How do you complete the year with intention? What did you learn about yourself? How did it challenge you? What did you gain? And what did you give? Its time for a little reflection some end of year rituals! And how will you begin the next one?
Here are some essential practices for reflecting on a year that has passed - best done a week or so prior to the year end!
Create a sacred space
Light a few candles, burn some incense or clear your space with white sage. You could hold a crystal in your hand. Make this space comfortable, quiet and still - set the scene for how you want to close your year. Keep your journal or your Journal Sheet templates with you.
Begin with meditation
Spend a few minutes in quiet meditation and soak up the energy of this sacred time of the year.
- How does this energy feel?
- What emotions and images come up?
- Where in your body is your attention pulled towards?
- What energy or feelings lie in this part of your body? Why?
- What does the energy of the new year feel like?
Capture your thoughts in your journal or you could use your Meditation Journal Sheet from the Etsy journaling templates too for this exercise.
Reflect on the year for each area of your life
In your journal, write down each area of your life and your thoughts, feelings, experiences that moved you for this area.
Capture your intentions for the next year for each area of your life
It's a beautiful time for appreciating the completion and a beautiful time to set your intentions for the year ahead. These don’t have to be New Year resolutions, but simply an intention or energy that you wish to hold for the year ahead.
Write down a list of your goals for next year, whilst exploring exactly why your soul wants this for you. Does it make sense for your higher purpose and how much will it move your soul to lean towards this goal or intention.
What did you learn?
What did you accomplish? What are you grateful for? What did you learn about yourself? How did your soul grow? How did it push you to sit with the uncomfortableness of it all? What were your biggest challenges and most amazing moments? What were the moments that made your year? What do you hold gratitude for?
What do you need to release and let go of?
What habits do you need to do less of in the following year? Release it all with love and grace. Accept that these habits, perspectives or ways of thinking has taken you so far. What do you need to do for yourself to heal from or release this? You may like to write this and then burn it to release the energy it holds. It is time for you to transcend from these experiences to something new.
Declutter and clean
In Japan, one of the rituals that is done before the end of the year is 大掃除 (osouji) which is a deep clean. The ritual of purification, cleansing and decluttering is a custom that many households partake in as a symbol of welcoming in the new. In Shintoism, the religion that is widely practiced in Japan, the priests perform a ritual called the susharai in December where dust is cleared and the shrines are purified for the year ahead.
So welcome in the new year with a little spot of decluttering, donating the things you no longer need, and cleaning. You could do this for your home, your work space and even computer as well. I love the feeling of starting the new year fresh, having filed my emails and documents into archives.
How do you want to feel moving forwards?
What are some mantras that you will hold for yourself in the year ahead? These are different to New Year Resolutions or goals in that they are defined by the way you intend to show up - how do you want to be?
