The Perfect Time
Written by Suzanne Eder | December 28, 2017 |
Posted in Honoring the Pulse of Life, New Year/Fresh Start, Trusting Yourself/Inner Guidance
2017 is drawing to a close and 2018 waits eagerly to be announced. And as you are no doubt fully aware, the start of a new year brings with it a fresh opportunity to initiate positive change in your life. That opportunity exists in every moment, on every day of the year, but there’s something tingly and tantalizing about the start of a new year that makes change-making almost impossible to ignore. We get carried away by the strong currents of inspired resolutions all around us and figure we may as well go along for the ride.
Actually, that’s part of what makes it so fun: everybody else is doing it, and the shared energy of change helps us feel supported as we take on positive change in our own lives.
Sometimes, though, the shared energy can take on a life of its own and influence us to initiate change just because it seems like the thing to do. We sometimes allow it to interrupt our own natural rhythm and jump into action when jumping into action may not be what serves us best right now.
A new year is absolutely a fine time to initiate a new cycle of change or transformation, if that is where you are on the creative pulse of Life. But it’s also a fine time to keep on keepin’ on. Or to experiment with implementing micro-changes and let them create their own momentum. Or to retreat from daily life for a little while and reconnect with who you really are, in the sanctuary of your heart.
In other words, a new year is a perfect time to be exactly where and who you are, right now, consciously. Appreciatively. It’s a perfect time to pause and bring all of yourself into this present moment, to acknowledge where you are on the pulse of Life and appreciate its gifts. It’s a perfect time to check in with yourself and see how you’re feeling.
It’s a perfect time to take on new challenges and it’s a perfect time to say no to new challenges. It’s a perfect time to fire up a new fitness routine and it’s a perfect time to be content with the routine you have. It’s a perfect time to renew your vows and it’s a perfect time to rewrite your vows. It’s a perfect time to buy something beautiful for your home and it’s a perfect time to declutter.
It’s a perfect time to do whatever your inner wisdom is guiding you to do. Or not do.
And that’s really the heart of the matter. A new year is a perfect time to remind yourself that following your own guidance and honoring your own natural rhythm is perhaps the only intention you need to affirm.
So if you feel inspired and ready to make resolutions that will initiate change in your life right now, say Yes to that energy and love yourself forward with it.
If you feel unclear about what you want or need right now in your life, say Yes to that and carve some quality time and space into your life for reflection and exploration.
If you feel angry or frustrated with some element of your life, say Yes to that and harness those feelings into the courage you need to look beneath them and see what is calling out for change.
If you are grieving or feel sad, say Yes to that and treat yourself with the utmost kindness and compassion. Ask your heart of hearts what you can give yourself right now – or what you can allow yourself to receive from someone else – and then do it.
If you feel content with where you are, say Yes to that and take some time to feel, deeply, how wonderful contentment really feels.
Above all, appreciate yourself. Honor yourself. Step back and look at your life’s journey through the eyes of Love, and see how much you have grown and shone, how much you have contributed, how much you have created.
Forgive yourself for mistakes you feel you made, and take a moment to acknowledge the expanded awareness and insights those mistakes awakened in you.
Know that in this moment, and in any moment, you can choose to move forward with your gifts and leave that which no longer serves you behind. Celebrate your gifts and have fun imagining how you can share them.
A new year is the perfect time to shower yourself with unconditional love, right here, right now, just as you are. And that, dear reader, is a radical act of transformation – the most potent one of all.