Linger in the Space of Celebration

The end of the year is upon us and this is a great time for planning ahead for the New Year. I have been doing that myself making a yearly budget and taking time out make intentions for 2015. I found that I was caught up with making plans for 2015 that I when I was thinking or writing about the next year, I caught myself in the habit of penning 2016. I was that into it.

While I was happy to be so engaged in my future I realised that I was endanger of not fully embracing and celebrating my recent past. The last quarter of 2014 was one of the defining times of my life.

Every single day of October through December, was a building block that lead me to the plateau of well-being and self empowerment on which I now stand.

When I sat with this and really let it marinate in my mind, I realised that I was not alone in my rush to move forward. We as humans often follow up a triumph with the question 'What next?" and let in all of the possibilities of the future and sometimes a good bit of worry as to where we are going.

When we fall into this trap, we cheat ourselves of harnessing all of the positive energy of our celebrations. We may raise a glass or treat ourselves to a meal to commemorate the moment, but I do not think that this is enough.

The ringing in of a New Year lends itself to being a point of high emotion as it is easy to be joyful that new things are on the horizon. What I propose is that as we end 2014, we take some time to linger in our triumphs. Instead of merely reflecting on the year, we take it a step further and celebrate our year anew.

I believe it is only when we live in the triumph of the past and allow those highs to sink into the marrow of ourselves, that we can move fully and purposefully forward into a new phase of life.

For me, this meant that  I allowed myself the luxury of looking back and cheering myself on as if the goals I had achieved were new. I patted myself on the back for my good ideas and washed my spirit in gratitude for old events with the same intensity as the first time.

Another effect of this is that you solidify good memories. It is all too easy to remember the bad, and often it can override the good that happened. By mindfully focusing on the high points, we cultivate an attitude of positivity.

We also can determine what are the key events or habits that we picked up along the way that lead us to the point of triumph. This allows us to make sure that we pack these tools in our toolbox as we forge ahead to new adventurers.

I wish all of my readers, friends and family, a Happy New Year. May 2015 be full of abundance and love; go forward confidently as you achieve your goals and see your dreams come to life.