Good bye, and hello; letters to time

Well, here we are, starting a brand-new year! It’s January 1, 2019, and I can literally feel the buzz of newness in the air. That may actually be our -16-degree temps here in Northern MN, but I’m choosing to experience it as the buzz of the New Year, so please leave me to my delusion.
I love, and I mean L.O.V.E. the new Year. Its so exciting to sit and contemplate what I want to accomplish this year, to consider all the fun and exciting things that can happen. I love a good plan, and I love me some good surprises. Granted, not all surprises have always been good, but my average is high enough I’d take it to the track. I’m also a pretty committed optimist, and I tend to get excited by surprises that are nothing more monumental than getting all green lights driving across town, or every time my usual parking spot is open for me at my favorite downtown bistro. I really enjoy the little things! And yes,

I celebrate the little things. Sometimes to the point of annoyance by my friends and family but again, I don’t really care, I’m happy and I choose to see life as good. So, yeah, I’m one of those dorky New Years people. I love the possibilities, and the probabilities of having 365 days to go -go -go and do-do-do.

Several years ago, I started, what is now for me a tradition that I’ve sucked my husband into as well, a tradition of writing letters to time, as a way of welcoming in the new year with clarity and intentionality. A did that for a couple years and it was good but felt somehow incomplete. In all the Law of Attraction stuff they always talk about feeling it, thinking it and then having it. All future based, “live it like its now”. Its great, but it just didn’t feel right to me. So, one year I decided to write a good-bye letter to the year that I was leaving. Not necessarily a “dear John” kind of thing, but really very much about gratitude, reverence if you will, for the year gone by. I realize many times in life things happen, good and notso-good, that we really have no idea until way later, or perhaps never, how that event changed us, gave us what we needed on some level to get to the next step of our path of life. When we’re lucky, it’s obvious, and we see the purpose. When I started getting intuitive messages during bodywork sessions and knowing things about people on my table the first time I met them, its was obvious that my intuition was expanding, and I felt really good about it. When my brother died from cancer, and he came to me the night he died as a way of comforting me and letting me know he was ok, I was happily heartbroken that he was happy in Light, but I had no idea how that would help me expand my ability to communicate with those that have passed on, and what a large component of my practice mediumship would become. Its years later that I am able to look back and see what that experience did to move me forward in my abilities to help other people heal their pain of loss. I’ve learned to trust that all things in our life are creating a shift inside of us, and that Spirit knows, even when we don’t, what the significance of the experience will be for us. So, each year I write a letter to the past year and say thank you for all of it, the good, the bad, the indifferent because I know somewhere it is shaping me for my future, and I believe Spirit intends us to live attentively, gratefully for everything on our path. The gift is often in the noticing, and noticing, literally just paying attention to it, is a practice. Its way to easy to just mindlessly go through life with the cruise control set and never notice what is really going on. With that style, it takes a major brick upside the head to get our attention, because we’re oblivious to the subtleties. We’re going through the motions, but not really participating. My good-bye letter is about saying “I noticed, and I’m glad I did. I don’t pretend to know what it all meant, but I trust its purposeful”, and “thank you for the opportunities”. I make sure I not only say thank you to the good stuff, but for the not-so-good stuff as well. This year there will be an entire chapter on our experience as a family with almost losing my Dad earlier this year. It absolutely shook our world to the core. No fun, but so much opportunity to grow. Thank you 2018.

Beyond the gratitude lies the excitement of the new year! I found that once I said a formal good-bye to the previous year, I was fully ready to embrace the new, and I was able to genuinely step into that excitement whole heartedly, without reservation. My mother always taught me, when you leave a party, you always say good-bye and thank you to the host before leaving. And so, I do. To 2018, I thank you from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. It hasn’t all been fun, its been hard in many ways, rewarding in many ways and my highlight real is full! I am different going into 2019 than I was going into 2018, and I trust mostly for the better. Not any thinner, not in any better shape, but still better. Better in my ability to practice resilience, better in my trusting that Spirit is only love and that love is the one constant I believe in during this physical existence. Better in remembering to love and appreciate people while they’re here with me, because there is no guarantee. Better at making the effort to connect with those that I care about. Better at drawing boundaries that help me care for myself. Better at caring for my mental and emotional well-being, I meditate more, I take more time to walk in the woods, I feel Mother Nature more, I am more connected to Spirit. So, to 2018, I send compassion for the hurt and fear, celebration for the victories and accomplishments, the abundance we received, and love for all of it rolled into one continually emerging life.

Thank you 2018. And to 2019, let’s get this party started!

Blessings Galore,

Anne