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Whether it’s singing “Auld Lang Syne” on New’s Eve or simply just taking time to reflect on the lessons from the year, this time of the year is one for contemplation.
What did the year gone by teach us? What do we hope for in the new year?
As you make the space for the new year entering, try some of these ideas to honor the past year and welcome the next year coming with open arms and a full heart!
Reflecting on the Past Year
As the year concludes, consider taking the time to really take stock of the year as a whole!
Spotify Wrapped: A Year in Review
One of my all-time favorite parts of December is getting Spotify’s Wrapped.
If you aren’t familiar with Spotify’s Wrapped, basically Spotify takes note of all the songs you listened to during the past year, and compiles your top songs, top artists, etc. It then forms your “Your Top Songs” playlist which lists your top 100 songs from the past year.
I love taking the time to look at this playlist each year because it offers such a festive way to celebrate and consider the past year. I even use it to make my blog post each year on my top joy songs from that year!
Here are some questions I like to consider while listening to my Wrapped playlist:
- What was my top #1 song for the whole year? Why did I love it so much? When did I listen to it the most? What was going on in my life during that time?
- What was going on during the year when I listened to certain songs on repeat?
- Who was my most listened to artist for the year? What spoke to me about their music?
- What was the overall vibe for my year?
When you get the notification that your Spotify Wrapped is here, make sure to check it out! It offers a great chance to see what your past year was like-both musically speaking and not.
Lessons Learned, Gratitude Practiced
Perhaps one of the most impactful things I practiced this past year was taking the time each month to reflect on lessons each month taught me. I usually then put it to words and posted it on Instagram.
Looking back on the year, I saw how July brought me freedom, how August taught me about faith after my dad passed away, and how November gave me lessons on resting. It’s been really nice to be able to look back and see how each month brought me a different lesson to learn.
Even if you didn’t do such a practice this past year, consider taking some time to look back on each month and see if you can figure out its lesson for you. What was going on that month? Do you remember how you were feeling overall? Any big or small changes that month?
After doing so, you may find yourself feeling gratitude.
Whether the year past was mostly ups or mostly downs, it-overall-made you a more resilient person and allowed you to grow. And for THAT, we can be grateful.
Embracing the New Year
After taking the time to reflect on what the year gone by was like for you, give these practices a try to set the foundation for the year ahead!
Setting Intentions for the Year: Choosing a Word
I first got the inspiration for this practice a couple years ago after watching the Netflix documentary on Harry and Meghan.
Meghan talked about how she and friends would practice looking back on their year on New Year’s and summarize it all up in one word. Words like “freedom”, “growth”, “peace”, and “joy” are good words to consider.
While I love doing that practice with the year ending, I like to take it a step further and come up with a word that I hope will describe the next year ahead.
Doing this allows for the time to look at the upcoming year and see what’s ahead, and what hopes you have looking forward.
I especially enjoy doing this practice with my long-distance friends. It’s a great way to get some reflections and inspirations from them and can be done easily via text or phone call!
When the next year ends, you can then compare and see if your word at the beginning of the year was the same at the end of the year.
The 13 Sacred Nights: A Mindful Practice
Taking place from sundown on December 24th until sundown on January 6th, this practice is all about celebrating winter’s inwardness and starting the year ahead.
Using Lara J. Day’s 13 Sacred Nights Deck, you take some time each night during the 13 nights to center yourself and draw cards from the deck calling to you. The first night, you draw three cards which will represent the theme for the year ahead. Then, from there onwards, you draw one card a night to represent each month’s theme for the year (i.e.: the second night you draw a card that represents January, the third night you draw a card for February, etc.). Lara encourages you to journal about the cards you drew each night that way you can look back and reflect as the year and months pass to see the alignment.
And that is where it gets wild.
Last year, for example, the first night I drew the cards: willow, frog and moldavite which all combine to mean a year ahead of “soul searching”, “transformation” and “awakening”. And I cannot even state how accurate that was now that the year is wrapping up.
In what used to be some of my least favorite weeks of the year, the weeks between Christmas and New Years and immediately after have quickly become some of my favorite weeks of the whole year. I look forward to these 13 nights now and even find such a sense of grounded-ness and peacefulness during this almost two week span that I can’t say I quite have to the same extent any other time in the year.
If you want to learn more about the practice, consider listening to either one of these Heal with Kelly podcast episodes. They are a great place to get started.
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