Using TESLA to Drive Meaning into Your December

"Where did the year go?" Perhaps you've heard yourself asking that very question lately. In today's fast-paced world, we are all too comfortable to

let the days, weeks, months race past us with little notice. But life is meant to be lived, not just traversed. Use the simple method below as a vehicle to make the most of this December, as a transition period before we head into the New Year.

Halloween seems to be the catalyst for a landslide of festivities, commitments, and holiday planning and activities all the way through the New Year. Perhaps you're feeling it even more this year with Thanksgiving being so late in the month, and rolling right into December over the weekend. Before we know it, Christmas comes and goes, and then poof! The year is over.

It can be easy to get lost in the snowstorm of the season; however, December also provides us a real opportunity for transformation. If we can just take a moment to look inward, to "come inside" from the blizzard of business that ensues in this season, we can discover invaluable information, tools, and insight from this year as it closes out, and shape the year that lies ahead.

So perhaps consider putting T.E.S.L.A. on the top of your Christmas list. No, not the car, but another sort of vehicle that can take you through this transition between years. Use this acronym as a tool to spend some time in 2024, even if only in reflection. And in doing so, gain insight to help lay the framework for a 2025, one that better serves you on your journey towards your best self.

Using T.E.S.L.A. is easy - all you need to do is take the time! Find a quiet place where you can be free from distractions for a bit. Grab a journal to assist you in your practice - to help collect and organize your thoughts, as well as provide an archive to able to look back on, perhaps this time next year. Once you are ready, you'll work through the steps below, in order, to arrive at a more mindful year-end.

1. Thank - In my opinion, the best answer to everything, in all seasons in life, whether things are going great, or maybe not so great, is to begin and end with gratitude. Now the power of gratitude could easily be its own blog topic, so watch this space. But in short, gratitude is a magnet for whatever you want or need in life. When we are in a slump, funk, or just stuck on whatever is not going our way, rather than focusing on the lack (which only attracts more lack), try instead turning your attention towards gratitude. You may be shocked at the result. When things are going great, it's time to give thanks! And in turn, it will attract MORE of that greatness. So as you sit down at the end of the day (or in this case, the end of the year), begin first by making a list of all the things you're grateful for from 2024.

   
   

2. Examine - Our lives are so busy in this increasingly fast-paced world, that sometimes it may feel like life is just happening to us, or around us, rather than truly taking the time to be in the moment and experience life while we are IN it. Take a moment now and spend some time being in 2024, while we still can. Use this opportunity to reflect on this past year. Perhaps time travel month by month, recalling events, milestones, experiences, travels, relationships, interactions, victories, losses, gains, losses, positives, negatives, and so on. Jot them down in your journal - maybe you list them like a timeline, or maybe you group them by categories. Truly take the time to honor the past year as a chapter in your life, by examining all the things you experienced on your journey through it. This simple practice might just help time slow down for a brief moment, allowing you feel more connected to the life you just lived these past 365 days.

   
   

3. Sustain - After you've spent some time examining your year, it's time to start inventorying some of the decisions, actions, reactions, experiences, mindsets, etc from the year. Go back through your year and find at least three things that you would like to sustain, going forward into your new year. Perhaps you started a yoga practice that you have found to be fulfilling, and you'd like to continue that work. Maybe you recall a difficult experience that you had, but was proud of yourself for how you handled it, and would like to continue using those traits or practices in future similar situations. We seem to have no trouble finding things that we think we did wrong - but when you take the time to truly reflect without the blinders of judgement, you'll see that we also do a lot of things right! Capture a few of these and include them in your list of "Sustains" in your journal.

   
   

4. Lessons Learned (Improvements) - Similarly, using that examination of your past year, it's time to also note a few lessons learned of things that maybe didn't go as well as they could have. This list is usually easier to compile; however, it's important to frame the way you do it. Rather than gathering these points like ammunition with which you can judge, ridicule or admonish yourself, instead use them as tools and opportunities in which you can grow, learn, and improve. No one is perfect. Period. You can choose to wallow in your imperfection and be mad at yourself for not achieving the impossible, or you choose to "grow forward" and continue to work on being the best version of yourself. Find at least three productive lessons learned, things you'd like to improve, or things you would do differently in the future, and include those in your journal.

   
   

5. Accept & Release - So now we've expressed gratitude for the past year (the good, the bad, & the ugly), we've taken time to reflect and examine our year, and we've noted things that we'd like to sustain, as well as lessons learned for how we can improve in the future. These elements have all helped prepare us for the next chapter of our life as we head into the new year. The final piece is to accept 2024, and our journey through it, for what it was, and what it wasn't. There is nothing we can change. There is nothing we can control. It is now in the past, and it is what it is. The only thing left to do is accept it, and release it. Once we accept and release, we cut the cord that tethers us to our failures, our mistakes, our expectations, our judgements, and everything else that holds us back in life. Sometimes this can even mean clinging too tightly to successes or positive experiences in life - so afraid to let them go or lose them that it impedes our ability to live and grow. That's why it is important that we've taken the time to reflect and examine, and gather the lessons that will serve us going forward. Experience the peace that release provides, and the freedom it creates for us to continue growing into our best self in the upcoming year.

   
   

This holiday season, enjoy all the wonder and beauty that awaits. And as December draws to an end, spend time with 2024 with gratitude for the gift that it was in our lives, and prepare the way for all the amazingness that awaits in 2025!