Looking within at this New Year, you may find yourself in a time of reflection on the year that passed, and the year that is to come.
What went well? What didn’t go well? What do you want to change or improve for the New Year? What do you want to keep, and what do you want to let go of?
While these questions are good for us to ask ourselves, they often only reach so far beneath the surface of our financial and physical goals. What I’d like to encourage you to do is to look deeper: what has been your SOUL’s journey in this year, and where is your SOUL going in this New Year?
The natural seasons of our energy
In order to understand our soul’s place in our New Year reflection, let us take a moment to reflect on the natural rhythm that we are part of.
Just as Mother Earth cycles through its four seasons, we also experience an internal energetic shift. In spring, it’s as if Mother Earth is in a rebirth. Colorful flowers burst as the frost melts and life begins once again. It is a time of renewal for Earth, but also for our lives. In Spring, energy is flowing and it’s a beautiful time to start new projects.
It’s a beautiful time to move fast, be super fearless, and to go, go, go. It’s a time to take a lot of initiative, show your leadership, and think big.
And then as the warmth of Summer hits, we begin to enjoy the freedom to just move freely and enjoy life. In the Spring, we planted seeds and now these seeds are growing – there is a flow and you just ride that energy.
And then, as Summer ends and Fall approaches, we begin to harvest the fruits of all our labor. And as the leaves fall, we start to slow down. We start to let go. We become introspective, and we begin to look within as we prepare for the quiet of Winter.
As I write this, we are at the beginning of Winter. The leaves have fallen, and now we are settling into a period of quiet, and in a lot of ways, hibernation. It is a period of meditation and reflection, and a time to understand the current rhythm that we have been in for the previous year.
Which is why, at this time, I wish to look within, together with you, as we approach this New Year – 2022.
Life is not all about the hustle
As the seasons come and go, it is easy for us to get caught up in the hustle and rhythm of working hard.
If I look at my life, for example, I’ve lived many, many years from a place of super laser-sharp focus. I was in high-productivity mode, getting stuff done, being highly motivated, setting big goals.
And to a large degree, this was the standard of my life for many, many years.
But it wasn’t until my path with plant medicine began that my focus shifted. Yes, my ambitions were still there, but that wasn’t the whole story.
I began a path of healing and inner discovery, and soon I understood that I can switch. I can still pursue my business aspirations, but I can always choose to switch and allow myself to surrender and allow life to guide me, rather than me trying to micromanage it. Because at the end of the day, our soul is not here to make a business plan. We have a much greater purpose:
We are here to heal the pain of our past and past lifetimes so we can shine in our true divine light – the eternal source of all consciousness and energy.
Our soul is here to look within
At some point in most people’s lives, there comes a point where we ask, “Why am I here?”
Like really – “What’s the point of all this? Am I really just meant to be here to work, have kids, retire, and die?”
To many sacred and shamanic traditions, the purpose of life is, to a large degree, to heal.
To become pure, pure from conditioning we’ve taken on from our parents, from society, and from the trauma and pain we’ve been carrying throughout our life. And if you understand that we are eternal souls traveling in this human form, and that our soul has traveled through many lifetimes, then you would also understand that we carry trauma and pain from those previous lifetimes – lives that we are mostly unaware of until we begin that path of healing.
The idea is that our soul is here to look within.
We are here to heal the pain of our past and past lifetimes so that we can shine in our true divine light – the eternal source of all consciousness and energy. Because in actuality, all knowledge is available and it just exists in a field that we can’t observe. It’s there, but we can’t see it with our “naked” eyes.
Sacred plant medicine and psychedelics are one way to access this field of consciousness, as has been practiced by the shamans of old. If you’re interested in learning more about how to observe this field of consciousness, check out my other article Plant Medicine: The Only VR You Need where we explore the ways in which plant medicine can awaken things you never even knew existed within you.
What if looking within is hard?
If looking within feels good and you experience a lot of positive flow of energy, don’t question it.
But if you find that it’s difficult to look within, you aren’t alone. It’s very common, actually.
Because sometimes we try to look within but we resist what we feel, or we resist any feeling that comes up – good or bad.
And when we feel that resistance, we can be hard on ourselves.
And then we risk falling into a spiral of negative, self-harming thoughts and behaviors.
The key to combating this is a healthy dose of surrendering and self-loving observation.
When we feel resistance come up, it is important that we allow ourselves to surrender. Surrender to the need to control, surrender to the need for answers – allow yourself to feel the feelings that come up and just sit with it.
And when you allow yourself to surrender, allow yourself some time for self-loving observation:
It’s so easy for us to be hard on ourselves, to judge ourselves for the things that we didn’t do. We look back to the previous year and we think, “Look, if only I would have done it that way; I need to be more of this; I need to be more focused.” And usually the way we deal with these thoughts is to be harder on ourselves – as a kind of motivation.
Instead of judging yourself for the resistance or negative feelings or regret, instead find self-love to witness your experience and accept it. Don’t judge it – just observe it, and love it just as you would a child who is having a bad day. Just welcome it and send it your own healing energy.
See yourself just things are – but don’t identify with it. Because seeing it and identifying with it are two completely different things. See the different parts of yourself from this past year: “Okay, so I see that part of myself from last year that wasn’t consistent in my thinking. Where I delayed making certain decisions. And I can see if I’d made those decisions sooner, I would be in a different place. And that is just simply what it is.”
And leave it at that.
It is not right. It is not wrong. It is just simply as it is.
When we feel resistance come up, it is important to surrender.
What’s your New Year Reflection?
I don’t know where you are in life. I don’t know whether you are more in a season of looking externally, working hard, and hustling – or if you are more in the season of looking within, reflection, and perhaps healing and awakening.
Either way, it is important to remember to always find self-loving observation and acceptance when reflecting on your life. Do your best to see things as they are with no attachment, then ask yourself, “What can I do differently next year?”
As we look ahead to 2022, it is only logical that we first understand the current year, right? Anything that you were unaware of, or unable to see, will only continue with you into the New Year. All the habits and thought patterns and mental dialogues will still be there – so now is the time to make the unconscious conscious.
Winter is the perfect time to retreat and look within. Invite the silence, invite the reflection, and always proceed with self-loving observation and non-attachment. Allow this to inform your New Year Reflection.
For more on this subject, check out the most recent episode of The Spiritual Game of Business Podcast. Available on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.