As life happens and the days become weeks and the weeks become months, it doesn’t take much to distance oneself from the source of center — self-love. Choosing self-love is making time to listen, nurture and activate your purpose, authentic desires and needs. It means living in personal integrity, establishing healthy boundaries, and utilizing the effective power of the word no. It’s easy to switch into autopilot and walk through life completely numb anesthetizing the pull of what I call your “True Heart.” If you recall in my previous articles, especially “Childless by Choice: A Powerful Act of Self Love,” and, “What My Divorce Taught Me About Self Love,” I speak in depth on how to hear and fully listen to your “True Heart,” and yes, you guessed it, choosing self-love is the catalyst.
So as we begin to look toward the close of another year, I thought it would be apropos to spend time reflecting on the lessons learned and the application of your personal growth into 2024. You see, as the days stack up to months, it is easy to become disconnected from your needs; and to have clarity of emotions and spiritual direction, aka, belief and intuition. As the days march forward that sneaky autopilot of life switches on and begins to erode presence, innate wisdom, and your connection to source power. To simplify, think of this as the marriage of your heart and mind. If you don’t have a conscious connection to your heart and mind, you are not fully empowered to create life from a fully realized place of potential — you are a rocket with no launching pad.
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As an emotional intelligence expert, one of the building blocks I teach is that our bodies not only serve as a means for participating in the world, but also as the chief channel for communicating our intentions and desires to the universe and our creator. After all…
We are a spiritual essence in a physical body.
Our body houses an energy system that creates an energy field composed of all that we are — thoughts, choices, memories, emotions, wisdom/experience, and most importantly: the presence and energy of love.
The body acts like a “radio signal” broadcasting your frequency. Your thoughts, emotions, choices, and actions notify the universe, and all things around us, as to where to direct new energy from within ourselves as well as energy sourced externally. This then initiates manifestation, or what I call, “Destiny Shifts.”
You may already be present to these in your life or in the lives of others around you. For example, maybe you know someone who has had a reckoning with their mortality that forced them into a moment of enlightenment, that then propels them to make a significant positive change in their life. These “Destiny Shifts” are immediate course corrections and moments in life that have the ability to send you on incredible trajectories towards living the life you overwhelmingly love. Those moments are conscious communicators to the universe and the creator that say, “Hey, no more of that. THIS is what I want.” You are clear, present, and in integrity – heart to mind, mind to heart.
Emotional abandonment is the trap so many of us fall into when we move out of alignment with our True Heart. As you abandon your own needs, you leave it up to chance or hope to move onto the path of some kind of sustainable success. This is the door to a slippery slope. Through this door you try to string as many of those moments of chance and hope together to replicate some kind of success and happiness.
Let me tell you, hope is not a plan or an action.
It is a four-letter word that implies a lack of planning. Hope is an expectation based on desire. Hope implies a lack of control and leaves you waiting on change and direction from an outward source and we know that doesn’t align with the ability to manifest your own destiny. Hope will have you sitting on the dock of the bay watching the ships roll by.
To move into our power, we must learn to step away from hope and move into committed action. As we approach the new year, what can you look back on and say with certainty that you have learned, become aware of, identified as something you want or need, or simply want more of? To answer this for myself, a few days before the end of the year, I conduct what I call a “Chenoa Year Scan.”
The “Chenoa Year Scan” is an exercise that aligns your thoughts, emotions, and actions with your “True Heart,” setting the foundation for “Destiny Shifts” in your new year. It allows me to take an honest inventory of my accomplishments, setbacks, and goals that I set forth in the previous year. This is how I use the end of the year to create powerful shifts in my life.
In essence, I scan the past year for moments and opportunities where a “Destiny Shift” could have occurred or did occur, and examine the who, how, why, and when. With this understanding and clear reflection, it is now possible to enact those possibilities moving forward, replicate what worked, and adjust what didn’t.
The more clear and present you become to where you are and the habits and distractions that have kept you from where you want to be, the better you will be at making mindful choices around nurturing, feeding, and committing to your goals and desires.
Getting clear on exactly where you are means expanding your awareness and strengthening the connection with your heart and mind.
If you want 2024 to be different from 2023 (and we all do, in some way), the work has to begin now. So, roll up those sleeves, pull out that journal and place that “Do Not Disturb” sign on your door. It is time to get clear, move inward, set intentions, choose self love, and commit to honoring your True Heart.
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