31. December 2013 · Comments Off on DIY New Year Ritual for a Fresh Start · Categories: Self Help, Uncategorized

This New Year series offers ways to make sure 2014 is a positive, empowered ride for youfbSunrise 1a.

DIY New Year Ritual for a Fresh Start (just for yourself)

A ritual can be powerful. It declares an important decision within yourself, beginning now.

It is a way of communicating to all parts of yourself that you are ready for a change to take place and are also willing to embrace the ramifications of that. You get clear on what you intend to leave behind, and what you intend to invite and activate.This raises your awareness like a red alert to notice old habits when they arise, and new opportunities when they do.

You will need a private space and two objects that represent the old and the new. If you like candles, you can make a small ritual fire in a fireproof dish AWAY FROM THE FIRE ALARM! and use it to burn relevant pieces of paper, torn up small. But only if there is no bush fire danger, I hasten to say. Or use a rubbish bin. Surround yourself with anything that has meaning for you, that empowers you and supports you in believing in your potential for change.

You can just create your own private New Year ritual or use these key steps as guidelines:

PHASE 1. Completing and releasing the past. (If we are hanging onto the past with anxiety, resentment or shame, it is very hard to move forward).  fbsunrise1b images

1. First make a time to sit quietly where you won’t be interrupted. Turn off the phones and declare a time just for you (for some people this is the hardest part!)

2. Think about what worked for you last year and what didn’t. Begin with what didn’t, and make a decision about what you wish to leave behind. This could be a way of behaving, an attitude, a situation. Write it or them down on small pieces of paper.

3. Now take each piece one by one and really feel inside yourself to what it represents. These questions can help:

What is the story/memory/feelings that go with it?

What has been the cost to you of holding onto it?

What will be the gain if you let it go?

Are you really ready to let go? If you do let go, what are possible consequences and are you willing to handle them in a responsible way?

When you feel ready to let it go and leave it in the past, you release it, by tearing it up, burning it, discarding or destroying it in some way. Then take a moment to feel into the space that’s now there in its absence.

Do this with each one. You don’t have to let go of anything of course. Rather, use this moment to get clear as to how ready you are. It may not be the right time. There are no rules. It’s up to you.

When we decide to release the past it doesn’t mean all the feelings and behaviours (or people! ) disappear of course. But it does mean that when they arise, as they are likely to, we can see them from a new place in ourselves, and choose in that moment to act differently, according to the change we are wanting. Phase 2, to be posted soon, focuses on the new.

This is the time to remember to be patient with ourselves – change sometimes happens slowly.

PHASE 2: Welcoming the New, will be posted soon, but you can go from here and begin to focus on what you want to welcome, activate and embrace.

 

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