We stayed in today after a busy day and night yesterday. This is the first moment I am on my computer. I spent the day playing board games with my family. We talked a bit about our year and how excited we are for what lay ahead for us.
Last night, I did my very last entry in my Book of Hours for 2015. It also happened to be the last double page in the moleskine that has been home to my very first Book of Hours. This was completely unplanned.
Here is my complete Book of Hours with over 150 entries:
I began 2015 with this blog post.
This book and process was a testament to FAITH. The daily practice was not only a transformational experience but also deepened this faith.
This is one of my favourite entries in my Book of Hours:
I drew the wave right after I surfed in the Pacific Ocean. I learned an important lesson that day. A lesson that I keep learning through this practice. Letting go lets the most unexpected things in.
Here is my last entry for this year:
Sitting in darkness is not what it used to be.
This year my faith has shown me how to love the shadows and the darkness. Instead of falling into it and struggling in the unknown, I have surrendered and stepped into it by living in awe of mystery and the questions.
I can sit and trust that the “knowing” will come. It always does. The struggle and conflict stop when I allow myself to stay where I am and not rush to feel a certain way, to be somewhere else, to be somebody else, and to trust that there is a time for darkness.
Most people are afraid of the dark. Literally when it comes to children, while most adults fear, above all, the darkness that is the unknown, the unseeable, the obscure. And yet the night in which distinctions and definitions cannot be readily made is the same night in which love is made, in which things merge, change, become enchanted, aroused, impregnated, possessed, released, renewed.
– Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things To Me
After doing the prompts for the last week, I have gravitated to a definite theme for 2016. Tomorrow, I will talk about my new one word intention/theme.
I can’t stress enough how declaring a simple little word as an intention for the year can make an impact. The last two words I have chosen have led me to have the most amazing experiences. In 2015, our family travelled collectively and individually to 6 different countries. I have strengthened my relationships and healed past wounds. I have discovered parts of me that I buried because I thought they were broken. I dusted off the pieces and put back together the fragments, accepting the cracks and fissures that are symbols of both destruction and growth.
If you have been following my little self-reflection challenge prompts, have you been able to listen to the stirrings of your heart? Has there been a word or intention that keeps surfacing? What do you need? Where are you right now?
If you have chosen a word or theme, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear your thought for the new year!
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I will be posting a couple of final January dates for my Book of Hours Workshop. There will not be any workshops until April due to our family’s extended travel. Check back here for more info…
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