Photo by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash
As the winter draws in in the northern hemisphere and the light of the new year starts to glow on the horizon, there is a collective going inwards.
The longer periods of darkness and the cold that makes us fold into ourselves, along with the low rumble of a new year making its way towards us, offers up the perfect ingredients for us all to turn inwards and begin our process of saying goodbye to one year as it comes to an end and dreaming up what we want the next year to be all about.
Taking the time to do this, before you get swallowed up by the busy-ness of the holiday season, could be the most powerful exercise you do all year.
So if you haven't done it before, join us this year and try it out for yourself and see what it does for you.
The 5 steps that will help you to set yourself up to thrive in 2018:
1. Reflect on the year as it comes to an end
Before you leap into planning for the future, it's important that you pause and acknowledge all that you've achieved and been through so far.
Take some time to look back at all that has happened in just one year - all that you've done, all that you've achieved and all that you've learnt.
2. Ground yourself in gratitude
It can be easy to slip into a space of lack when you are thinking of what it is you would love to have in your life. And when that happens, you can get too easily stuck in a scarcity mindset and it can be hard to believe that what you want is ever really going to happen for you.
And if you don't believe it will happen, then it probably won't.
Now, plant yourself in gratitude for all that you already have in life and you shift gear and into a space of abundance. And THIS is the place to dream and create from. Because with an abundance mindset you are able to believe that what you long for IS possible.
And when you believe in it, you are halfway to making it happen.
3. Allow yourself to dream
If you want to live a life that you love, then you have to be able to dream it first. People that live lives they love are first and foremost dreamers. They recognise that their dreams are their super-power and not only do they allow themselves to dream, they take those dreams seriously.
So if you want to create and live a life you love, then you need to allow yourself to dream again.
So ask yourself, what would your dream life look like 5 years from now? Imagine a day in that life from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed: Where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing? What is your home like? What work do you do? How does it feel to live this life?
4. Choose your focus
Now that you have allowed yourself to dream of the life you'd love to be living, it's time to hone in on the part of your dream you most want to bring to life right now and make that your focus for the year to come.
This step alone has been life changing for a lot of the people we have taken through this process.
Because for many people it is the first time they have ever put their own happiness and wellbeing as a focus and priority in their life. And doing that for a whole year can make a huge difference.
5. Set an intention for your year
This is the final part of the process and this is where the magic happens. Setting an intention is the moment where you commit wholeheartedly to your dream and to making it a reality.
We have seen people set intentions for everything from changing career, to filling their life with love, to having a year of adventures to making their own self-care a top priority. Those intentions have then acted like guiding stars throughout their year, influencing the choices they make and the actions they take and ultimately shaping their year and often the course of their life.
So have a go at it yourself this year: see how saying a proper farewell to 2017 and setting an intention for the year to come, helps to make 2018 a year to remember.
You can buy 'Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018'- the book and audio guide - until 26th November 2017 from the Project Love Kickstarter page
Vicki Burtt and Selina Barker are the founders of Project Love - their aim is to inspire and empower women to create lives, relationships and careers they love
VISIT PROJECT LOVE over at www.loveprojectlove.com