2016: Reflections

What a year! And I am not referring to any of the travels that I have been on (but of course they have absolutely been a factor in how this year has shaped up for me).

I think if I was to sum up my year in a sentence or 'hashtag" it would be #LivedMyTruth. To expand on this I am referring to the fact that rather than dwell on things internally I stepped out of my own comfort zone to explore more about me, and the essences that make up my "human being" experience. This year I believe I have learnt (and still learning) do the following:

Drop expectations

It's so easy to have subconscious expectations of certain outcomes, friends, family, and people in general. Yet one thing that I truly did this year was not 'expect' or 'dwell' on people and things - especially if they didn't turn out to be the way I thought they should be. Not sure when and how I started to do this. Maybe post my "lets play" motto/blog back in January. Anyhow, I may have got disappointed in something, but rather than dwell on this for a long time, I let myself feel the emotion and then I always came back to myself, and ask "what was I expecting here and why?"

Self reflection made me realise - and as I have said in an earlier blog - that no one EVER does anything against me (or you). They will only ever behave in a way that is right for them. This may be destructive or productive, but that's not something I should worry myself about. What I can only do is the best at that moment in time and also then for the other person or situation. My principle is that any reaction that I am going to give will always aim to come from one or all of the following factors: kindness, love and respect. But, truth be told, if I can not give these qualities first and foremost to myself then I have no chance in being able to offer this to others.

Be true to me

This has been an interesting one too. As I have always aimed to do this for a long time. Yet I have realised that there was a lot of thinking (the virgo trait in me!) going on in my head, and I was (still) being very theoretical. So this year, I decided (as I mentioned in new years resolution post) to 'play'. And the concept of playing also meant that I had to be practical and not live in my head. The courage required to do this has been immense. Mainly because we all end up thinking too much about the actions we are about to take. So asking those 3 questions (kindness, love and respect) before any action, I have lived this year being true to whatever felt right for me at that moment in time. And as you may know I've never been the one to define my life based on society and it's expectations. I look at it from my own world and feelings.

Trust my heart (more)

I guess this one relates to the previous point. It's been much more about trusting a feeling within me, and then asking 'what does this mean?" I made sure that that the head would be the secondary factor behind the heart. So the direction I gave my head was to assist in whatever the heart wanted and not to direct it's decision based on what it knows! Because somethings can only be known from experience. The heart is the intuitive one, not the head. And I have to admit this has not been easy. At times I have had to let the head do it's normal response of acting from fear. But (as I've mentioned in another past post) if the feeling felt calm I knew it was the right decision.

One thing I know is that as long as I am trying to live a human life, I will have this head and heart battle. However if I look at it from the point of view that I am temporarily being human then I give myself the permission that my life is going to be based on the experiences and not on what I am being told by society I need to "tick off". On top of this, it is this year that I have felt the most grounded and excited about living this human life, and hence going forward I am going to keep on building on these 3 points.

My advice to you - will always be - to do the same, go and live your truth. But it's important to sit down with yourself and workout what is the truth for you. It may be so different to any thing that you have ever known, but if you feel excited by it, that's the path. And truly only you know what that "truth" is.

So as 2016 draws to a close I thank the universe, and every single experience (good and bad) because I am the strongest - internally - I have ever been or felt. I strongly believe it's because I have led this year from my heart. I am excited about 2017, and I will think about a motto for that year too. The message to myself in 2016 was "to play" - can't wait to see - come January - what I decide for 2017. With this I wish you all a great Christmas!

I still have a few more weeks left of 2016 and I am going to stick with the current theme: 'play' - so lets continue to play... ;)