Revision Your Life

As we wind down the year, I’d like to wish you a peaceful end to 2019. A time to feel gratitude for the beautiful things that have happened. More difficult, a time to accept the things that have challenged you - those moments that have asked you to grow.

Life will often take us to the highest peaks of joy and then plunge us into the deepest valleys of despair. There is not one without the other. Quite the paradox. Accepting this is hard, given that we’re always trying to avoid the valleys. Yet we are guaranteed them. So how do we navigate them? With spiritual practice. With presence. With patience. With love. We get good at life when we no longer try to control it nor resist it.

Last year’s end of year post offered guidance on how to reflect on your year. I shared a mirror of questions by John O’Donohue. It’s worth revisiting. Grab a hot cup of coffee or cocoa, sit down, and be with yourself. Let your own life reveal what you’ve accomplished, where you keep repeating the same mistakes, where you broke free.

This year, I’d like to focus on healthy visioning. While I don’t subscribe to the commercialized way of doing New Year’s Resolutions, I do find it useful to vision. I do this with all clients at the beginning of our work together because it lays out a North Star and roadmap forward. Visioning can sometimes feel like an attempt to manifest something you want that’s somewhere out there. Not yet available to you. I like to reorient people inward. As they say in Zen Buddhism, it’s about taking the backward step. True visioning is about bringing to life that which is already inside of you. Bring out into the world your heart’s deepest longing. What you were born to do - and who you were born to be. It’s already there. It’s just a matter of discovering it. 

You won’t find your purpose out there. It’s not about pursuing your passion or chasing your dream. Even our language is outward-facing. It’s about self-discovery and self-knowledge. Uncovering all the layers that block you. Then, action. 

So rather than give you a million questions to ponder, I leave you with one. My teacher asked this of us. I now offer it to you. 

Think about what the deep, silent space within you is calling you to continue doing as you go into next year. 

How might your life look different at this time next year, internally or externally, if you listened to and responded to this inner calling? 

Wishing you moonlight clarity, love, peace, and joy. 

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice! 

And Happy New Year. :-)

Until 2020.