And if you want to do a reflection exercise looking back at 2022, here is a perfect one from Loner Wolf – contemplative journaling prompts. I had a go at it below. Share/ comment your thoughts on how this exercise went for you.
What keyword defined this past year?
What was your main area of inner growth?
What was the biggest challenge you faced, and how did you move through it?
In what ways are you being invited to evolve in 2023?
If you could choose one word to use as your mantra for next year, what would it be?
What does your deeper and wiser Self (Soul) want you to know right now?
There is so much I am doing and not doing that I want to share – books, films, new experiments and ideas, epiphanies. But we’ll keep it simple. It took me a while to get the tree up this year. I actually started with a smaller, special symbol holiday tree – can you spot a 🦊 for the Fire Fox from one of the ceremonies, a 🍄 Father Frost, obviously, and a 🚀 for The Expanse (tv show)?
What special stuff are you doing for you? Are you slowing down? Taking it easy? Practicing lots of self-love? I hope so! And if like many of us this year, you are not in a holiday spirit, that’s ok too. We have not had a break for a while. Remember you are not alone, I love you ♥️ and please do what is best for you, or don’t do much, like some of us 😊 Blessings, light and love!
Nazaré has been on my radar a lot lately. It is a fishing village in Portugal with the world’s highest waves where surfing world records get made and beaten. As someone who is not a great swimmer, is afraid of water and has a recurring nightmare about floods, when I noticed this documentary about a Portuguese female athlete surfing big waves in Nazaré (only 3 women having done so ever), I had to see it.
In 2020 (it was a strange year), I did a digital at-home shamanic (!!!) retreat with Blue Morpho and Hamilton Souther (see more here). I wrote a draft about my experience afterwards but for some reason did not publish it. Here it is.
Ram Dass, aka Richard Alpert, was not just a Buddhist, a Hindu and a mystic, he was also a child psychologist. I love his perspective on the question that has forever bugged me – why do almost all of us lack self-love and why does it start so early in our lives? Ram Dass explains in this video and shares a reframing technique on how “to love oneself more.”
My former employer, a large charity supporting those struggling with addiction, mental health issues et al, released a book of poetry written by their service users and staff.
Some poems did not make a cut and they needed more, I submitted my poems and they were included. Two of these were written when I struggled with mental health and two as I healed myself with plant medicines. I’ll link them here.
Next time you are in Waterstones, grab a copy. All proceeds go to a good cause – helping those struggling with addiction and mental health. Light and love.
Remember A Year To Live challenge? Last Friday was the last day of my experiment. I “died.” It is time to draw the results.
Overall, it was a very illuminating challenge and I highly recommend it. Most of the things I learned were the things I already knew but I put them to practice more. Live here and now. Don’t leave anything important to tomorrow if you can do it now. Money is an excuse, you can find money, don’t let money stop you. You don’t have enough time on negative or ignorant people, you won’t save or fix them, leave them alone. Meditate daily. Eat what you want (but take care of your body) and feed others.
My goals were simple and I achieved most of them, or rather Universe made them happen. I must put X’s next to the Spain and train ones as well as a friend invited me to travel there in the new year out of the blue. I thought I would not be able to afford it without a job but what do you know “the last year to live” mentality and Universe hustled up funds and I am going.
I was patient, I was brave, I didn’t take no for an answer. And the most important objective of my experiment – this year I really felt alive. I hope to be able to continue to live with this newly found attitude.
You don’t need to take shrooms or travel to Spain to live fully. There are plenty of small and/or free things you can do right now to enrich your life. It is more of a mindset shift. Once you stop delaying living, everything starts falling in place aka “manifesting”. Open your mind to what’s unfolding, keep multiple perspectives going and accept whatever you receive with gratitude, as what you want may not manifest how you expected.
Nomad of the Universe 