(Nimue)
Midwinter is a good time to pause and take stock, if you can. It's a good opportunity to look back at the year and think about what went well, and what you want to build on. It may be necessary to invest time in making sense of things, and making decisions about what is and isn't serving you. Sitting in a meditative way can be really helpful, especially if you don't get the chance to do this regularly.
A lot of meditation focuses on directing the mind in specific ways. However, it's good to take time to gently unpack your thoughts and to make room for thinking about what's going on in your life. Living an authentic and considered life depends on making time to reflect in this way. It's important to know how you feel about things, and to know what you want.
Looking back, we can ask what can be learned from the year. What would you do again? What do you want more of? Less of? What can you change to enrich your life and take you in the directions you want to go in? Gazing into the past is the starting point for looking towards the future. Once we know where we are, it's easier to think effectively about where we might be going.
Even when the options seem limited, considering them can open up room for choice. Sometimes we don't get much say in what we have to do, but it's always worth looking for what options there are, and to consider what it would take to do something well, or in the best way, or the least damaging way. It's also important to remember that you can't make good choices when you don't have any good options, and to cut yourself slack around situations where you have little or no power.
All too often, New Year's Resolutions are just a way to internalise different kinds of cultural oppression. You don't need to be a whole new person, or to have some kind of personal revolution. You do not need to beat yourself up inline with other people's expectations. Set down anything that feels like blame, or shame or misery and ask instead what would serve you. What good things can you bring into your life? What would make you more joyful?
It's a good time of year to set intentions around things you want for yourself and want to be doing. Pick things that will nourish and uplift you. It's good to reflect on what you want from life, and what you most need. Ask what would help you grow, or enable you to flourish. Ask what your heart longs for, or your soul hungers for. Give yourself permission to dream wildly and on your own terms.
The lives we live are shaped by everyday choices. The big, dramatic decisions we make can have surprisingly small impacts compared to what we do with our time day by day. If you want to make radical changes it's more effective to think about the everyday changes you would need to make in order for that to happen.
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