If you’re ready to make 2018 your best year, you’re going to love this four part blog series.
I’ve taken some of my favorite year end rituals that I’ve learned and practiced over the years and created my own version. I’m going to share them with you over the next four weeks.
I hope you’ll join me and get ready to make 2018 your best year EVER.
I’ve been creating vision boards for 25 years, which was long before Rhonda Byrne released “The Secret” DVD in 2006.
The first vision board I created was in January, 1993, in a 4-week prosperity class I took at the Unity Church I attended. I was the single mom of a then 3 year old son and decided to take the class because I was ready to meet my soul mate.
It worked.
In February, 1993, I ran a personal ad in a free local newspaper called, “The Dallas Observer”. This was long before dating sites like match.com, bumble.com, eharmony.com, and tinder.com. “The Dallas Observer” is an actual newspaper that you hold in your hands and the ink smears on your fingers.
I know, right? It was that long ago.
Long story short, I had over 60 responses to my generic ad. This was back in the day before the Internet. So the men that responded had to leave me a voice mail message in a private voice mail box.
Of the 60+ messages I received, I called six of the men back, and I met four of them in person.
One of them was my now amazing husband, Bryan. Believe it or not, we’re going to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in November of 2018. (Do the math. We met in February, 1993 and we married the same year in November.)
It was a whirlwind romance and I’m happy to say that I love him more today than I did the day I said, “I do”.
I shared this story to tell you that I believe in the power of creating vision boards. They worked for me then and they still work for me today.
The Law of Attraction says, “Where thoughts go, energy flows”. Another way of saying it is “energy follows focus”.
Vision boards take our thoughts of what we want to create in our lives and puts them into images. I call them visual prayers. So, we’re not only thinking thoughts about the things we want to create, but we’re also seeing them as visual pictures.
I love creating vision boards because it’s a fun, creative process.
Yet, I think visioning and looking only at what we want to create in the future is missing a piece of the puzzle. First, we need to look back and take inventory of the current year. That allows us to loop back to acknowledge and celebrate our wins. It’s important that we recognize our accomplishments and give ourselves kudos for our Awesomeness.
It’s also important to look at our limiting thoughts and behaviors that don’t support us in creating our best life.
Otherwise, we’re just existing on autopilot. How can we reach our desired destination if we don’t have a plan and check our course from time to time?
I compare it to baking a cake.
If we want to bake a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting, first we look at the recipe to see what ingredients are in the recipe. Next, we look in the pantry to see what ingredients we already have. Then, we make a list of the things that we need to buy at the grocery store.
We don’t start making the cake without first making sure we have all the ingredients that we need to do so.
I don’t want to just exist day-to-day, year-to-year, rinse and repeat on autopilot.
No thank you.
I want to live my life with passion and purpose. My desire is to wake up each morning with a grateful heart and feeling excited about the endless possibilities of a new day.
What about you? Are you ready to reignite the fire in your belly and make 2018 your best year?
Awesome!
So you are going to spend some time over the next week looking back at 2017.
Before you begin, take a deep breath. Promise yourself that regardless of what you discover you’ll be compassionate with yourself.
You’re a work in progress, as we all are. As long as we’re in these human bodies, we are still learning, growing, and evolving. You’re exactly where you’re meant to be at this moment in time.
Remember, to create your best life and become the most awesome version of YOU, you’ve got to have all the ingredients in place first.
You can do this.
Step 1:
On three separate sheets of paper make seven different categories:
Personal/Emotional – (Includes pursuing your passions, creativity, education, volunteering/service, self-care/love, travel/leisure, self improvement, self-esteem, emotional healing, etc.)
Family/Relationships – (Includes marriage/significant other/romance, family, friendships, socializing, etc.)
Spiritual – (How did you nurture your soul? Higher Power, church/synagogue, prayer/meditation, ceremonies/rituals, etc.)
Career – (Job change/promotion, professional accomplishments, recognition, certifications, etc.)
Financial – (Includes savings, retirement savings, debt, budgeting, etc.)
Health & Wellness – (Includes exercise, diet, body image, sexuality, sleep, etc.)
Home/Physical Environment – (Are you living in a place you love? Is it organized and tidy or do you have disorganized and cluttered areas? Did you move? Etc.)
Step 2:
Take one sheet of the three pages you created and write at the top of it,
“My Awesome Accomplishments in 2017”.
Then, write down in each category all the awesome things you’ve done, the progress you’ve made, and any and every thing that you are proud of.
Take your time to reflect.
I like to get out my calendar to review so that I don’t miss anything significant.
I find it empowering to see ALL the accomplishments that I’ve made in a year’s time.
Step 3:
Celebrate your Awesomeness!
Don’t skip this step!
Sister, LET IT IN.
Do something nice for yourself to celebrate. Buy yourself some flowers. Or Savor a piece of decadent chocolate. Maybe you can do this entire process with a friend or your significant other. Then you can celebrate both of your awesomeness together. You could go out to dinner, or toast one another with a glass of champagne.
I don’t care how you do it…but CELEBRATE!
YOU ARE AWESOME!
Step 4:
You may move onto this step, only after you’ve celebrated your awesomeness.
Next, take out a second piece of paper with the seven categories listed on it. Then on the top of it write,
“Lessons I Learned in 2017”.
I’m going to remind you again to BREATHE.
Be brave and be honest with yourself. Write down in each category where you missed the mark. What behaviors, thoughts, and beliefs do you have that don’t serve you in being the best version of you?
I wouldn’t ask you to do something that I haven’t done myself so I’m going to share my discoveries with you.
The sale of the house and the move went onto “My Awesome Accomplishments” list. Those were BIG things.
The passing of my stepdad and Marley, selling our house , and moving ALL went onto the “Lessons I Learned in 2017” list. Those were tough losses and I had pain over them.
Other things that went onto the “Lessons Learned” list were drinking too much to numb my pain and to help me “relax” after an exhausting day. Another one is abandoning my sacred morning pages practice for five months. I did that because I believed I was too busy with my EGCM® studies and helping my mom get her house ready to sell.
Here I am. Raw. Real. Vulnerable. Human.
Breathing.
If I can do it, so can you.
I’m reminding both of us that it’s OK to feel our feelings. They’re just feelings. Vibrations inside our bodies.
I feel my vibration in my solar plexus. I’m breathing into it.
Where do you feel your vibration?
Breathe into it.
The feeling passed. It didn’t drown me. It’s gone and I’m still here.
Take your time to sit with this vibration in your body for as long as it takes for it to pass. It may move to another place in your body.
Just notice it and continue to breathe into it.
Are you still here?
Whew! Good deal!
You did it!
That wasn’t so bad, was it?
Step 5:
Let it go! Release it! Set it free!
You did some tough work. It’s not easy to be honest about where you missed the mark and to identify thoughts and behaviors that keep you from being your best self.
Like you celebrated your Awesomeness in Step 3, you’re going let this shit go in this step.
My favorite way to release stuff is to write it down and then set the paper on fire.
While doing so I say, “I thought I needed you, but I know now that I don’t. I release you.”
If feels great to see those limiting thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors go up in flames.
Do whatever feels good to you to release this, but do it.
(A note of caution, if you decide to burn yours, please be careful and do it only with adult supervision. 🙂 )
If you’re still with me after this extremely long post, thank you! I promise the next two will be much shorter.
Be sure to save the third sheet of paper for next week.
Next week is going to be so much fun because we’re ready to look forward and VISION!
Sending you my love,
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