2014 The year of Spirit

I am calling it.  2014 for me will be The Year of Spirit.  I have spent many a year focused on partying hard, building a career, improving my health, losing weight, improving my fitness, volunteering in my community and much, much more.  While I enjoyed working on these different areas of my life I have always felt that something is missing, or more importantly that there is something significant that I keep pushing down the list of priorities.


marin| freedigitalphotos.net

I was fortunate enough to have spent the week between Christmas and New Years Eve this year at the home of my aunty in a beautiful bayside town as sick as a dog.  While it may not sound so fortunate to be so sick at that time of the year it actually forced me to stay put instead of running around taking the kids to a million different things and trying to cram as much as we possibly could into that week.

Now my aunty's place ended up being the perfect place to stay put in as she is someone who likes to work on her spiritual development and has filled her home with reminders of her spiritual journey such as Buddha statues, prayer beads, spiritual sayings and beautiful art work.  In the many hours I spent just being in her home I was inspired to switch my focus from the hectic paced life of family, volunteering, exercising, play dates, story times, school and kinder pick ups and drop offs, playgroups, housework and all those other things that filled every week to the brim to a slower life focused on meditation, contemplation and being present in every moment.

It gave me the courage to say that not only is working on my spiritual self important but after the care of my children it is the most important thing I have to do.  I also realized that filling my life to the brim with caring for and providing the most that I could for my children, creating a beautiful home for my family and helping others was a great excuse for not working on my spiritual self as let's face it it's hard work.

What do I mean by working on my spiritual self and what do I have planned for this year?  I mean learning to find your authentic self.  The part of you that isn't concerned about what you look like, what you have or what people think of you.  The part of you that is above and beyond all of that.  The part of you that simply wants to live in the moment, spread love and joy purely because it feels good to and get back to nature.

I plan to spend this year the way I have spent the first month so far.  Daily meditation and yoga, being with the people that I'm with instead of letting my mind take me somewhere else, reading of other's spiritual lessons and spiritual journeys, learning to let go of attachments to things, to ideas and to the way I define myself, daily exercise spent appreciating nature and feeling gratitude for everything that I have, have had and will have in the future while appreciating that none of it is permanent and all is meant to come and go.  I also plan to let go of those things that do not add to my life, that I resent doing or that I only do because I feel obliged.

How do I feel so far?  I feel calm, centred and far more in control of my life.  I feel as though I am actually living my life instead of getting to the end of each day, week, month, year exhausted and wondering what it was all about.  I can't wait to see how this year turns out.

What are your plans for the year?  What are you dedicating 2014 too?