Do you see what I see?

What do YOU see in the poster?

I see the potential for you to paint YOUR thousand words of 2020!

How does that picture of the plant do that?

Let me explain, though first I’d like to ask a few more questions..

Are you someone who has dabbled in closing things out?

Are you resistant to endings in general?

And what are your feelings towards 2021?

If you don’t even know where to begin to answer that last question I am so happy you have landed here.

What I say to this is AWESOME! I love that there is trepidation and hesitation around the start of the new year or as a matter of fact the start of any new chapter.

Let me explain..

The fact that you don’t know where to begin is because you have not yet closed out 2020. Your vision may not be clear or you are not sure how to integrate your new hopes and desires with your current reality. There are loose ends that are calling out for attention and until attention is given they’ll be hindering the clarity of the new year.

Let’s, for a moment, turn to nature for guidance.

Gardeners do not plant seeds in a garden bed that has the previous seasons crop wilting and dying. Once the majority of fruit has been harvested and the environmental conditions are right they take stock of what was harvested, prepare the soil and sow the new season seeds. Horticulture is a process that involves reflection, releasing & reseeding & works inline with external conditions.

Back to you.

Before you declare your aspirations for the new year have you checked in with this year? What worked for you, what didn’t and what are you going to do about it before you repeat the same patterns or fail on unreasonable expectations?

The reality is waking up on January 1 is just another day though it is surrounded by the expectation to set resolutions and begin anew. You can choose to wake up knowing your 2021 vision and how you are prepared to ‘show up’ or you have a hangover (figuratively speaking) from the previous years' stuff. If you choose to spend time reflecting on the year that was, through what I call a closing out ceremony you will seamlessly reveal what your vision is and how you choose to show up. The process will unpack your year and define the parameters for the year ahead factoring the unknown.

Spoiler alert, the closing out process is a whole lot more than a few journal questions.

A key part of what I teach is first unearthing the WHY. Why on earth is it important to delve into this aspect of endings and how does this learning develop your emotional and spiritual growth? The perspective of the why is necessary for you to go deeper into your commitment to the practice and the knowing-of-thyself. After all, your time is valuable and you want course material to be transferable into your day long after the workbook is closed.

What do you do with the poster?

The content for your poster will be derived from your story around the aspects that have ended for you this year, aspects you have not been brave enough to close out or those that are hanging on and will be better off ended once and for all. Some of these may be because you haven’t given them the time and others you have avoided due to the challenge they provide. When you begin to tackle those uncomfortable endings, the ones you have not been brave enough to step up to, you will continue to grow as a human and you will free up more space and time in your day. Anyone need more hours in their day? Each number on the poster refers to an essential life skill that will contribute to the success of the chapter.

What could you close out?

There are the big tangible items that require your closing out attention and then the smaller ones, you know the ones that are always carried over to your new ‘to do’ list. It’s time to call these out and decide what their future is, to act or not to act. And then there are the intangible things to close out, perhaps your attitude, old thought patterns or learned behaviours. Things you realised you’ve simply outgrown or are no longer valid due to truth-telling.

What could you expect to be different if you do a closing out?

Immediately you get an overview of the way you do what you do and this is by gathering evidence about yourself. Using the traffic light system this evidence is categorised into three distinctive categories that become a basis for your decisions moving into the next chapter of this aspect. You’ll identify what is essential for your continuing growth, what is mitigating growth and what you need to make some hard decisions over.

And then there is the party?

Yes, and you’re the host so you decide what this party after your closing out ceremony looks like. Perhaps you are a sole groover or your style is dance mob style. Either way it’s the categories from the traffic light system that become the foundations for your physical ceremony - the party of your closing out 2020!