As the year draws to a close, I love taking time to look back and gather the glimmering moments I can celebrate.
At the start of this year, during a quiet moment of contemplation, the word fortitude came to me. It stayed with me for a few days. As I do every year, I chose it as my guiding word. A few weeks later, another word arrived just as strongly: flourishing.
These two words have carried me through the year. Fortitude to stay steady in the pressure cooker moments, and the hope of flourishing kept me moving forward.
The Art of Looking Back to Move Forward in the Way That Feels Right
It has been a tough year for many of us, myself included, and yet it has also been a year of learning, stretching, and, in its own way, flourishing.
As we enter the final month of the year, I invite you to take a moment to reflect on your own journey. Ask yourself:
- What are you most proud of about yourself?
And how did you know to do that? - What have you learned about yourself?
- And what part of that learning could you do more of?
These quiet moments of reflection become an intentional reset – an inner recalibration.
How Do You Want to Begin the New Year?
When I think about the year ahead, I’m drawn to how I want to feel as I step into it. For me, it’s things like:
Refreshed
Energised
Excited
Creative
Strengthened
And perhaps even discovering a new word to guide me through the new year.
Those are some of my desires; what are yours?
A reset begins long before the calendar turns. It begins with stillness.
The Wonder of a Well-Tended Pause
This time of year can feel busy, chaotic, emotional, rushed, like a runaway train! So how might you use reflection and the desire to reset to slow down and find a gentler kind of rest?
It starts with pausing, noticing and quietly listening inward.
What does rest feel like in your body?
Is it the ease of laughter?
A moment of dancing?
A sense of lightness?
Breaking into song?
Acts of kindness?
Sharing encouraging stories?
Letting yourself be childlike again?
Saying yes to what truly matters?
Gratitude?
Rest can be found in small, human moments.
Where Stillness Refills the Tank
When we honour these pauses and allow rest to do its quiet work, we can begin the new year with more clarity, more energy, and more of ourselves intact.