In our culture, the end of the year is a time for slowing down, celebrating, spending time with loved ones, looking back on the previous 12 months, and building anticipation for what’s to come. This time of transition from one year to the next can offer us a peaceful and contemplative space from which to reflect, integrate, dream, and create. But as it goes with everything, we’ve got to be intentional and focus our attention if we want to harness and maximize this special year-end energy. Here are a few simple ways to ride the wave of mindfulness from this year into the next:
- Stay Consistent With Your Routines. The holidays bring a welcome disruption to the normal routine. For many of us, this time of year means time off from work, celebrations with loved ones, and indulgences of the food and beverage variety. And though it feels good to deviate from the norm, it also tends to make mindfulness a bit more difficult. If you find yourself ending the year feeling foggy and groggy, it’s a good sign that some daily routines and rituals are in order. Whether you hit the gym, meditate, take a walk outside, pray, write in your journal, or perform some other meaningful ritual, maintaining a sense of consistency in your end-of-year days will set you up to make the transition into next year much more consciously and smoothly.
- Carve Out Some You Time. If your social calendar tends to be a bit fuller than usual around this time of year, it’s a good idea to create time for connecting with yourself. Having the energy of so many people around can be dizzying, making it hard to focus or find your center. It isn’t uncommon for people to make the new-year transition from a place of pure exhaustion; the demands of the holidays and the many social obligations that tend to crop up around this time can be truly overwhelming! But with some awareness and effort, it’s possible to strike a helpful balance and maximize your enjoyment as well as your emotional and energetic wellbeing. Make sure to make time for being alone, silent and still. Even a few mindful minutes can go a long way in helping you center yourself and prepare to consciously transition into a new year of possibilities.
- Make Peace With What’s Passed.To bring more mindfulness into this time of transition, thoughtfully consider the previous 12 months and reflect on what you’ve learned and what you’d like to bring with you into the new year. Spend some time considering what you experienced in 2018, highlighting those experiences that brought about new awarenesses and understandings. Contemplate the relationships that began, as well as those that ended. Recall your successes and your failures, your joys and your sorrows. Find a way to honor the year and make peace with it. You can do this by writing in your journal, sharing with a friend, going through a visualization exercise, or coming up with a ritual that’s all your own. Whatever way you choose to make peace with the year that’s passed, be sure to stay present to the intention to release the energy of the past year and create space for everything that will manifest in the year to come.
- Focus on the Being (—Not Just the Doing). Whether you get pumped up about setting new year’s resolutions or shudder at the thought of it, it’s nice to mindfully generate a sense of purpose and intention at the start of a new year, so you can fulfill those resolutions you set or simply enjoy the ride. To shape the year ahead with mindfulness, focus your attention on how you’d like to be, as well as on what you plan to do. In other words, reflect on the energy you’d like to bring into the year, and think about the inner experiences you’d like to cultivate. You might, for example, set the intention to be wholehearted in your endeavors, present in your day-to-day activities, trusting in your intimate relationships, and kind to yourself. You might commit to experiencing more joy, more peace, or more openness. By focusing on how you want to be and what you want to experience, you’ll be flowing into the new year with a sense of purpose that isn’t dependent on external circumstances and doesn’t require you to sustain your January 1st motivation all year long. You’ll be rooted in clear intention and connected to a sense of what you want to create within you—and from this place, there’s nothing you can’t do!
Here’s to a peaceful close to 2018 and a beautiful start to 2019. May your transition be made mindfully, and may the year ahead expand and evolve you in wonderful ways.
