What Does Your Heart Know 2023?
What is your heartfelt wish for yourself in 2023?
What would have to shift for your life to align with your deepest values?
How can you bring more compassion, kindness and empathy into your life this year?
As we reflect on the year past and the one ahead, these questions arise. Some years we hardly notice. Others are times of deep contemplation. I’m going to be seventy in a few months and for me, this is an ongoing contemplation over several months.
I have so many blessings. I am close to my son and family. I live in a beautiful quiet environment near ocean and forest. I have meaningful, interesting and valuable work. Living off grid in a tiny house is certainly not for everyone yet it suits me. I’m happy here.
Our external circumstances, our personal living conditions, where and with whom we live, health, and having enough money to cover our basic needs have a big impact. We interact with and affect each other, from Person A who gets mean and nasty at the family gathering as they get drunker to Person B who stands up and protects us.
We influence each other on a global level. We are affected by Twitch’s suicide, the war in Ukraine, and the “news” personalities who goad others into bigotry and violence. We feel dread about the environment, and we are inspired by the innovation and commitment shown on Zac Efron’s Down To Earth series on Netflix.
Our nervous system, our response to our external circumstances and experiences, overrides actual conditions in the present moment. This is one reason why I offer a free daily online nervous system relaxation practice. We store a historical record of safety and danger in our nervous system. Consistent experiences of feeling safe help to heal and bring perspective. We never completely forget our past, and we can heal enough that we’re not tortured by hypervigilance, anxiety and catastrophic thinking. We learn and use somatic grounded healing tools and they help.
My personal reflections on 2023 include a commitment to myself to schedule in more time to reflect and meditate. Because my predominant nervous system response throughout my life has been freeze, I have missed seeing important things. I have made excuses and stayed in unhealthy personal and work relationships, just “getting through it”. I have resources and agency now that I didn’t have when I was younger.
When I give myself time to feel into what’s here, I know what to do. I know what my heart knows. This is true for all of us when we step forward with courage and an unshakeable commitment to being on our own side. We acknowledge the truth. Life is complicated and challenging. And there is sweetness here too.
May 2023 bring a deepening sense of happiness and being at home in your life.