Year-End Reflections
It’s clicking, anchoring in.
I can feel things I intellectually understood now integrating within the soul to become a part of the natural fabric of my being.
This past year, through challenges and a healing heart, I learned so much about myself--more than I ever thought possible. Lessons I'd been working through for a lifetime returned in layers, and the deeper I dove to consciously bring them to light, the greater the sense of peace, connection, and love was cultivated both within and without.
I learned:
I don’t have to prove my worthiness
I don’t have to prove my love
I am welcome to be authentically me, even if this means making missteps or not knowing the way
I can course correct, making new choices and embracing new dreams
I can freely release who I used to be, loving and appreciating her and carrying with me the parts I still want to
I can welcome love that is stable and sure, that believes in, encourages, and supports me, and that wants to grow with me. More than this, I look around and feel so grateful that this love is already present in my life in so many beautiful ways.
I can be disliked or misunderstood and it doesn’t devalue me
I can speak my perspective, opinion, and truth fearlessly (if others can be so firm in their convictions and beliefs that they speak with judgement and vitriol, then I can be firm in my own and share with love and compassion. I will no longer be silenced.)
I can appreciate someone’s path or truth without discrediting my own
I don’t have to compare or compete with anyone
I matter, too
The lessons are endless, and I feel so immensely grateful for this journey that brings me deeper and deeper home to myself.
This past year was, in a word, unexpected. But with the lessons also came the blessings, and it's these I carry forward in my heart to the new year and beyond.
Thank you to all of you for being part of this community, my journey, and my heart.
Wishing you a beautiful new year!
(This essay was originally published December 31, 2023 by Susan Dawn)