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6 Essential Truths: What We Need to Reflect on When We Do Our End-of-The-Year Review

This is a guest blog by Samaya Adelin
Illustrated by elinap

Not everyone joins in the fun of celebrating the end of each year the same way.

As the end of year approaches, we often find ourselves under pressure to give it our all and push for that little extra bit of achievement that we’ve been saving for last.

Suddenly things that didn’t seem as urgent during the earlier months, become so in the last few weeks and towards the countdown to Christmas.

Have we done enough? Did we reach most of our relationship, work, money goals? Are we in the right path in fulfilling our vision? Do we feel tapped into our mission and purpose in life enough?

And most of all, have we set the stage right for a successful new year to follow?

Whatever the case for each of us, it might not be that surprising to read that these kind of questions can actually end up keeping us up at night and even prevent us from fully making the most of the magic of this time. It is for that reason that I put together this alternative guide to measuring success that is independent of personal standards and how each of us might measure success.

Note this is a more soulful-spiritual approach to measuring your success that I promise you will leave you feeling more expansive and affirmed.

These are my 6 ways that will help you access it and evaluate it against the backdrop of your own life. Enjoy!

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1. Have I Learned and Grown?

Exposing ourselves to new learning opportunities and experiencing growth is not only good for us but as international trainer and coach Tony Robbins claims, one of the 6 fundamental human needs for surviving our time in this planet.

Putting it like this might sound a bit much to start with, but Tony claims that choosing opportunities that keep us growing, will keep us healthy, motivated and agile, as both our brains and spirit cannot thrive without growth.

But though our goals and achievements are important, what matters more is to look deeper at all the ways we have grown and developed if we are to understand the real value of our expansion. So this is the time for you to reflect on all the ways you have grown this year by both recalling the opportunities you invited for this to happen as well as the attitude you took for growth to be possible. I promise you this will feel good to do.

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2. Have I Pushed Myself Out of My Comfort Zone Enough?

Now when it comes to growth, one sure way to experience it and make the needed leaps we need, is by actually making sure we are brave enough to come out of our comfort zone and that we do so frequently enough. Frequency is essential so that we recalibrate our brain and show our spirit that we are comfortable and eager for that ever evolving version of ourselves to come to life and take centre stage in our life.

Comfort zones are there to be outgrown for sure, but let’s face it, that can feel quite scary for many of us to do. One way to retrain our mind around them is by reminding ourselves that stepping out of our comfort zone is good for us and by setting the intent and goal to do something that scares us on a regular basis.

Every time we catch ourselves being scared before taking a leap like this, we simply need to remind ourselves that it’s good for us and we are not putting ourselves in danger. When our heart and mind contracts, it tends to be as a defence to danger, it’s not our intention to keep ourselves small. So by doing that, we help them understand what is going on. Then we go take the plunge and work on making ourselves comfortable in that new reality.

When you look back at the year, do you feel you have allowed yourself to come out of your comfort zone enough? If not what steps could you take to start changing that? By shifting your focus towards that, you will find it is actually safer than you think coming out of your comfort zone than staying in the prison of what is familiar and “safe”.

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3. Am I Continuing to Actualise my Potential?

So we took great steps to fulfil ourselves in our goals and aspirations as much as we could for this year and we gained a level of acceptance for the position we’re in right now. Do we stay there? No we don’t, we keep going. This is the perfect time to check that we have created and continue to create conditions in our lives that allow us to grow and actualise our potential by having those important conversations to touch base with our loved ones. Are we on the same page? Are our connections supportive of our paths and direction? Are our dynamics and life conditions allowing for our growth and development to continue?

Truth and having the guts to face our evolution is a big win, whatever the insight may be, as it keeps bringing us back into alignment with who we are whilst helping us claim even more where we wish to be heading towards. This is the time for us to be honest, whatever our conditions and life situations right now, if we are doing what we need to do to grow the most from. Journaling and soul channelling can really support the process and it’s a very organic way of connecting with your truth. Why not gift yourself a journal for Christmas and get the process going?

