Long Slow Exhale

​There is one art of which people should be masters – the art of reflection. 
~Samuel Coleridge

It’s that time between Christmas and New Year’s where things slow down at the end of the year before the start of a new year.  That feeling that you need to take a deep, long exhale after all that goes into the holiday planning and “doing”.   You can finally catch your breath.

It’s also the time of year when you tend to pause and reflect on the year that is almost completed.  You look at where you have been, what you did, what you feel good about and maybe the things you don’t feel so good about.  Some of you will also look at the upcoming year with great anticipation with what you want to accomplish in the new year.

You may feel that it is more challenging to “exhale” at the end of this year than other years.  2019 was a challenging year.  It turned us inside out while pushing and pulling us beyond our comfort zones. 

Collectively, out in the mass consciousness, there was so much going on while individually you felt changes in your own personal world.  Regardless if you flowed with the changes or resisted them, you changed.  When you take time to reflect on 2019, notice all the ways you changed from where you were a year ago. 

As many of you have observed, there is great change happening in governments, financial institutions, healthcare and other institutions in many countries.  Around the world, no matter where you are, there is change in the air.  It can be scary to watch these changes or be a part of them, and yet change can also be good.

Changes have also happened in your own personal world this year.  Jobs changing, moving to a new home, relationships ending, physical illness, or people dying and leaving you.  As you reflect on the past year, you may know or feel differently about you . . . your beliefs, how you nurture yourself, your self-talk and how you love yourself.  As changes happen in your external world, you can be sure there are internal changes happening at the same time or vice versa.

​If we don’t change, we don’t grow.  If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. 
~ Gail Sheehy

No matter what, it is my belief that there can be something good and wonderful in whatever is happening.  It may not always be obvious that good can come from a dear person dying or losing a job that provides food for your children.  It can be devastating!  Yet, in that moment, can you look for all the possible good that may occur from what just happened? 

I know from personal experience what this can feel like.  I have gone through some things that could have been overwhelming and destroyed my spirit.  Many people would ask me “How are you able to function and be so positive with all that you are going through?” 

Without fail, I would look for the positive even in some of the most horrible situations.  Not always easy to do, but that is how I got through difficult situations in my life.  By focusing on the good, it made the bad not seem so bad.   

See if this helps you the next time you are faced with an upsetting situation.  Take time to breathe.  Get into your heart center and look for something, anything, no matter how small that is a “good” part of what just happened.  Believe that something wonderful will happen from whatever you are experiencing.

Focus on the beautiful possibilities that now have an opening to come to you because of what just happened.  Maybe a friend heard about you losing your job and that very day, his boss made an announcement the company needs to hire more help.  You apply and you get the job which is better than the job you lost.

​There is just no getting around that turning bad things into good things is up to you.  ~Deepak Chopra

2020 can be a turning point year for you if you allow it to be.  Not only is January the start of a new year, it is the start of a new decade!  Yes, there is much out there in the world that doesn’t look so good. It’s all in your perception.  

​What will you “see” when you reflect on 2019?  In that reflection, can you then come up with a vision for what you want for you, your family, the world in 2020?  Who do you want to be with all these changes that are happening? 

You each make a difference!  Thank you for taking a long slow exhale at this time and reflecting on what you can do to make a difference in the world.  This in turn helps everyone else.  I am grateful for each one of you and what you are doing to make the world a better place. 

Blessings for a new year and new decade that is beyond anything you could imagine! 

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