You know, I love Halloween, I love secular Christmas, but maybe it might be true that my truly favorite holiday is the New Year. I need the time of pause between Christmas and the New Year. I need the reflection of looking back. I need quiet time for deep consideration of values and roots prior to the leaning forward.
So I want to share several sources I'm tapping into for my own reflection, intention-setting, and rhythm-creation moving forward.
Opening ceremonies & closing ceremonies episode at The Lazy Genius podcast - I'm loving the idea that I can create opening & closing ceremonies, which is language I've adopted from the Lazy Genius. The concept of Lazy Genius is about being a Genius about the things that matter TO YOU and Lazy about that things that DO NOT MATTER TO YOU. I love that on both ends. I'm giving myself even more permission and time to close 2020 for myself and to create a way to open 2021 that feels good to me.
Power & Healing - Conversation for Igniting a Communal Practice of Radical Rest and Healing with Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Dr. Joi Lewis, Dr. Leticia Nieto and Resmaa Menakem - I am listening to this and find it so valuable (you can donate to Movement Voter Fund's Georgia Fund and get a link to the video). It centers the Black-led lineage of practice of rest as a source of healing -- "Justice is our healing and our rest" -- such as The Nap Bishop and the Nap Ministry which says rest is resistance against capitalism and white supremacy. (Did you know you can call the Nap Ministry's Luv Naps hotline to hear a new message every Tuesday? 1-833-LUV-NAPS -- and you can support the Nap Bishop Tricia Hersey on Patreon here) And, in the Power & Healing conversation you can sing with Dr. Leticia Nieto!
Year Compass - from the website: YearCompass is a free booklet that helps you reflect on the year and plan the next one. With a set of carefully selected questions and exercises, YearCompass helps you uncover your own patterns and design the ideal year for yourself. This year's includes a Pandemic Supplement focused on three specific areas: confronting the loss of control, taking stock of the profoundly changed daily life, and assessing the health of your social circle. This was shared in a Facebook group I'm in. I like the look-back that is the basis and beginning of this reflection and planning tool.
I use the Passion Planner, which has free downloadable Road Map and Reflection worksheets here which are also in the printed planners. I love the monthly reflection as one element of a rhythm of regular reflection and choicefulness. Passion Planner also shares this blog post on Mindful Passion Planner Ideas: How to Use Memory Planning to Positively Impact Your Mental Health
I participated in a vision board workshop with Taina M. Brown and uncovered 5 values I think I want to be grounded in for 2021. I have some ideas about using moon phases and earth cycles (which are both reflected in this beautiful calendar I have just put up on my wall) to create consistent rhythms that help me be present with myself, to check in with myself in connection with natural cycles. I'm not sharing any specifics on any of this because it's in a larval phase and will likely shift both before and during the New Year.
