It always feels like there is so much going on as we shift into the new year, in part it’s because we’re so focused on a concrete ending and a new beginning. It’s a time of clearing out and cleaning up. We get the chance to hit the reset button, recalibrate out lives, and move out of the old and into the new, literally and metaphorically. This is why I like to take my time, consciously looking at what’s been and dreaming about what I want to create. This is what I’ve been talking about over the last two weeks, and it really sets the stage for this last piece of reflection that helps make a meaningful transition into the new year.
It’s one thing to recap, review, and decide what it is you want to cultivate in your life. It’s another thing entirely to give yourself the permission and enough space to let a new vision of what could be arrive. Often what happens is that we become enmeshed and invested in the storylines we’re living and have been living for quite some time. This makes it difficult to see something different for ourselves, but possibilities we had never imagined or that may feel unfamiliar or odd are usually the very thing we need the most. Making room for what’s almost ready to be seen is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves, especially in times of change and transition.
The how, of course, is where it always gets tricky, but the truth is once we begin taking inventory about what’s really going on in our lives the more in touch we become with this liminal, thresholdy space of what’s on the horizon. It’s a little bit like standing out under the stars predawn, you know the sun is coming but you just can’t see it yet. This is what the potential paths of our lives are like, a feeling or a hunch rather than a concrete decision. As we make room for these new feelings and possibilities the more they take root and become our reality.
To get there all we really need is an open mind and some spaciousness. If we can silence the ego a little bit and stop planning every move we are going to make, what still waits to be seen begins to show itself. I know, we’re not used to getting quiet and being still, but these are important and necessary qualities that don’t often get their due. When we start cultivating more of these aspects of reflection, patience, and silence into our daily routines they will offer us their unexpected gifts that can’t be had any other way.
The truth is what’s next is only limited by our vision, by what we tell ourselves we can or can’t do. But what’s for sure is that in order to have a bigger vision of our lives we need to start thinking differently, meaning we need to start thinking outside the box and outside our comfort zone. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. Sometimes these situations call for radical nothingness, a time to surrender what you think you know for sure, wait in the silence without expectation, and see what reveals itself. This may not sound like a straightforward solution, especially when we’re looking at it from an old point of view. But in all honesty being brave enough to just let everything that’s got us tangled up drop is the easiest way to begin seeing what’s waiting in the wings.
This whole process is a little bit like Yin Yoga, like doing nothing yet getting everything done. It’s counterintuitive to the normal operating procedures of generating lists, planning, and making it happen. But when all the doing-for-the-sake-of-doing stops, and the overthinking ends, and we are just left in the silence of what could be is where all the magic happens. And I’m telling you right now, this year it’s time for a little more magic to make its way into our daily rounds.
Have enough patience to sit still and wait in the not knowing. Cultivate a little more spaciousness. Be like the early morning sky, still, silent, and holding space for the flood of light to enter. That’s how the unexpected next makes its way into being.
What’s on your new horizon?
kb
