How are you feeling about the new year ahead? All of us have faced challenging times over the last couple of years (we talk about this more in our blog post: Reviewing 2021), so, you might be forgiven for feeling a degree of trepidation about 2022. If this resonates with you, please read on for some words of hope and inspiration…
A year of opening and starting
Leaves Institute’s founder Yumiko Asakura describes the coming year as “a year of opening and starting”. She explains that, while the preceding three years have been characterised by the alchemical process of fire – burning away what no longer serves us and what is not aligned with who we really are – 2022 is when we can start to explore what we really want in this lifetime and who we truly are.
We will continue to experience challenges – to our values and our ways of thinking about ourselves and the world around us – as the process of transformation continues. These times are necessary to open us up to greater honesty about what really matters to us in life and who we truly are.
A more spiritual way of being
One of the best ways of opening ourselves up is to move towards a more spiritual way of being. This is not about following any particular religion or creed, but it is about making the space to look inwards so we can connect with our core essence. The various lockdowns have been an opportunity for many of us to begin that process and they helped us to discover (or rediscover) our creativity within the context of strict limitations.
4 practices to support you
If you are ready to begin the journey of discovering who you truly are and what your life’s purpose is, here are 4 practices that can support you in 2022:
Meditation helps you to develop a more powerful connection with your core essence and allows you to tune into your deep inner knowing about what’s important for you in this lifetime. As you develop this connection with yourself, you can start to develop greater trust for what you are feeling or experiencing. If you find it hard to meditate, try joining an online class (Leaves Institute offers meditation courses which are ideal for beginners or more experienced meditators) or follow a guided meditation. Remember, you are not your thoughts. At your core, you are the thinker who is thinking these thoughts. Meditation can help you to connect to this deep, silent part of yourself – your pure consciousness. Once you are able to tune into your inner world you may receive powerful insights or healing and you will learn to trust your own intuition.
Look for things to appreciate – in yourself, in your life, in the world. Many of us spend too much time feeling self-critical or worrying about what is going on around us. Learning to look for small things that you are grateful for, things that you appreciate and enjoy, can shift your vibration and help you to feel more content and happy. This is one of the keys to reaching the powerful, ominipotent self who is often concealed beneath layers of fear and feelings of inadequacy.
Heal old wounds. When something feels painful, we tend to want to avoid looking at or experiencing it. However, revisiting an old wound or fear from a new place of understanding enables us to make different choices and have different responses. It can be helpful to work with a healer or to undergo training that deepens your awareness of how to heal. Leaves Institute has a range of different healing courses starting next year including Self-Creative Therapy which is great at helping you to identify your blocks and fears and understand how to release them.
Create a space of stillness for yourself. A meditation practice is ideal for this, but you can do other things too such as going for a walk in nature or simply sitting and resting. Our founder, Yumiko, keeps New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as days of stillness which she spends alone. She makes no plans on those days but simply sits and draws, writes or does nothing. This place of stillness allows you to hear more clearly the small inner voice. You may also want to dress in white – a blank canvass so you can create a picture of the year you would like to manifest.
Wishing you a happy and healthy 2022 and we look forward to sharing more great wisdom and insights with you over the coming months.
