It’s that time of the year where we begin thinking about the next year and all the goals, lists & plans!
You start to get targeted ads for planners and intricate strategies on how to plan 2020.
If you’re anything like my clients, it starts to kick up all the nagging feelings of “where did this year go?!!?” and “I haven’t accomplished half of what I wanted.”
And so you begin to throw it into the 2020 bucket.
And before you know it, you are feeling stressed & overwhelmed before 2020 has even begun!
I’ve been sharing this with all my clients lately…
Here’s the deal. It doesn’t have to be that hard.
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
And contrary to what we’re taught, it is NOT all up to you.
Life is a co-creative process.
Between you the humble human and a bigger force (call her what you want).
So often, us overachieving, perfectionist rockstars start to presume that it is all up to us. We take on the burden of figuring it all out – as though we are 100% in control.
The sooner you accept that you must surrender to the forces bigger than you, the sooner you can find peace in your heart.
At the same time, you don’t want to just put your hands in the air and say F*ck it. You want to show up to do your part of the work.
I’ve created a simple 4 question framework for your New Year planning – and I’m sharing it with you in hopes that it will ease your mind and create spaciousness in your heart.
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The Co-Creation Visioning Plan
What do I trust?
What do I want?
What I will show up for…
What I will surrender to…
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Question 1: What do I trust?
Uncertainty is hard. It can kick up all of our triggers and trauma. It can push us past our comfort zone and it can stretch us past our snapping point.
Finding the truths you know…
Finding what you can trust…
What you can lean into…
Start there.
Somatic Experiencing uses the concept of Resourcing – the practice of inviting your body to attune to any sensations of safety in your environment – as a foundational pillar.
So often we skip over the first step.
What do I know? What can I trust?
I trust the earth under me.
I trust my breath.
I know the sun will rise tomorrow.
I know I’m worthy.
I trust my family and my sisters’ support.
This is key. Sit down and write a laundry list of everything you KNOW to be true.
Question 2: What do I want?
Now that you can feel the stable ground under you, can you stretch your arms to the sky and dream?
What does your heart yearn for?
What do you deeply desire?
What do you want that is hard to admit?
Write it all down. Stream of consciousness.
Allows your fingers to dance on the paper.
Question 3: What will I show up for?
It’s so easy to get extreme. Either showing up 100% in our hustle mode. Sleeves rolled up January 1st and ready to slay.
Or go into total collapse. “I have no idea where to start” so you find yourself procrastinating, pretending you don’t have dreams and watching Netflix instead.
What if you looked at it like yoga. In yoga, there is the idea of just showing up to your mat daily. Get up. Show up. And if you need to lay in child’s pose (resting position) the entire hour, so be it. But you showed up.
Same goes for your work. Block out the time. Allow it to be your metaphorical mat and then show up – while releasing the expectation of having the best practice every day. Sometimes a pleasure practice feels torturous. Sometimes my meditations are filled with to-do lists. It doesn’t matter. Show up.
I will show up every day for my body with 30 minutes of morning movement.
I will show up every day for my divinity with 30 minutes of spiritual practice/nature walk.
I will show up one day a week for my expression by blocking out Mondays to write.
And then, after that surrender!
Crack open a bag of potato chips and watch “Schitt’s Creek.” (Ew! David!)
Question 4: What will I surrender to?
Accepting powerlessness is, in my opinion, the deepest spiritual practice there is.
Part of what has gotten us into trouble on the planet right now is our presumptuousness as a species. We are playing God and think our tech and science can control everything. And yet, we look around and we aren’t better off than we used to be.
Find the work you ARE ready to show up for and then release control and attachment over the rest.
The sun isn’t strategizing how to shine.
The flowers didn’t take a course on how to bloom.
They are following their natural inclinations, their innate codes, the rhythms of nature.
You too are part of nature. Remember that all you need to do is strip away the programming, the stories and the formulas and find your essence and your rhythm.
You will blossom and you will shine.
It’s your nature.
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For any Soulful Leaders interested in making 2020 the year they implement this co-creative vision as part of their dream of a Sensual & Sustainable business…
I have two spots left in my Elite Embody Mentorship Program (February – November 2020).
The application deadline is December 11th.
To a sensual, sustainable and sexy AF New Year!