New Year 

It’s here – 2022! 

Have you had time to reflect on the past year in a way that gives you joy and positive reflection? 

What have you learned? 

How did you grow amidst uncertainty? 

Can you recognize the blessings even within the shortcomings?

Make a list of how resilient you truly are?

Sovereignty is about having authority over yourself and your existence – not dependent upon anyone or anything. As it pertains to a political concept with the dictionary definition being: “the authority of a state to govern itself ” or “a concept that refers to dominant power or supreme authority”, sovereignty is really about a self-governing state. In this case, it can be viewed as ‘ones state of being’. 

It’s something I’ve been working on for a while now and I’m not going to say it’s been easy. There’s a freedom in it though. Something powerful inside of yourself that has you become an empowered human. Once you achieve that state of being, it’s so worth it. I’m still a work in progress as most of us are but I will say that it’s been something positive in my life that I’ve been aware of and working towards for some time now. 

What does this have to do with the New Year you ask? 

It feels to me that we all have a responsibility to take care of ourselves in a different way than perhaps we ever have before. I believe we have all been given a gift to view this differently in the past couple of years. 

As we take care of our own needs, then that becomes a ripple effect for the people we care about. We can think about this in many ways. Self-care is the single most important thing we can do in order to stay alert, happy, balanced and centered. The way in which we take care of our immunity, our mental state, the kindness we extend to ourselves all contribute to that ripple effect. Think about it – if we are stressing ourselves out to the bone or having a mindset that we need to work ourselves into the ground and not having a second to tend to our own heart, process our feelings about something important or simply just surviving – how are we going to be mindful of snapping at a loved one or escalating a conversation when it would have been more productive to have your tone come across in a more neutral way? If there is anything I’ve learned -- all of these examples are contributing factors to maintaining a healthy balanced life day in and day out. 

A friend recently mentioned that change is like spokes on a wheel. When you think of a bicycle and how it actually moves, spokes are the connecting rods between the hub and the rim. Each spoke connects to the other, and without one then it doesn’t work. There is no flow because you can’t ride your bike. Hence, the analogy between ourselves and a bicycle and how that contributes to the grander “whole” – community, our cities, our nation, our world, our planet. 

So as we are still dusting 2021 off, maybe add in to your reflection how you might be taking care of yourself and in what ways you would like to become more mindful of your own self-care. Congratulate yourself for the ways in which you show up in your own life and how that contributes to the greater whole. That ripple effect is real and it does make an impact, no matter which way you look at it – both positive and negative. I invite you to take stock in your life and determine what areas you would like to spend more attention on and what areas you have conquered. Celebrate! 

Let’s make this New Year, 2022 the year that we are happier, kinder, more loving, walking lighter, standing taller, smiling more and overall celebrating one another for the everyday milestones we make for ourselves and the ripple effect that we have in our small bubble. It does contribute to the grander whole!