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4. Have I Learned Important Lessons?

The lessons we learn and the capacity we have for honest self-reflection in our life, can set the most powerful foundation and become a tremendous seed for us to experience success, irrelevantly of the goals we each choose to set as part of it.

Living at a time where success is portrayed in a really black and white way, as a win of the ego that is linked to materialistic success alone, is a big reason why so many intelligent heart centred people want nothing to do with becoming successful.

When our path and desire to experience success is aligned with our soul’s purpose however, we start viewing our journey of evolution and success through a richer colour palette. And even though some lessons are easier than others for sure, we are more prepared for our soul to present us with all the lessons we need as part of our journey to success and fulfilment. We understand that lessons in their very essence are stepping stones.

Ego based success is all about getting our own way. Soul based success teaches us to grow through our journey to self-actualising. They might both look the same externally but the internal process is very different.

Success is a more bittersweet journey than often portrayed. The capacity we have to learn from all the hurdles and obstacles will essentially determine the level of success we get to experience. It’s as simple as that. And this is a good time for us to reflect on the lessons of the year and get that journal out again.

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5. Have I Enjoyed My Connections?

When we reflect on our year and achievements that we set out to reach, it can often be easier to focus on all the actions, goals and milestones that have been part of our journey and at times we can end up by passing the people and connections that actually add colour, love, friendship and support in our lives.

How much did you enjoy your connections this year? Do you tend to let those you love how much they mean to you? Have you made any new and important connections personally or professionally that you value? Or do you connections feel generic and like a crowd you don’t care much about? This is the time to reflect and celebrate the good connections, keep watering any new and old seeds and show up to those people with your presence as much as possible. You could even do a little meditation and internally thank all those amazing people in your life that you value.

6. Have I Enjoyed Myself? Have I Had Fun?

Building our dreams, growing our vision and working towards our mission, can often feel like a long and arduous journey. There is a lot of intense energy that goes towards our goals and often we hang on in faith without seeing much evidence of our hard work. It can often feel like we’re working hard and there is yet so much to be experienced and fulfilled.

Which is why it is even more important to have fun and enjoy the ride as much as possible, or we’re going to lose perspective and end up giving up on things if we forget to connect with the magic and beauty of it all.

This is the time for you to reflect, how much fun do you let in? What is your relationship to play and enjoyment and what are your beliefs around life and success? Do you see it as something that is hard? Available only to a few? Or something that can be enjoyed and achieved by all? What did your family teach you consciously and unconsciously about the role fun plays in your life? Knowing this will help you unleash your shackles and bring a bit more fun in the picture if that is something that has been lacking from your life.

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This brings us to the end of my alternative soulful approach to measuring success and achievement and to feel more expansive by this point. I mostly I hope though this little guide has helped broaden your perspective on the real value of productivity and success and that this has helped re align you with what truly matters to you.

Feel free to share your insights and personal experience in the comments below and I wish you all a wonderfully magical time over the festive season!

Samaya Teja Adelin
Soul Streaming Alchemy Coach

Samaya, a writer, musician and mum to a 4-year-old boy, took a turn in her life direction following a blog she wrote in 2015 on an experience that was going to irrevocably change her life forever. It was actually whilst writing the blog that the magic happened. At a specific moment she had this deep realisation of the passion she held around people living their life purpose, or as she calls it, their wild divine. Her blog was well received and ended up getting her next course fully booked as a consequence. Most importantly it got her clear on her future direction and what she was passionate about. A year down the line, she went on to train as a coach and focus her work on supporting others connect with their wild divine through her soul streaming alchemy work.

Feel free to connect with Samaya personally through her website and social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin.

Some of the doodles in this blog post have been published before.
Mira(cle)Doodles guest blogs are a collaboration with awesome heart-centered entrepreneurs inspiring Mira & me.

Artist, Illustrator, Author & Life Coach. Turning struggles into loving laughter with her illustrations.
Creator of Mira(cle)Doodles.

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