Two final questions as you prepare to leave this year behind

The fourth of four articles to guide you in spiritual reflection.

(Update in 2020: I wrote this post originally in 2018 and have now included a video to reference all that has happened this past year, although the content in this article is still relevant. I’ve also created a new course launching in January 2021 that incorporates these questions and moves into visioning your best life for the new year. You can read more about that course by clicking here.)

As the end of this year draws to a close, we come to the end of one cycle. Once midnight strikes on New Year’s Eve, we begin the new cycle of a new year.

All of Life is made up of cycles.

A cycle means something is marked by a beginning, a middle and an end.

When you complete or close a cycle, you get to release the energy it took to maintain that cycle and you now get to choose how you focus your energy on a new cycle.

This post is the completion of a cycle, a set of four posts where I laid out six key questions to honor and celebrate this year. So far, I’ve posed four questions in previous blog posts (click on the question to read more):

• Question 1: What surprised you this year?
• Question 2: How did you grow?
• Question 3: What made you feel alive?
• Question 4: What can you celebrate?

I encourage you to take time to answer these questions. They help you to reflect on the fullness of life as you’ve experienced it this past year. Now, I’ll share with you the final two questions.

What do you want to leave behind this year?

As you look back on the year, you experienced some things that you may have considered as great, and other things as not so great.

With any journey that comes to a close, you get to decide what you want to keep and what you want to leave behind.

• What are some of the things you want to leave behind this year?
• What particular experiences would you like to let go of this year? Are there people you are saying goodbye to?
• Do you have any beliefs or patterns of behavior that you want to release?
• Or, another way to ask this question is, what in your life is wanting to be released?

Saying goodbye and letting go can be difficult. There’s a sense of loss and it’s important to acknowledge that loss.

At the same time, when you let go, you create space for newness and you open up channels for energy and creativity to now appear.

On the flip side of the coin, there may be some things that you don’t want to leave behind, which leads to the final key question.

What do you want to take with you into the new year?

You’ve had experiences that helped to make this past year special. Maybe you learned some new skills or met some amazing people. Maybe you adopted a new way of looking at the world. Or perhaps you started building up habits that are getting you to live your life more authentically and joyfully.Here’s the amazing thing: You get to take these with you into the new year!​

• What skills, experiences, habits and ways of being can help to provide you with a foundation for this new year from which you can spring forward?

The point of these final two questions is to help you realize that you can make a conscious choice.

You are not bound by your past. You get to chart your path forward.

And you get to decide what to take with you and what to leave behind as you move into the new year.

Here is the spiritual truth behind today’s teaching: You are not your experiences.

You are not the cycles you experience. You are not the beliefs and habits that you either pick up along the way or toss aside.The truth is that you are so much more than all that.

You are a divine being, instilled with the capacity for infinite possibilities and with the gift of your unique expression.

Here is my prayer for you:

As you say goodbye to one year and open up to the unfolding of the next year, may you walk with a greater consciousness of your own divine possibilities.

Abundant Blessings, Namaste and Happy New Year!

I’d love to hear your thoughts about today’s post. Please leave a comment below. Feel free to give some “claps” while you’re at it!

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Originally published at www.abundantgood.com.