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For many of us, the start of a new year usually marks the beginning of a new cycle. It is often a time of reflection on the various events that have happened in the prior year, what we have achieved or not, and the setting for new resolutions based on what we would like for the year to come. In this blog we are sharing maybe a different way to view and use the new year period.

What we have found for ourselves in the past and hear today from many, is that we can get to the new year period with the feeling of having gone nowhere, that we have travelled in a circle rather than actually moved forward. Nothing seems to have really changed in terms of how we feel inside and the way we experience our external circumstances, regardless of them being different or not.

What if we were to use the beginning of each year as a period of reflection, not about what we have or haven’t achieved, but rather on how we feel on the inside (our quality of being)? And from there, what if we were to use this internal feeling in the body as a marker, a reference point at the beginning of each year to see if we are really moving forward, or rather EVOLVING.

Could it be true that as we experience life we do not move forward in linear time but rather that we move in a circle again and again? After all, isn’t a year defined by the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun?

As such, could it be true that NOTHING unresolved in our lives can be left behind in a “linear past” but rather will be encountered again and again in our life as we move in the same circle year after year until resolved? And could the healing of unresolved issues be about learning to make different choices, more loving choices around them?

So, if we haven’t made supportive changes within our lives throughout the prior year that have led to a different way of experiencing daily life (ie. on how we feel and act towards ourselves and others, how we relate with our environment etc) then it is likely that as we enter the new year we will not feel as though we have moved forward in any way because indeed as we move in the same circle nothing can be conveniently left behind. Yes sure, we may be another year older, but have we EVOLVED?

EVOLUTION is about the growth of our awareness and from this increased awareness the letting go of any patterns that play out within ourselves and within our lives that we can now see with clarity as no longer serving us.

When we begin to make self-loving choices, these help us move forward, they help us evolve as they support the letting go of any unhealthy, sabotaging patterns that may still be playing out in our lives.

Simple self-loving choices such as eating foods that do not leave us bloated, choosing to be with our bodies (conscious presence) as we exercise rather than checking out (being in our heads), cooking a meal in conscious presence, addressing and healing our issues/hurts rather than storing them up, all of those choices support us in exposing and in gradually being able to let go of all the layers of the “what we are not” that are still being held in the body. In other words, all these simple self-loving choices help us evolve – return to who we truly are.

It then feels like we have made progress and moved forward. In actual fact we are still going around in circles adhering to the cycle of the Sun and the Earth, BUT… we are evolving. When we evolve we do not have the “same old same old” feeling, but rather there is a feeling of being able to simply be more oneself, an increasing lightness, love and freshness that can all be felt in the body, and an eagerness to embrace life with I AM READY, WHAT’S NEXT?

Rather than reflect on what you haven’t achieved this year or what you hope for, how about using the new year period to ponder, appreciate and celebrate all the self-caring and self-loving choices that you HAVE made in the prior year (yes even those tiny baby steps in that direction) and the growth in your awareness – as subtle as it may seem.

And then perhaps reflect on making 2015 about EVOLVING by building on the foundation that you may have already established to live your life cultivating self-love and the awareness of holding the connection with yourself.

Enjoy this new round around the Sun.

Written by: Donna Gianniotis and Alexandra Plane offer Yoga/Yoga Therapy, Meditation, Esoteric Healing sessions and Massage at their clinics in Balmain and WahroongaContact us for enquiries or bookings.

From Yogaandhealing.com.au