I would like to share with you what the last 2 weeks have been about for me. The time around New Years is all about closure and visioning to me, and I get very excited once Chirstmas is over and this time of reflection starts. Like I always do, I took the time to create a list of all the things I am grateful for in the past year, small and big, and I allow myself to be surprised by what moves me to tears. I challenged myself to add at least 100 things. This sounds like a lot, and when you do it for the first time maybe it is, but it feels so amazing to fill my heart with all those wonderful things in my life!
Once my heart was filled with gratitude, I journaled about what I desire to leave behind in the past year, I asked myself if there were any things that needed closure energetically. To my surprise there were quite a few unfinished things that required attention. Things that felt like stains on my year. And even though I know that those stains are opportunities in disguise, sometimes my perception gets really stuck and needs some help to get into receiving the other side.
When this felt complete, I turned my attention to what I desired to invite in in the coming year. I set my intention for how I desire to feel the coming year and allow vision to come through. Visioning has become increasingly important in my life. I have noticed that when I do not set an intention and create a vision for something I often end up disappointed. I started creating visions years ago, and only for the big things I desired – like going to London to see Dr. Demartini speak (I know, it seems silly now, but back then that was huge for me). After a few years I noticed I started to create visions for smaller things, like family visits, and now… well, I create a vision for about everything…
I create a vision for the year, focussed on the general feeling of the year and the specific things I desire to experience, but also for every time we travel, for every new location we go to, and sometimes for specific experiences at these locations. For the big ones I take time, but for most of them I just take a few minutes, sit down, set my intention for the vision and what I desire to experience and allow the vision to come through, as real as possible, activating all of my senses.
Writing about this makes me think about the vision I created for Grootbos, a place I deeply desired to visit. A place that nestled into my heart for some strange reason that only God knows. I took time with that one, watched all the video’s and read all about it so that I could actually feel the breeze on my skin. After developing the vision I took the courage to phone Michael, the owner and creator of the place to tell him he inspires me deeply in the way he has built up this gorgeous nature reserve from scratch. I so deeply desired to go there and take my family, bathing in that energy of potentiality. The vision was very strong when I wrote it, but I could not see how or when it would come into reality… it just sounded a little crazy. Well, it took about 3 months from the vision to the phone call, and then another 6 months to the actual plan to go, and then another 5 months to actually being there – and to be honest it came into reality in a very different way then I expected (which makes me think of what my mentor Dr Demartini says, when the ‘why’ is strong enough, the ‘how’s’ takes care of itself). And as a bonus, I got to meet Michael in person, a very colorful and energetic person.
Planting our Milkwood tree
While we were there, feeling the energy of the place, I took a few hours to dive deep into my inner being to create a family vision for how we desire to feel at the end of our family leap, how we will look back on our experience and what it feels like, knowing we will be able to sustain living in freedom as a family. Writing this vision was part of my original vision, just like it was to plant a tree there to give it roots and ground the vision for generations to come. Milkwood trees grow for hundreds and hundreds of years, and will carry the love we planted it with for the rest of its life. And while we gave roots to our own vision, at the same time we gave roots to ‘The Future Trees Project’ that Grootbos has developed and which aims to rehabilitate the Milkwood forest in the area of the reserve to what it was before it was touched by humans.
To me visioning is about taking the time to get onto paper the silent desires of my heart, the whispers of my soul that I might not have listened to if I did not stop to write them down. The thing is, when I don’t set my intentions and I don’t develop my visions, my experience of life is less fulfilling. Our unconscious self that creates our perceptions looks for what you give attention, and in stead of having my unconscious being led by my memories and experiences from the past I choose to invest time and intention to infuse it with the things I truly desire, and allow for fulfillment to happen naturally and organically.
If you got inspired to create a vision for the coming year, consider joining my coach and mentor Tara Marino during her free online event ‘Sensual Planning Day’ on Jan 17th. I love this event, where women come together to create their year visions in a playful and expansive way. See www.elegantfemme.com or www.SensualPlanningDay.com for more information.