Happy New Year!
I feel extremely lucky that my turn in the rotation to contribute to the Hensel Coaching and Consulting email is the first for 2021! What a way for me to kick start 2021, and “get off the couch” after an extremely restful and relaxing holiday week off!
Earlier in December, I attended a “Reflect and Intend” workshop with my own coach through our group program (yes, coaches have coaches!). We began by reflecting on 2020. Which was quite powerful.
“The journey into self-love and self-acceptance must begin with self-examination. Until you take the journey of self-reflection, it is almost impossible to grow or learn in life.”
– Iyanla Vanzant
Self-reflection is how we can observe and analyze ourselves in order to grow as a person.
By understanding who you are now and who you’d like to become, you can identify the steps you need to take on that journey (and set your intentions to help you get there!). Reflecting upon your own behaviors, noticing patterns, and what thoughts enter your mind in response to events in your world and the world around you allows you to see what you need to work on. The ability to observe what has happened with love, acceptance, non-judgment, and the desire to learn from your experiences so that you can reflect and begin to make conscious new choices in your future is a beautiful and healing practice.
It is easy for so many of us to look back at 2020 and see just one big dark cloud – all the negative, the hardships and the heartache. It was a really, really tough year for so many. But as with anything in life, there were blessings, moments of hope, and things and people to be grateful for – we just may need to dig a little deeper and look a little harder to find them. In any situation, you can choose what you look at, how you look at it, what you want to focus on, and how you can learn from it.
I loved taking time to reflect on 2020.
We often forget how resilient we are, and we sometimes forget all the things we did do and how far we’ve come. The quote that I have kept thinking of is, “You have survived 100% off your worst days” If you are reading this, you are here! You survived 2020. The good, the bad, and the ugly! You made it! And as with anything, each day is a new opportunity to decide how you want to live your life, and how you want to feel. There is always something to learn from every experience. Take some time to reflect by asking yourself some questions. Take time to sit and think about where you felt success, where you didn’t, times where your energy felt depleted or where you felt energized. What did you learn from 2020?
The second part of the workshop was about setting intentions.
An intention is the “mental state representing commitment to perform an action” and will your intentions to the next level is how you feel and what is the energy behind those intentions. Emotions are energy, and energy is everything! We need to decide what we want, and believe that we can have it. As an Energy Master Practitioner who administers the Energy Leadership Assessment (the ELI), the majority of work I do with my clients is around energy. We focus a lot on how you feel, the energy you are showing up with, identifying limiting beliefs, and creating new beliefs and the feelings we need to feel so that we can achieve our desired results.
Using your reflections from 2020 and knowing where you are coming from will help you gain clarity around where you want to go. Applying the lessons you learned from 2020 will help you to identify any new results you would like to see for yourself in 2021. Once you know where you want to focus, aligning your energy behind achieving whatever it is you want is crucial for taking inspired action. For me, I am setting intentions on how I want to feel and show up every day and what that looks like. It starts with a few small new habits that I am implementing in my life. Small changes will make big results and help you to sustain your energy around doing them and continuing to do them!
This year, my intention is focused on leading with love (vs fear).
I know if I can shift to looking at things through a lens rooted in compassion, love, and curiosity I will be able to do so much more (using this lens in those around me, and especially on myself). Conversely, when I lead with fear, it is ego-based and rooted in judgment, comparison, self-doubt. Setting this intention and continuing to come back to it will serve me, catching myself when I am not leading with love and choosing to shift will not always be easy. I am ready for the challenge.
I will support this intention by creating some new habits.
Carving out time and mindfully planning to spend time on these habits will be crucial for my success. They will include slowing down, connecting with myself and my intention daily, and reflecting on situations and my emotions around things. I know this practice will be a key area of my growth.
As with anything, my goal is to consistently create a new habit but I am human. When I fall off the wagon, I do not beat myself up but am compassionate and get right back on. When I fall off the wagon too many times, I really do like to spend time reflecting on why, understanding what is really blocking me or holding me back, and that self reflection helps me to re-set intentions and my own expectations. It is truly a journey!
If you would like to know more about how to reflect and set intentions for the new year, get your own clarity around what you would like to do differently this year, and how you can achieve different results in 2021, please set up a free discovery call. I would love to help you create a 2021 that feels amazing and for you to achieve the results you want!
