I can hardly believe that 2011 is over. It's been quite a year!
I can honestly say that 2011 has been one of the best years of my life. From the outside looking in, I'm sure it seemed as though nothing major really happened. But what did happen was a critical internal shift in my perspective on life...and that shift has made all the difference.
I started 2011 in a not so great place. Little did I know that although the place I was in was a little painful, it ended up lighting a fire in me that set off a chain of choices and events that have brought me to this amazing place I am at now.
As 2011 comes to a close, I find myself happier than I have ever been even though my external circumstances are not much different than they were before...I find myself more at peace than I have ever been even though I am often still surrounded by chaos...and I find myself more hopeful than I have ever been because I now understand life a bit better.
I didn't really make 'resolutions' last year, but last year I blogged a list of things that I wanted to incorporate into how I lived my life in 2011. For the most part I think I made good on that list. Obviously, it wasn't perfect, but I did make many of those a part of how I now move through life and that has helped me to be a much happier and more peaceful person.
Through lots of trials and lots of errors I learned a lot during this year. If I had to sum it all up I would say that the top 5 lessons I learned in 2011 were:
1) This too shall pass. - There is no need to stress anything. Easier said than done, but in the end it's always true. Everything is temporary and whatever you are going through will pass. So give it its due attention and not a drop more, learn from it what you can, and then let it pass.
2) Respond instead of react. - For so long I believed that the quicker and more forceful my reaction the stronger I was and that I 'won' somehow. I've learned that there is a beauty and grace that comes with pausing and thinking so that you can respond out of love instead of reacting out of anger.
3) Letting go is the best way of holding on. - For so long I dealt with my fears and insecurities by holding on tightly to everything and the more afraid I was of losing something the tighter I held on. I FINALLY learned that holding on tightly is the most sure fire way of losing everything. Love liberates. We must learn to let go.
4)Love yourself first and foremost. - You are of no use to yourself or the world if your cup is empty. I spent so much time trying to fill the cup of others at the expense of my own. It's become CRYSTAL CLEAR that it just doesnt work like that. I need to fill and nourish myself first and foremost and from that place of fullness I can give the best of myself to others.
5) There is nothing I can't do or have. - This year I most definitely learned that the sky is the limit. The only limits are the ones we place on ourselves out of fear, insecurity, doubt, etc. I now know that when I overcome the impulse to limit myself, when I believe that I deserve the outcome I'm hoping for, and when I remember that I can handle ANYTHING that comes across my path, the possibilities are endless and the rewards are overflowing.
I'm not trying to pretend that I live this way 24/7 and that I never falter. The fact is that I usually come back to this new way of thinking/being AFTER I've already messed something up by first resorting to old habits. Then it hits me...oh yeahhhhhh...remember that lesson I learned...so let me try this new way...and without fail...when I remember to try the new way...it either works out or a new door is opened...always.
So, as I think back on 2011 I realize that it was an awesome year. Again, not because some major event took place but because I became a better person in so many ways and that has allowed me to live a much better life.
Because of these changes I head into 2012 ready...fearless...and hopeful. And while 2011 was a year of lots of internal changes, I can already tell that it laid the foundation for 2012. As I move through this next year as a more evolved Vanessa...a Vanessa in progress...I know that I will begin to see my external circumstances start to shift to reflect the changes that have taken place within.
There are no resolutions for 2012...no grand statements about what I'm going to accomplish or how I'm going to do things differently. As I move into 2012 all I know is that I'm going to take it one moment at a time, give the best of myself in each of those moments and know that if I do that the best will always come back to me. And that's all any of us ever really have to do.
I hope all of you are ending 2011 on a high note and that you are filled with love and hope going into 2012. Wishing you all a very happy New Year!
Much love,
Vanessa...in progress.(VIP)
