Our Hearts Desire: 2025

As I write this, I am sitting in my tiny house with my dog Shantih beside me, looking at a gorgeous dark orange sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. I just edited Winter Solstice Reflections from yesterday’s class, posting it on YouTube and sending it out.

The flow of my week tends to revolve around the time we spend together Sundays for learning and discussion, what I’m inspired to bring forward the next Sunday, writing my weekly blog, teaching, and practices and courses for Insight Timer.

My days are anchored in our 8AM practice of relaxation, connection, breathing and meditation. This is my tenth year of offering this live online practice every single day. When I ask my body about continuing this, I feel a big yes!

Each January for seven years, I’ve aired the Radical Recovery Summit. I love talking with people about their work and passions. In past years, interviewing and editing has filled my schedule through the fall into January and I’m enjoying the space this year. My sense is that talking with change makers will evolve into a podcast this year. Stay tuned.

When I think about my life now, I feel blessed. I enjoy family and friends. I have work that sustains and nourishes me.

Like all of us, I‘ve had many different experiences through winter solstice and approaching each new year. Some were tough. I was grieving a loss or unhappy at work or in relationship. Some years I was facing big changes with excitement, doubt and trepidation. Other years the focus was fun and enjoyment. When I was younger, there were New Year’s Eve parties. I’ve enjoyed a more reflective turn into the new year for the last several decades.

I have some spaciousness for socializing this week and excitement with grandchildren home for the holidays. My son has successfully completed his course work for his Masters in Counseling Psychology and is looking forward to beginning his practicum in early January. By August, he will be a therapist.

Life and relationships are complicated. We all experience a range of emotions and interactions, some welcome and others not, some expected while others land out of the blue. We have nervous systems that don’t respond well to uncertainty and we can remind ourselves to practice emotional regulation. As we “settle”, we access our love, compassion, wisdom and intuition.

We reflect on the past to open into new possibilities.

What did you enjoy about 2024, the last few months or years? What was satisfying and exciting?

What was hard and perhaps still is? What burdens could you shift off your shoulders, at least at times so you can rest. What support can you bring in to carry them with more ease?

What dreams have passed by that you could release? What new dreams are flickering in the edge of your vision, wanting to come in to the present?

What is in your area of influence? Where do you have strength and agency to make changes?

If you are shaming yourself about where you are or how you are “doing” life, could you soften that?

In what ways could you be kinder to yourself?

We reflect on the past to free ourselves to step into the present and near future with courage and resolve.

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What does my heart know?

There are many ways to move into the new year and there is no perfect way. What feels aligned to you? Are you up for more company and connection, or are you longing for rest?

Adventure

Would you like to bring more adventure into the new year? If so, what could that look like? Is it physical, travel, work, relationships, a shift in your time and focus, a deeper practice of stillness?

Is this a year for a bold move and a big shift? Is it a time to nestle in and rest and reflect, perhaps emerging in the warmer weather of the coming spring.

Volunteer

How can you be of service in the world this year? Will that be in an organization or informally helping friends and neighbors? (In my life, volunteering has opened up incredible opportunities and meaning).

Open Hearted

Can you afford to care? We need our times of rest and refuge. We need to pull our eyes away from alarming images. We need to experience in our body the healing of connection. We need ways to soften and let in the world as it is. We need boundaries that protect us from harm and that allow warm loving energy to flow through our hearts. Cultivating an open heart in times like these is advanced practice.

Activism

With my eyes and heart open, where and how can I shift the pattern toward connection and social justice?

Joy and Creativity

Music, dance, theatre, choir, painting, expressive arts therapy, sculpting, crafting, home design, clothing … What lights you up?

Strength and Resilience

Our world is in trouble and many beings are suffering. We can best meet the times we are in through nurturing our tender hearts, and building strength and resilience. We are all needed right now. Who we are and what we do matters.

This week in our final Sunday free community class of 2024, we’ll reflect and and share. Join us for inspiration and connection.