Happy New Year my friend! I know that the many crises facing our world have been overwhelming and heartbreaking. Hopefully you are finding effective ways to cope with all of this craziness. The only way I know how to deal with these negative times is to focus on what I can do to effect positive change in my life and my community. Through a specific process of exploration, I was able to turn my negative feelings into those of hope. I’d like to share with you the specific steps I took to cultivate a positive mindset to motivative and inspire me to thrive in 2021.
1. Inner reflection
I started my exploration by going inward. I carved out a couple of hours of alone time---which was hard to do during the holidays with a house full of family, during a pandemic! I scheduled my alone time in advance and fortunately all the components came together perfectly. The first step of my inner reflection process was to meditate for 30 minutes. Meditation is a tool I use to clear my mind of the nonessential chatter in my head so that I can listen more clearly. Once my mind settles down, I typically receive inner guidance—from little things to more valuable insights. This time was no different. After mediating, I wrote down all the ideas that popped into my head. This led to exploring what I most enjoyed about 2020, how I’ve changed, and I identified the limiting beliefs that are no longer serving me and that I want to let go of.
Here are a few highlights of what I discovered about myself:
What I enjoy most: I love collaborating with others and feeling a part of a community, which is so lovely because that is what yoga is all about! Yoga is about truly understanding that everything is interconnected. And when you REALLY get that, your perspectives change on many levels.
How I’ve changed: I’m proud to share that I have shifted my thought patterns to focus on what I want versus what I don’t want. This is a basic practice of Law of Attraction: whatever you put your attention towards, you attract to you. It’s very common for us to identify the things we don’t want (i.e., don’t want to get sick) and it took me a while to train my brain to focus on the things I want (i.e, I’m so lucky to be so healthy).
What I want to let go of: What I most want to let go of is my lack of self-confidence. This does not serve me nor those around me. It’s time to step up, be vulnerable and go for what I want (time to channel my inner Brene Brown!)
This reflection process solidified that community and connection are so valuable to me and my happiness. So…..
2. Visualize the future with friends
Realizing that I clearly love to collaborate with others, I invited some like-minded friends and hosted a visioning session at my home. My dear friend and very-like-minded-soul, Christine Howard, led our mini retreat. She is a leadership and lifestyle coach who I reach out to when I need support and clarity in moving my goals forward. She created a thought-provoking and inspirational series of exercises and discussions that helped us appreciate what we have accomplished in 2020 and explore how we want to feel and what we want to achieve in 2021. These exercises took a holistic approach to our lives both personal and professional.
One of my favorite steps of Christine’s exercises was sharing our fears, challenges, dreams, and desires with the group. It’s such a wonderful feeling when you are surrounded by people who support you, and help you see the beauty and strength in each other. The collective energy is very magical and powerful. It amplifies the energy of what we want, attracting it to us even faster and in better ways than we could ever image! (Law of Attraction practice.)
Another highlight was when Christine led us through a series of visioning exercises that lead us to identify 3 words that capture the feelings we want to experience in 2021. I want to feel:
PLAYFUL, JOY AND CREATIVE
Finally, we kept these emotions in mind as we developed our goals for the year. When our emotions are directed to what we want to accomplish, we create a bigger buzz and excitement to achieving our goals---another practice of the Law of Attraction.
3. One-on-one coaching
Now that I discovered how I wanted to feel and what I wanted to accomplish in 2021, I identified a few areas that I could use specific guidance. So, I reached out to a business and marketing coach who embodies the feelings I want to experience---joy, playful and creativity---AND who runs a “heart-centered” business that is thriving: Victoria Wynn. Since that is exactly what I’m focused on creating she was the perfect fit for me!
What I learned was it is important to build stronger relationships with my community. This is done through being authentic and vulnerable, not trying to be perfect---it’s about sharing what I’m learning in hopes of adding value, uplifting, and inspiring others. This is exactly what I love doing and what I want to do more of in 2021. Victoria tailored a specific program for me to accomplish these things that included my core desires of being playful, joyful and creative. Now I’m so energized to make this all happen!
I am so grateful for the insights and support these soulful humans gave me and I am excited and hopeful for the future. There are several ways to go about this process, but I hope you can see how things started to flow and come together for me once I took that first step. For me it was inner reflection and then it was connecting with other like-minded individuals. What will it be for you? Write it in the comments below to confirm your commitment to make 2021 a wonderful year!
Also, please feel free to reach out to me at Tambra@om-matters.com if you have any questions or would like to share any of your experiences. #togetherisbetter
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