best year

As I look back one year from now, I lived my best self in 2019.

I freely showed up as I am in every moment, and experienced greater joy, ease, and confidence in my natural self.

Throughout all kinds of conversations, I spoke freely from my center. I felt at ease and open to whatever anyone had to say, grateful for our connection and for learning a new perspective.

While listening to others, I held space for them to share without feeling the need to control their feelings. I honored the birthright and freedom of all to choose their own life experiences.

In leading a group of staff to bring their natural selves to our collective efforts, I managed our workflow free from the pull of expectation of all that needs to be just right.

I made decisions with confidence, humility, calm, patience, and respect.

Without feeling the need to know it all, get it all done, or have it all figured out, I was able to learn and grow from more senior-level professionals.

I cast deliberate invitations to involve others in my and my family’s life, openly sharing our interests without needing to be understood or shared.

The genius best work I created in 2019 had a positive effect on making a better world especially for my husband and our two children, for my staff and colleagues, and for my extended family.

I was stretched by the challenge of confidently trusting my innate self, and taking control of the ways I affect the world around me.

Throughout the year, I learned to be my own unique self in life, and intentionally generated thoughts around my relationships and life circumstances to create the experiences that to me reflect a good life.

The one important habit that I dropped was regularly seeking validation from others and fighting against who I really am, thereby replacing it with cultivating a quiet confidence that I am capable for whatever life is presenting to me.  

2019 was truly a year in which I lived my best self.

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#WeQuest #BestYear

a best self kind of year

The time is one year from now and I am reflecting back on how I have shown up for 2018.

I think about how I've trusted my inner voice more this year. Decisions that I make are fueled by the warmth of my inner knowing of what is best for me at the moment. I reflect on the restful state of being that I have felt and in the unfolding of life.

Life. People. My Self. 

This is what I have shown up for in 2018.

     By letting it be . . .

          the moment . . .
          the experience . . .
          the feeling . . .
          the thought . . .

I have surrendered my effort in imagining how life will go and trust the unfolding of life. 
     
     By letting them be . . .

          their tone . . .
          their concerns . . .
          their perspective . . .
          their choices . . .

I have surrendered my opinions on how they live and trust their birthright to choice.

     By letting me be . . .

          my struggles . . .
          my thoughts . . .
          my wants . . .
          my being . . .

I have surrendered my judgment of how I live and trust freedom in living.

There's a relaxed sense that accompanies me when I am around people. Conversations have been discoveries to see from their vantage point. I have seen my being present with others as a gift to learn while giving people space to react as their most natural self.

Conversations with others are opportunities for me to experience as I celebrate our connection. I relax into them and listen to learn about people's perspective while giving them permission to react and think, as they view life from their vantage point.

When disagreement, misunderstanding, or questioning happens during conversations, I assume there is something for me to know. I give myself permission to have my view while extending respect to others for theirs.

In reflecting on 2018, I notice how I have left life alone. 

I have made space in my heart for whatever unfurls and trusted that there is space for all of life. The muscle tensing and twitching to meddle with life has been replaced by a calmness that has warmed my heart and inspired others to calm, too.

Lecturing, worrying, and intervening in other people's way of living, choosing, and doing has been replaced with celebrating, encouraging, and allowing the raw, real nature of others as they are Now.

Worrying about what people might think about my ideas, perspective, behavior, and any of the other ways that I leave my fingerprints, have been replaced with allowing myself to feel joy, happiness, serenity, and contentment for where I am at Now.

This past year has felt a lot like riding a bicycle with no hands and my arms opened wide. Even as the wind blew, potholes appeared, the road twisted, and the terrain changed, I was uninhibited by the uncertainty and sat firmly trusting life and my living it.

Life is Good. 

I have reflected this belief throughout the year as I honored where people are at and met them where they are, trusting that we are all perfect for Now -- for this moment, as it is.

My biggest goal was to no longer need to feel as though I belong anywhere, instead to know that I belong wherever I am. What this required of me was to diligently and deliberately focus on Trust. An immense amount of energy is necessary to build muscles and this was worth it, 100%.

By honoring life as it is, and sharing openly with the people who come into my life, I am happier and I can be more helpful to others in sharing the joy and peace that overwhelms me.

By asking "What if . . . ? " and surrendering to life -- whether it be to what I experience or who I experience -- I am living properly.

This has been a year of showing up on purpose. 

It has been a year in which I trust that I inspire others to live their raw, real life as they are by my own openness of my heart that appreciatively, bravely, and confidently shares, declines, and raises my hand when necessary . . . all the while being open with wonder at whatever transpires and bravely trusting that I always belong.

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Inspired by Jeffrey Davis,
Katie Daleabout, Caroline Adams Miller,
Ishita Gupta, and Charlie Gilkey.

Quest 2018

#WeQuest #BestYear #Purpose #DreamDone