For a few weeks now I’ve been working on this article about clarifying desires for 2024 and moving towards them.

During the writing process, an entirely different article emerged. One about letting the soul lead the way. While there is quite a bit of overlap and the methods are complementary, there’s a distinct difference that prevented me from blending them into one article.

In fact, the second article didn’t really feel like it belongs here on this blog. I don’t want to presume that just because you’re reading these words that you’re interested in embracing the new development.

It’s entirely possible that I’m overthinking things, which I’ve been known to do! Regardless, I’ve launched a new blog.

So, I’ll endeavor to continue reporting on holistic health and healing here. And if you’d like to join me on Substack, you’ll find an exploration of placing the divine in charge of life. Blogs about wheel of the year and lunar cycle practices will be forthcoming, along with chronicles of my journey; including the bumps and blips.

Now back to the main event… Envision 2024

Envision is a process I’ve developed to gain clarity about goals and how to move towards them in a sustainable and empowered way. Below you’ll find the inquiry I utilize to jumpstart the new year.  I often share it with my clients and Reiki students who report it to be helpful. You will find no attempts to motivate you to work harder or do more. Quite the opposite, in fact!

This is mostly an internal process. We will need to follow through to experience results, but first we want to get clear about the starting point, the desired destination and the predictable obstacles. Then any activity out in the external world comes from an aligned and inspired source rather than just doing stuff for the sake of doing stuff.

For optimal results, carve out 30 minutes and a quiet place where you can complete the inquiry without interruption. You’ll need a pen and paper or keyboard and screen. Perhaps you’d like to brew a cup of tea, turn on some uplifting music, or light a candle to signify that you are entering sacred space, but really all you need is the willingness to uncover the longing within your heart.

I find that the most fruitful results emerge when I’m starting from a calm, relaxed place and centered within myself. I like to place a hand on my heart and inhale through my nose, deep into my belly, feeling it expand. I exhale with an audible sigh, feeling the sound vibrations in my torso. Ten to twenty breaths can make a huge difference and really help me drop into my body.

If you have a meditation or movement practice, you can spend a few minutes preparing yourself by using the techniques that best help you become present. If you have access to Reiki, absolutely turn it on and allow the flow of spiritually guided life-force energy to support you. If you work with guides, ancestors, or angels; invite them in.

If these past few sentences have made no sense to you, just ignore them and keep on going. You don’t need any experience, special skills, or woo-woo connections to participate.

Now for the inquiry:

1. What change would you like to experience in 2024? List 3-5 things off the top of your head. Don’t overthink this! If it’s helpful, you can use the prompts: I’d like to have… I’d like to feel… I’d like to experience…

• Choose one of these desires to work with now, knowing you can repeat this process with the others later if you wish. How will you feel when you have this, feel this, or experience this desire? I call this getting to know your why. What is the deeper desire underneath? Rather than focusing on a strategy, it can be very empowering to recognize the underlying motivation and open the door to any other strategies that may yet to be revealed.

• List all the reasons you can’t have, feel, experience this desire. I call this exposing the “yeah, buts”. (Yeah, I want xyz, but I can’t because…) These need to be addressed, otherwise they’ll disrupt your progress from the shadows. Be honest; acknowledging these fears and limiting beliefs helps to drain their power. We’re looking at the crud lurking in the corners of the basement. Don’t try to dress it up. We just need to identify what’s there, so it won’t sabotage our efforts.  

• Review your “yeah, but” list. Are any of these really true? For those that are, can you adapt your original desire to include a workaround? If your wish is simply not possible at this stage in your life, better to rewrite it than to continue longing for something that is simply not for you. For example, at age 52, I’m clearly not going to produce any biological children. If being a mother were my wish, I can acknowledge that my uterus is retired, but it’s still possible to find another way to experience mothering. While intention is quite powerful, it doesn’t supersede biology.

• For those “yeah, buts” that are false or misaligned with your current reality, can you craft an alternative statement to use as a mantra? Choosing a statement to repeat to yourself can help disentangle any conditioning that is not beneficial and begin to rewrite your story moving forward. You’ll want to post these somewhere highly visible and work them into your daily routine. I find that “I am willing to become/learn xyz” is often easier to work with than “I am xyz” for the sake of believability and will help get the subconscious onboard.

• List three simple action steps you’re willing to take in the next weeks to start moving in the direction you’d like to go.

• Make room on your calendar for these steps. Edit them to be doable. If you take on too much, you risk getting discouraged and giving up before you’ve even started.

• If you’re really serious about this goal, go further. Become an embodiment of your desire. This is a simple exercise but might not be easy if you’re new to it. Imagine having your goal now. Feel it in your bones. Savor the sensation of being the person who has what you want. What would it look like? Sound like? Feel (both sensations and emotions) like? Smell like? Taste like?

Adding imagination and your five senses to the process amplifies the power. This practice is particularly potent when first waking up and right before sleep. Spend a few minutes every morning and night tapping into your felt sense of being, doing, experiencing your desire and invest your time and efforts in amplifying your vision.

Ideally, this exploration will have revealed a plan that is actionable, highly effective and quite unique to your circumstances. It’s up to you to follow through while allowing space for adaptations that may emerge.

I’d love to hear what you’re working on! I find that we can often learn a lot from one another. When we do this in a group, there is always a lot of head-nodding and affirmative mmmhmmm… sounds. People hear nuances in others’ statements that help to clarify their own goals or think of things from a slightly different perspective.

And if you want to explore the version of letting your soul take the lead and show you what it has planned for your new year, join me over on Substack.