Time flies!
It’s the end of 2019, this whole year felt like just a month yet it was full of new experiences and learnings that will last me a lifetime.
December is always a time to get cozy, go inward and reflect.
Last year, my friend gifted me a journal book for Christmas and wrote down a quote on the first page:
“Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help to create the fact. The power of trusting in yourself is the strength you need to create amazing changes in your life.” - William James
Last year on New year I was in Paris, I remember I sat down to meditate and wrote things I wished to manifest in 2019. Recently, I looked back at my notes, I realized I manifested almost all of them.
Looking back at this year, the quote above truly fits the things I learned and experienced in 2019.
As I reflected on some lessons that I learnt this year, I wanted to share them:
Trust more
I like to be in control or at least I like to feel that I am in control. But... what do we really control?
It takes a lot of work to take care of our inner world, apart from that everything else is out of our hands.
I'm trying to replace my fear with trust and slowly let go of control. I am constantly reminding myself to see the bigger picture and trust that everything is for my highest good. It brings me a sense of peace and calmness, it gets me out of my mind and connects me with my heart and intuition.
Meditation has helped me and still helps me through this process.
Love and accept yourself
This has been an important lesson for me.
Through my job, I’m often challenged by situations that trigger my insecurities. Nowadays, I feel grateful for challenging situations, because they help me grow. I realized the importance of loving and accepting myself the way I am.
Self-worth shouldn’t be conditioned by anything external, it’s more a constant inner state of feeling good about ourselves.
Never stop developing yourself
I love to learn and I truly believe that the time I invest in myself, is the best investment I can make!
Working and evolving myself has helped me to change my perspective in challenging situations and work through them with more mindfulness.
Especially towards the end of this year, I really noticed a difference in the way I am thinking and how I handle challenging situations.
Let go!
We like to hold on on the past, but by holding on we are blocking new things to come, new things that could be beyond our imagination.
This past year, I caught myself, holding on to things (past memories and experiences), which were not serving me anymore. These were things that I knew were not good for me, but it was hard for me to let them go.
It's easier to stick with familiar things, but in the longterm, they can hold us back. I am practicing letting go more, moving on, and I must say... it feels good!
Follow your own path
I have learned to listen and to connect to myself, which has encouraged me to continue to follow my own path. Following my intuition has taken me to places and connected me to people that have helped me grow, evolve and that has inspired me.
I feel that when you truly follow your heart, passion or interest many doors will open up for you.
I would like to share some books that have helped and inspired me this past year:
- The Untethered Soul by Michael A.Singer
- The surrender Experiment by Michael A.Singer
- The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran
- The four agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
- Inner Engineering by Sadhguru
- The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
- Light on Yoga by Iyengar
- The Universe has your back by Gabrielle Bernstein
Regarding the new year I want to encourage you to take a bit time out of your day and set some intentions for 2020:
Here are some questions that I like to ask myself, when setting intentions:
What do I want to leave behind in 2019?
Which lessons did I learn in 2019?
What do I want to experience?
How do I want to feel?
Which person do I want to become?
Which qualities do I want to embody?
What do I want to create?
Which places would I like to visit?
How can I help others?
How can I improve my relationships?
What do I want to learn?
How can I improve my health?
What am I passionate about?
What makes me feel good and fulfilled?
Where do I see myself in a year from now?
These questions have helped me to create a vision for my life. I hope they inspire you!
I am wishing everyone a beautiful start into the new year, may all your dreams come true!