Will it just be a predictable re-run, ‘same-same but different’ version of 2018 or have you plans and dreams for what could actually be possible for you this year?

If only you didn’t have all those really good reasons and excuses! We all have them, the ‘if only’s’,  the  ‘buts’ . I’d love to do A , but I really want to be B, but could have C, but I know D is possible, but ….

Are you ready to kick the BUT out of your life? Are you willing to have what you want? Are you ready to Shine Up Your life?

It’s really not that difficult.

It starts with saying “I will …. ” and then simply doing what you say you will do. Maybe acknowledging that your own words are the most powerful tools in your tool box for you to Shine Up Your Life is the most liberating and empowering discovery waiting for you in 2019!

“I will” puts me – my desire, my intention and my promise – in the driving seat and that’s powerful, and fun! “I will ..” is not the same as “I should ..” or “I could if/when..” ….. or “I would if..”  or even “I can”.

“I will” is me saying what action I WILL take, as a matter of my word. I’m saying what it is that I want and what I am willing to do in order to get it or have it. I am not relying on other people; I am not depending on circumstances changing; I am merely giving my word as to what I will do, or say, in my current situation.

For me, what I WILL do this year is to play more with life, to explore and discover a bit more about what it is that lights me up and why , and do more of that. Life can be very distracting, and busy, and noisy, and serious, and it can speed by. However, fulfilment and satisfaction will always be about coming home to ourselves, content in our own hearts, settled in who we are, connected with who and what we love, comfortable in our own skin, freely being ourselves, shining our own light easily and effortlessly living and loving life.

Simply being here and being present to the wonder of it all and smiling!

How difficult can that be? We were all like this as children. When did we decide life as a grown-up had to be difficult, and hard work, and so serious? Sure, there are matters of life and death but they are few and far between. Most of what stresses us is not actually that serious. Mostly it centres on misunderstandings and disagreements in relationships. Mostly it has to do with communication.

Are you ready to lighten up? Are you ready to let go of what is weighing you down?

What are you resisting? What are you holding on to? What notions, or opinions, or views, or beliefs, or resentments, or grudges …. are you holding on to, that are keeping you from being fully alive and vital?

  • Are you willing to let them go in 2019?
  • Are you willing to lighten your load?
  • Are you ready to Shine Up Your Life?

Are you ready to come out from the shadows, to stop hiding who you are, to show up as a shining light, smiling, radiating your natural energy .. lighting up the world around you?

So, instead of taking on to do more stuff in 2019 I recommend looking at what you can let go of. Like a mental decluttering.

For me, I’m letting go that there is anything I HAVE to do in 2019. I am letting go of any expectations of how it’s supposed to be, or any opinion that I ‘already know’ how It’s going to be. I am giving myself permission to let 2019 unfold.

I’m here, it’s now, and yes, there is stuff to be done, and I’m doing it, but I will not be racing to fill in all the blanks in my diary to set multiple new goals, to tick off everything on my ‘to do’ list.

I know that doing stuff is great and it gets stuff done, but there will always be more stuff to do, and it will never all be done. I have done a lot in my life already and I am now sitting back and pacing myself this year!

I’m going to enjoy the time and the conversations I have with people; I’m going to spend time by myself, in beautiful surroundings, walking, writing and thinking; I am going to have leisurely coffee mornings and meet friends for lunch, and listen and observe and discover newly the benefits of authentic communication, connection and reflection and allow myself an appreciation what I already have in my life – my health, my senses, my friendships, my freedom, my time, my life itself.

What do you want in 2019 such that when you look back in 12 months’ time, you can say that 2019 was a really great year?

2019 is really no different from 2018 or 2008 or 1988 … except that it’s ‘here, now’.  It WAS ‘the future’.. it IS (now) the present! and it WILL soon be the past.

Our point of power is only and ever in the present moment.

For most of us the ‘New Year’ represents the ‘future’, the future we looked forward to in 2018 or 2008 or any other date in the past when we said “not now; later!” and from where we waited, in hope or anticipation or longing or apprehension or fear or dread.

We waited in the wings in the shadows of our lives until we were ‘ready’ And now the New Year has come …

Do you now feel under pressure to do everything that you put off – when you procrastinated until that ‘time’ in the future when you would be ready when it would be ‘right’ or easy to make that change to start that programme to commit to that diet or exercise regime to de-clutter to make that decision to ‘act’ to give up, to do that thing that was so difficult ‘in the past’ that would somehow be miraculously easy in the future.

‘Oh what a wicked web we weave when we practice to deceive … ourselves’.

So, my approach to 2019 is to Lighten Up! Let go. Do what needs to be done. Go easy and Enjoy the moment.

What I really want, in 12 months’ time, is to be able to look around me and see my friends, family and community be happy and healthy and enjoying life; to be proud of my country men and women and what individually and collectively we have achieved; to experience that the world is safer, healthier and more peaceful because of the what we, as a responsible community, have contributed to the varied conversations of 2019 – political, social, environmental, philosophical, intellectual, artistic and educational, simply by being here and showing up with a willingness to impact the future.

I want to Shine My Light wherever I am … just by showing up and smiling! That’s a promise I am willing to keep.

I encourage you to fully be and engage wherever you show up! There is no place you are supposed to be other than where you are. There is no time you are supposed to be here other than now ..

There is no life you are supposed to be living other than your own, right here, right now.

Be here now.