Solstice stirrings
Flash freewriting and a meditation
Dear readers,
This window between solstice and New Year’s is one of my favorite times of the year. Things slow down, the world goes dark here in the north, and nature invites us into stillness, rest, quiet contemplation.
In stillness, we may be stirred.
The weeks leading up to now (and maybe not still now) might not have felt restful. You may have been racing (as I was) to get your year-end work completed before the break. You may have been frantically trying to get everything together to make holiday magic for others.
There are hard things, and there are beautiful things, and for me it’s about making space for and honoring both- the both/and of the year.
If you have some time, if you can find it and carve it out, I invite and encourage you to make some year-end magic, alone or with others.
Making December Magic Series
Welcome to the Making December Magic series, an end-of-year reflection process for reviewing the past year and calling in the new year. I have been making December magic since I was a teenager, and while the process has changed shape over time, it has very much shaped who I am, and is living testament to the idea that what
If it’s easier for you to have the whole process compiled into a simple GoogleDoc, you can find that here.
A beautiful group of us gathered on the 19th on Zoom to make December magic together and it was very special! Thank you so much to those who joined. You can expect me to host more Enchantable hours in the new year.
For those who couldn’t join, I wanted to offer a few of the practices we did together (for those on the call, this will be a review - may the resources serve you!).
End-of-year meditation and remembering
Join me on a centering journey, starting from this moment, then traveling in time back to January and tracing your journey through the months of the year. You can find a rough transcript here.
Flash Freewriting
Flash freewriting is an intentionally fast practice just to complete the sentence with the first thought (in the spirit of “first thought, best thought”). The prompts might stir up a lot, and there might be ones you want to go back to and spend a longer time with. However, my recommendation for this initial process is to fill in the blank quickly, without thinking about it too much. Complete the sentence and proceed to the next.
Prompts:
This year was…
What I am most grateful for this year is…
I received support this year from…
I could measure this year in….
The most challenging aspect of this year was….
The place in my life where I felt the most ease this year was…
Something I lost this year was…
Something I gained this year was….
Something I learned about myself this year was…
Something I learned about how I want to live was…
Something that drained me this year was…
Something that gave me life this year was…
I want to release…
A lesson I learned this year that I want to carry forward is…
An area of my life where I feel satisfied is…
Next year, I want to experience more…
Next year, I want to experience less…
For next year, I am calling in…
Go back to the prompts that called you. Feel free to add your own!
OK, one more…
What has been nourishing me during this time of year is…
What has been nourishing me during this time of year…
I did a two-day retreat at Kripalu for the solstice. The restorative yoga, meditation, quiet contemplation in community, and delicious healthy food were exactly what my mind-body-heart-and-soul were calling for.
I’ve been enjoying the Turn Inwards series from Advaya, which features a different practice each day to support this time of year. I highly recommend it!
I am reading for fun: Orbital by Samantha Harvey and Survival is a Promise by Alexis Pauline Gumbs.
Slowing down, even more. Yes, even more than that. Autoresponder on email. Less tech, more presence.
On that note, signing off until soon. I’m taking the advice of Valerie Kaur to lay down my quill:
May this process support you in choosing who you want to be in this life, over and over and over again.
May our reflection be a site of learning and growth.
May our dreams be realized.
May the beauty of our hearts’ deepest longings contribute to a world grounded in collective care, liberation, justice, peace, beauty, and love,
With gratitude for the chance to see the turning of another year, and to live even more fully into our dreams, to become ever more fully ourselves.
Until soon!
With infinite love and care,
Stephanie
