{"id":132877,"date":"2024-11-29T05:02:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T10:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/?p=132877"},"modified":"2024-11-29T12:10:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T17:10:32","slug":"a-month-of-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/29\/a-month-of-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"A Month of Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By <a href=\"http:\/\/leobabauta.com\">Leo Babauta<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>We\u2019re entering the last month of the year, and for many of us, it\u2019s a darker and quieter season.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the perfect time for reflection.<\/p>\n<p>I like to use December to deepen into reflection, and in my <a href=\"https:\/\/fearlessliving.zenhabits.net\/\">\u200bFearless Living Academy\u200b<\/a>, we do a yearly ritual that I call \u201cSacred Bow\u201d (as in \u201cbow in reverence to your past year\u201d). In this ritual, we:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Spend some time reflecting on what we accomplished, went through, and learned for the past year<\/li>\n<li>Get clear on what goals and projects we fell short on, and what we can learn from that<\/li>\n<li>Envision our coming year, with goals and intentions<\/li>\n<li>Create structure to make those intentions a reality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I invite you to <a href=\"https:\/\/fearlessliving.zenhabits.net\/\">\u200bjoin us in Fearless Living Academy\u200b<\/a> and be a part of this Sacred Bow process!<\/p>\n<p>In this article, I\u2019ll share some additional ways I like to deepen into reflection in December \u2026<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reflect on Life &amp; Meaning<\/h3>\n<p>Life rushes by so fast. Day by day, it feels like a rushing river and I barely have time to notice the water passing by before it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n<p>Taking some time in quiet and stillness means that I can slow down and reflect on life. On my life, on human life. On what it means, or what I want it to mean.<\/p>\n<p>What have I learned in recent years that adds to the meaning of life for me?<\/p>\n<p>What I\u2019ve been finding here lately is a sense of sacredness and depth to each moment that I often don\u2019t notice, because I\u2019m so focused on getting stuff done or dealing with the situation in front of me or letting myself be distracted. When I slow down into stillness, that depth and sacredness becomes more accessible to me.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reflect on My Practice &amp; Growth<\/h3>\n<p>I find the end of the year an important time to reflect on what I\u2019ve been practicing with in my life. Have I been deepening into mindfulness, practicing with uncertainty and fear, learning to become more aware of my patterns as they show up?<\/p>\n<p>This is an ongoing journey of growth, and it\u2019s immensely important that I take time to reflect on it on a regular basis.<\/p>\n<p>What have you been practicing lately? What are you learning from that practice? What growth have you been noticing?<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reflect on Darkness, Stillness &amp; Death<\/h3>\n<p>December is a beautiful month to slow down and reflect on three things:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Darkness<\/strong>: Where I live now (northern California), December is the darkest month of the year. I found that depressing when we moved here from Guam, and that continued for years after we moved \u2026 until recent years, when I decided to start to examine my relationship to darkness. It\u2019s a profound reflection for me, and I am starting to open to the beauty and wonder of darkness, both outside of me and within.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stillness<\/strong>: It\u2019s also a month when things feel frozen and still, and I\u2019m learning to embrace that as well. I\u2019m someone who likes to move quickly, but there\u2019s so much wisdom in stillness. I have to practice against my default tendency. Sitting outside in stillness, and noticing what shows up in that stillness, is a practice I resist and love.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Death<\/strong>: As a society, we tend to fear death. That\u2019s understandable. But winter is a death that opens space for new life, and I embrace it as an affirmation of life. I reflect on the loved ones I\u2019ve lost, and how much they still mean to me. I reflect on my own death, and find some degree of acceptance of that.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Do any of these topics resonate with you?<\/p>\n<p>I encourage you to carve out some time for reflection as the year comes to a close.<\/p>\n<p>And once again, if you\u2019d like to be a part of the Sacred Bow ritual, I invite you to <a href=\"https:\/\/fearlessliving.zenhabits.net\/\">\u200bjoin us in Fearless Living Academy\u200b<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/zenhabits.net\/reflect\/\">A Month of Reflection<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/zenhabits.net\">zen habits<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Leo Babauta We\u2019re entering the last month of the year, and for many of us, it\u2019s a darker and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,192],"tags":[188,193],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132878,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132877\/revisions\/132878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}