Starting the Year with Clarity and Intention

Dear friends,

As the new year begins, we may find ourselves in many different places: reeling from the holidays or feeling energized by them, recovering from family visits, lingering with their sweetness, or some combination of these. We may feel hopeful about the year ahead or dread it.

Regardless of where you're at, I'd like to offer a reflection practice—one that's hopefully gentle and rejuvenating rather than burdensome.

Reflection offers a potent way to step back, nourish wisdom, and recommit to our values. It can even reveal our potential to be free from the tyranny of habit and circumstance.

So here we are, a few days into a new calendar year with an opportunity to contemplative deeper questions. How am I living? What's most important? Who have I become and where do I want to devote my time and energy?

Wise reflection explores a theme or question by integrating directed thought and listening. Here are three steps to engage in this powerful practice.

* Settle In *

Take a few moments to unwind. Settle your mind and body in any way that feels supportive. This could be stretching, taking some deep breaths, listening to music, reading a poem, getting outdoors, or meditating. Find the conditions that help you downshift.

* Notice and Adjust *

Then, turn your attention inwards and take stock. Notice how you feel. What's the overall tone or mood? Are there any adjustments you can make to bring some more ease or collectedness to your heart? For example, you might shift your posture (lean back, recline), take a few deep breaths, think of a kind person or a sweet memory. Take some time to linger with that.

* Ask and Listen *

Now, whenever you feel ready, gently pose a question you wish to reflect on. Here are some suggestions that I find helpful around the new year.

• What have I learned this year?
• Who or what can I appreciate?
• What am I still carrying that I’m ready to put down? 
• What do I want to cultivate?
• Where do I want to contribute?

Choose one question that speaks to you, ask it silently, then listen to whatever comes: thoughts, images, feelings. Whenever your attention drifts, gently return to your body or breathing, then pose the question again.

The aim is not to arrive at a discrete answer, but to explore whatever comes with curiosity. As you sustain this receptive listening, a theme or meaning may emerge. You might stay with that theme and explore it further, or simply make a mental note of it and move on to another question.

I look forward to sharing some of my own reflections in the weeks and months to come, both here and in my online events.

As we begin a new year, I wonder how your heart is? What do you hear when you step back and reflect? What do you value as you step forward into the year?

With warm wishes,

Oren

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