Hope You Had A Wonderful Christmas

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

We had a lovely time over the holiday with our eldest daughter in Manchester. It was the first time in twenty years that we have not woke up in the family home on Christmas Day.

Christmas has always been a bittersweet day for me, particularly the last few years, but this year Christmas had a different feel.

I know many people struggle at this time of year and I also know that it just isn’t something we talk about because Christmas is meant to be a happy time. I used to just plod through Christmas and put on my best face to get me through the day, usually helped with lots of food and alcohol and anything I could do to distract myself.

This year was very different though; there was an ease about me that I have not felt at this time of year before, no holding back waves of emotions or tears as in previous years, no desire to overindulge in food or alcohol. I did not have that anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach or the overwhelming sadness I have felt at this time of year for as long as I can remember.

Where did it all go and why was it all there in the first place? The latter is a very long story, which I will not bore you with, but I do know in short where it all went.

Over the last two years while working on my “Reinvent You” projects I have come to a new more profound yet straightforward understanding of the nature of thought which both embraces the darkness within me and dissolves it at the same time. I have realised things about depression, anxiety, self-doubt and grief that I never truly understood before and this new awareness and understanding have set me free.

Moreover, no, I have not spent the last couple of years meditating for hours or working on myself. Though I have looked within, re-evaluated, got clear on who I am, what I am about and how I desire my life to be. To me that is not working on myself, that is getting clarity so I can live my life in alignment with who I am. You do not need to “work” on yourself or spend years meditating to get that clarity.

The most significant thing I have learned is that nothing in the human condition needs fixing. We are not broken, all we ever need to do is to re-align our thinking so we can move back to a place of clarity which comes from our inner wisdom. Every one of us possesses this inner wisdom; it is not something that is gifted to only the select few or those who are enlightened.

Every human being on this planet are all born with this wisdom; it is just that many of us lose the ability to trust it, to listen to it or to use it.

So now that all the wrapping paper is away and the tree neatly stores gifts, or maybe you have already found a space in your home for them all to live, it is time to begin thinking about the coming year and all the new adventures it will bring.

I will not be holding tight to my thinking as I have in previous years and I will not be setting big goals (that was never my style anyhow). I will, however, be developing my awareness and allowing greater flexibility into my life by trusting my inner wisdom and listening more to the clarity that I already possess. Moreover, I will not be spending the year trying to work out how to do this as I have done in previous years or trying to fix myself. I will merely keep taking action aligned with my true self, gently being guided by my inner wisdom.

Why not take some time before 2017 comes to an end and reflect on what you have learned about yourself and make your 2018 goals not about fixing yourself or even material things but about creating a deeper connection to yourself, your loved ones and the people who you most want to be around.

After all, when we have that relationship with ourselves, that deep inner knowing about who and what we are about when we have absolute clarity about our purpose in life; all the material things we want seem to arrive with effortless grace into our lives. Old habits dissolve naturally, and life itself becomes a more joyful and peaceful place.

Truly living life from the inside out takes nothing more than a shift in awareness and an inner knowing that everything is working out in perfect harmony with your current level of thinking. It is a beautiful feeling knowing that we are all ok after all and there is nothing anyone needs to do.

Wishing you a wonderful New Year when it arrives.

Love
Avril x