By Kimberly V. Schneider
I start hearing it sometime in November each year: “I can’t wait until next year! I need a fresh start.”
If you’ve had a difficult year, the sentiment is understandable. We all have challenges every year, but some times are more challenging than others, and if you’re in one of those times, there’s something about the promise of a new beginning that can make you feel hopeful again.
However, it’s highly unlikely you’ll experience the new year you want, if you neglect to do one simple thing right now: find a way to make peace with where you are.
I know. If you’re feeling frustrated, angry, or sad about the way things have gone this year, asking yourself to make peace with where you are may seem too much. And yet, as long as you hold on to a story about how terrible this year has been, it will be almost impossible for you to feel peaceful and happy later.
Here’s why: every time you replay the painful stories from your past, you create more painful feelings in your present. And your future arises from your present experience. So do whatever you can to shift toward an experience of peace and gratitude. Don’t worry: I’ll help, you. We can do it together, right now.
Notice your breath. Allow it to gently fill your chest, and your belly. Hold on to it for a second, and as you do so, imagine that the oldest, wisest and most compassionate part of who you are is giving you a hug and whispering, “you’re alright. No matter what else is going on, I’m right here. And while you may not understand, somehow, all is well. It really is.”
Now, release your breath, and as you do, go ahead and release whatever stories you’ve been telling yourself about 2014.
Repeat. And repeat. Repeat this process at least 1,000 times between now and December 31st. Repeat it every time you notice yourself caught in an old pattern. Repeat it whenever you feel tired, or scared, or angry. Repeat it when you’re bored. Repeat it when you don’t know what else to do.
And of course, keep doing it, right into the New Year.
I promise, you’ll feel better. Come on, don’t you feel a little better already? I thought so.
Breathe. Relax. Smile. There’s nowhere else to go. No one else to be. Everything you need is right here.
Happy Old Year.
Kimberly Schneider, M.Ed., J.D., LPC is the author of Everything You Need Is Right Here: Five Steps to Manifesting Magic and Miracles and the AudioBook Terrible Beauty: Poems and Reflections for Precarious Times. Kimberly teaches Communication at Washington University in St. Louis, Kimberly and is a regular contributor to the Great Day St. Louis television show. Request Kimberly’s free Conscious Manifestation eCourse at www.KimberlySchneider.com and you will also receive a sample chapter of her book!