I’d like you to invite you, as always, to begin with the soothing self-havening touch. (If you have not practiced this before, please see this brief video, titled, “Building a Self-Havening Practice for Self-Care and Empowered Healing” as an introduction to the techniques.)
Start with a soothing, loving moving hug with your arms, or palm against palm as if you are washing your hands under warm water, or alternate with gently rubbing your fingertips across your brow or around your eyes. Keep the self-havening going as you move through this exercise.
Then I’d like you to notice whether you have already set some intentions for going forward into the new year. If you have, just visit them briefly in your mind. If you haven’t, that’s fine because we are going to set a different type of intention.
If you did set those intentions I would like you to explore what type of energy you will need to travel alongside you to help bring those experiences to life.
For those of you who are currently without any concrete intentions, consider what type of energy you would like to have journey alongside you in the year ahead.
We have the power to sculpt the brain we want. As we sculpt that brain we create the energy and the feeling states we want more of in every moment. So, let’s find the feeling states that you want more of as we move into this new year, and that will support you in whatever journey you are currently on.
Perhaps for you it is a greater sense of calm or contentedness. Maybe greater energy and motivation. Perhaps even inspiration and purpose. Whatever it might be, find what that energy is for you now.
Once you have that desired state, I invite you to bring it into the present moment, and notice: Does this state of being have a color or perhaps many colors? What would the color or colors be? A vibrant citrus? Bright yellow? A soothing, calm blue? What does your energetic state look like?
At this point welcome in a gentle breath, imagining that you are inviting that color into you, and notice: Does your energy have a smell? Perhaps peppermint? Maybe wet grass after a soaking rain? Perhaps salty sea air or even soothing lavender? What is the scent of your energetic state?
As you are breathing in that air deep into your belly, and letting it expand, notice where that energy is connected in your mind and your body. Does it have a home within you? Is there somewhere you would like it to make a home so it could come visit? Perhaps it might live in your heart or your core. Maybe it is a strength in your back, or the energy of your shoulders dropping down as you lift your head. What does that energy feel like when it is in relationship with your body?
At this point invite in a little curiosity, and ask yourself, What if ____? and complete that sentence with your chosen state. What if I was energized? What if I was inspired? What if I was creative? What if I was calm? Whatever your preferred state might be.
Just chew on that What if possibility and notice where that energy lives in your body. What if I was? What if I could be? What if I am? Try out all of the what if’s, inviting that energy to deepen and connect more fully with your very beingness.
Then breathe in that wonderful scent of your chosen energy again, inviting it to expand, then notice: Can I be? And then as the tiniest bit of you starts to embody this energy, what would your posture look like if you started moving into a state of I can be with this experience of what is awaiting you in this beautiful new year ahead? I can be calm. I can be energized. I can be creative. I can be motivated. Inviting your mind to explore the I can be. Embodying that position when you’re in that state.
What does it feel like breathing in that sense, welcoming it into that home that is you?
If it feels comfortable you can even move into I will be_______. Deepen that relationship, and even to I am, if it is starting to feel real and present and right—right here and right now. And if it still feels like a possibility, just imagine planting the seeds of What if? letting your brain and body know what you want.
Wherever you are in your journey with this energetic state, revisit it, grow with it, and expand upon it. Every time you revisit that color or scent, or you invite your body to reconnect with that experience you’re deepening your brain’s relationship with it and reminding your brain and your body that you want this to matter.
So, visit it plenty, even daily, and invite it to become a part of your world. And guess what? It will be.
Happy New Year!
