Welcome to 2021!
I think I can say that for all of us 2020 was an exceptional year; challenging, difficult, conflictual and confusing, and who knows what 2021 will bring? I think there is a feeling for many that we have lost a year, that 2020 was a write off, that we can’t wait to return to ‘normal’.
2021 has not got off to the best of starts, one might say, and many are still avidly watching the counts – be it deaths, positive test results or how many people have been vaccinated.
As spring is around the corner, with the new growth, I wanted to take this opportunity to look at what we we want to sow, cultivate. What do we want to see growing?
Before we can do this, we need to look back and reflect on what has come to pass. 2020 was a year like no other and within that there will have been lots of change. Instead of looking at it as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, can we view it as an experience without labelling it? What have we learned about ourselves? Only with reflection can we know what we want to leave behind and what we want to take forward with us and indeed cultivate.
So what were some of your greatest accomplishments in 2020? Toko-pa says it beautifully:
“Make note of all the ways in which you have triumphed, transcended, withstood, and survived this last year.
“Notice the ways, small as they may be, that you’ve lived and loved well this year. Count the occasions in which you’ve made new choices, held to your truth, made your boundaries known.
“Take a moment to bring to mind and heart those who have supported, cared for, and shaped you. Bless your believers. And bless yourself, for having made it this far against the odds.
“You are not alone. Together, we are building something significant, and though it may not look like much, we need you to keep going.”
Another very positive way to remind us of how much we have is to make a gratitude list – maybe list 20 things that 2020 has made you grateful for.
I think we also need to include the difficult, upsetting, sad, frustrating things as for many 2020 will have been exceptionally challenging. I am thinking here of people who have lost family members and were unable to say good bye, of people who have lost their jobs and homes, and those that are in abusive relationships.
As well as looking at the positive and being grateful, we also need to honour the difficulties and not push then or hide them away.
With that in mind, are there things in 2020 that you wish you had done or behaved differently?
As we take another year, and another journey around the sun, what have you learned, what do you want to take forward and what do you want to leave behind?
This article was written by Karen Robinson, formerly a Registered Osteopath.