at her website.