TIME OUT IN QUIET REFLECTION

2019 is nearly upon us but before we flood our minds with all the excitement of the new year to come it’s always a valuable & beneficial exercise to take some time out for quiet reflection on the year we’ve had.

That’s what I decided to do today.

I do this towards the end of every year, so with coffee, pen and paper I found a cool, lovely little spot in my garden. I just sat for a while, taking in each moment. The fresh air, birds chirping & enjoying a magnificent peace inspired by nature and all its glory & a calm mind. It was magic. I smiled and thought to myself how truly blessed I am, we are, how simple it is to feel such inner joy and peace when we take the time to stop. To just be and become fully present in the moment. 

As time went on I started to reflect on my year. Thoughts, goals, accomplishments, desires, experiences and events quickly came to mind and I found myself thinking what an incredible, wonderful year it has been!

As I pondered my year I recalled so many things & moments I am truly grateful for,

• The magnificent new connections and friends I have made
• The many moments of pure joy hanging out with my partner, my kids & numerous occasions I spent with my friends.
• The growth in my beautiful Facebook group & all the positive energy that flows from our beautiful members.
  
• The fact that this year I am finally leaving the corporate 9-5 world behind to work in my business full time, spending all of my time doing work I love. This is a big one for me as it has been years in the making, as each year passed I got closer & closer, so to have it finally come to be is something I am truly grateful for & celebrating (with a very big special thanks to my partner for supporting me in my journey)
• The growth in my business, the many wonderful new things I have learnt & done.
• Last but not least I reflected on all the amazing thank you's and messages I receive regularly in the work that I do. This always leaves me feeling humbled & deeply grateful.

All in all a very exciting, busy but positive and productive year.

I'm excited and grateful about each of them and find it a very interesting exercise to reflect on the year, to see what comes to mind. It can be very revealing as to where your mind goes, the things you focus on, recall and what stands out the most for you.

I know it’s been an incredibly hard year for many & I believe it’s important to reflect on those moments too, not to dwell or feel self-pity or any of those self-sabotaging feelings of lack, but to reflect. To reflect on what we'll call the 'negative experiences or moments' can be a positive thing. When it is done in order to heal, learn and grow. To learn what we can possibly do differently, how we can turn it around, what we could do to change, embrace, accept or forgive whatever it may be. Not to mention to reinforce how strong & capable we are, that we made it through, we survived.

Without this awareness and intention we can easily find ourselves drifting off into despair and exhaustion. With feelings of anger, disappointment, doubt and self-attack starting to easily flow. Until we get to the point where we can't help but believe, think & express to those around us that it was just another crappy year. Hoping that next year will be better, but often this cycle just flows from one year to another if we’re not aware of it.

So as I reflected a little more, a little deeper, I purposely began to try and recall the tough times, the negative moments, sad moments, and there were quite a few that came to mind. I share this, although not in detail because it would have no purpose, but to expand on what I shared above, to raise our awareness & express that we each experience highs and lows, moments of weakness, sadness, struggle, pain, triumph, love, inspiration and joy but what do we focus on? What do we give our energy to? Do we allow our minds to be consumed by all the negative and hard moments and thus experience more of the same because it's in the forefront of our minds (hence the cycle each year) or do we use our energy and direct our focus on all that we have, can do and can be.  On all that is good, positive and possible, with a focus on gratitude and creating what we want to experience, be and feel. Only drawing on the lessons & what we could do differently from our painful experiences. Even what or who we should remove. We seem to be able to so easily recall all the pain, all the hard times (it’s almost natural) & all those glorious moments & people in our lives (that we know deep down we are grateful for) don’t come to mind.

So I encourage you to take some time out in quiet reflection & as you reflect back over your year take time to embrace & acknowledge all the tough times. Look at them & to discover what you have learned, how you have grown & what needs to change. Be kind to yourself & acknowledge your strength. Then switch your thoughts & focus to remember and celebrate all those moments that made you smile, all your little steps and accomplishments, all those glorious moments with family and friends. All those things that can easily be overlooked or forgotten if we get stuck focused on the negative, which so often happens.

Then get super excited with the realisation that you can make each New Year even better than the one before when you’re focused on the right things & open to learning, growing, pursuing what you love and enjoying each moment along the way!

Karen Offord › Blog 2018 › Time out in quiet reflection

---

Celebrating You - Awaken Your Best Self - An online E-Course for Women

---

Karen Offord › Blog 2018 › 11 Powerful tools and thoughts to build self-confidence

Karen Offord › Blog 2016 › Searching for Happiness