What do you do to make room for the year ahead? Sometimes we’ve got to clear out before we can call in all that good stuff we want to generate from now till end-2010. Here are my favorite three steps.
1. Out with the Old (Purge, Baby, Purge)
Renewal takes space. Make physical and psychological space by getting a box, walking through each room in the house, and choosing something from it to give away. Use a box or an opaque bag that you can’t go back through. No reconsidering! Just put the items in the box and move on. Then close up the box or bag, get another one, and go through the exercise one more time.
The objective is not to clear out stuff you don’t need. It is to simplify. Take what you are living with, in a way you feel streamlined and efficient, and raise the bar. Take it one notch further, out of your comfort zone. This practice has an amazing capacity to keep you on your toes, keep your thinking fresh, and to keep your resources flowing. It also helps you organize. When you take a radical step, the steps that follow are not as difficult to complete.
Before you kick it off, call Good Will or your favorite charity, and schedule a pick up for the day after your purge. Leave the stuff on the street for them to pick up, and feel lighter as they drive away.
2. Complete the Incompletes
I used to treat year-end like it was finals week in college. Before I would take vacation, I would tie up all the loose ends, and set them up to be completed in the New Year. This is easy to do, and you’ll be surprised at the renewed energy you get, knowing the stuff is off your plate…even if it is re-calendared to the future.
First, create a list of incompletes. Write down everything that is incomplete from 2009, from phone calls you didn’t make, to projects you didn’t finish, to the husband you forgot about (says my husband). Then go through and either complete those items or create new agreements and timeframes within which to complete them. If you didn’t get the chance to have lunch with that friend last year, put it on the list, send her an email, and plan it for January. Create opportunity for the year ahead by getting your list down, and your completions done or rescheduled by the end of January.
3. In with the New
Every year I write a letter that describes what I want to create. Then I burn it. I get my family and community in on the generating, too. On pieces of paper, I write down things I am letting go of. I give blank papers to anyone who comes into the house. They write down the things they are letting go of this year, and together we toss them into the fire. Ritual is remedy. It’s one more way to energetically clear out and make space for the new.
My family also makes an art project out of the concept of vision boards. We go to the frame shop and pick up small canvases (they come in several cute sizes). We cut pictures from magazines, that represent emotions and experiences we want to have in the new year, and we make a vision decoupage for each of us.
I make one for each of the kids, one for myself and one for the family. My husband does one for himself. The final product is so attractive, you can put them up decoratively in the house. Our kids’ are in the bathroom. Ours are in the living room. They are gorgeous, and all year, we are looking at images that remind us to live our goals and desires. It’s a way to create a vision board that is more alive and artistic, and visible.
