Namaste dear one,
This is J Chodakam.
Thank you for joining me in this practice for the end of the year reflections.
What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.
So at the end of each year,
I take time to become quiet and listen,
To seek clarity on what lessons I wish to take away from that year.
I'd like to share with you a practice that I do for past year review that I've found very insightful.
It's like walking through life that year,
Going from room to room,
Drawing up a list of work to be done,
Cracks to be patched.
Now for the next 10 minutes or so,
Leave aside all distractions.
There's nowhere else to be,
Nothing more important to do.
This is your time for reflection.
So make sure that you will not be interrupted by anything or anyone,
Especially turn off those electronic notifications.
Make sure you become very comfortable where you're relaxed yet alert.
You could be doing this practice seated on a chair or cross-legged on the floor.
If you're sitting on a chair,
Make sure that your feet are either comfortably planted on the ground,
You're sitting cross-legged,
And rest your arms on your knees or on your lap.
Sit with your back completely straight,
Jaw relaxed,
Face relaxed,
Shoulders dropped.
Now start with taking in some deep,
Comfortable breaths as you gently close your eyes.
Bring your full attention to the air going in and out of the body.
Breathing deep into the belly,
And then as you exhale,
Completely letting go of anything that you're holding.
With each passing breath,
Completely relaxing your body.
If you continue to stay with your breath,
You will notice that you'll be brought into the now,
To this present moment.
Now in your mind,
I want you to review this year that has passed,
Trying to go back as far back as the beginning of the year,
And as you scan through the year,
Month by month,
I want you to make a mental note to yourself of the people and the activities that triggered peak positive emotions in your life.
I'll give you some time to think about that.
I'll keep track of time,
So you focus on what you have to do.
Now I want you to ask yourself,
What 20% of people and activities consistently provided those powerful peaks?
Now for the second part of this exercise,
I want you to reflect back on the year,
Month after month,
And look at the people and activities that triggered peak negative emotions.
Again,
I'll give you some time to reflect on this.
Now ask yourself,
Which 20% of people and activities consistently and most reliably provided those powerful peaks in those negative emotions?
Now the first set of 20%,
Let's call them the positive leaders.
And the second set of 20%,
We'll call them negative leaders.
Based on your answers,
Take your positive leaders and schedule more of them in this coming year.
Get them on the calendar now.
Book things with friends and prepare for those classes.
That'll be your step one.
Step two is to take away your negative leaders and then put them on the do not do list at the top.
And put them somewhere that you can see them each morning for the first few weeks of this coming year.
These are the people and things that you know make you miserable.
So don't put them on your calendar out of obligation or guilt,
Fear of missing out or such.
Now we've almost come to the end of this exercise.
After this recording,
I suggest that you sit down with your calendar,
Bring out a notepad and pen and go through your year month by month and get a more accurate list of your positive leaders and your negative leaders.
And by the end of that exercise,
You'll have a clear idea of what you need to do in this coming year.
The first step towards getting somewhere in life is to decide you're not going to stay where you are.
I suggest you try it out and I'm curious to hear your experience.
This is J Chodakam wishing you newness and magic in this coming year.
Namaste.
