It can be so easy to move through moments in our lives without fully inhabiting them or receiving them.
Even meaningful moments can pass by half-felt, as our attention stays either oriented toward what has been or anticipating what comes next, rather than resting with what is here now.
But welcoming in the new, inviting in the life that is unfolding in front of us, doesn’t begin with forward motion. It begins with presence.
There are two essential steps to that process.
The first is the pause. A true pause, where attention returns from the future and settles into this moment. When we allow ourselves to slow down in this way, the body responds immediately. The breath deepens. The nervous system settles. We are no longer reaching, striving, pushing or trying. We are here.
The second step is receiving. Yes, receiving what has already unfolded. The year we have lived. The growth, the losses, the quiet strength that developed without announcement. Not to evaluate or judge the past, but to embrace all of it, and honor ourselves and the journey we’ve been on with gratitude and compassion.
Yet, the value in the receiving step is not thinking about the past year of life, but really in deeply receiving and fully feeling, in the present moment, those feelings that come with honoring all that’s been.
Because the compassion and appreciation that’s evoked is felt right now at this moment. And being in THIS moment is as real and precious as life gets.
Receiving is about allowing the experience to be felt and integrated. This helps us stay grounded in the present and frees us to grow and evolve into the next version of ourselves.
This time of year especially offers a natural space for this work. The world grows darker and quieter. External demands soften a little bit, and stillness becomes more accessible.
This pause before the new year is not a delay. It is an opportunity to languish in the beauty and magic of what it is to be alive.
From this inner state, allowing ourselves, if even for one moment, to take in the life that is already here, we seed the conditions for what comes next to arrive with calm, clarity, and ease.
