I am very much always a woman with a plan as I was a child who wanted a daily plan of what was going on and when I needed to be ready: Ready for what at age 5 you might ask? But what the past year has taught me most profoundly is that, as much as a plan is very nice for a somewhat OCD Virgo, it can compromise your ability to look forward – to see what could be. And so in 2016 I rid of my 12-month, 2-year and 5-year plans and am astonished as to where I’ve landed.
It was listening to a Mayo Clinic Radio podcast that I first heard the phrase ‘reflect inward, look forward’ and it grabbed me just at the right time of the year (so much that I can’t tell you who said it or what the podcast was even about). All I remember is that I was walking by the water, on my way to lectures, and I stopped, smiled to myself and took this picture. I had been trying to ‘fix’ myself into a plan and like a square peg in a round hole just couldn’t make it work. Why? Because I wasn’t looking inward. Inward does not mean backwards, it can however just mean dealing with a little bit of chaos but then, the universe likes that anyways.
I thought to add an extra phrase between of ‘dream skyward’ because goals should really be what the New Year is about – never too small or too large – from health and wellbeing to family and friends or mind and spirit, although every day is a ‘new’ day, New Year is a major turning of the page that we all do together and there is a kind of energy in that I feel.
So what do you seek for yourself in 2017? I wish you a year of courage, love and kindness – for yourself and others – to find what you look forward to, and a year of living in your best skin ever.
