As one year fades into another, it can be helpful to take some quiet time to reflect on where we’ve come from, where we’re at, and where we’re headed.

I love to make a hot cup of tea, sit with my journal and review the year behind me, as I contemplate the year ahead. I try to focus on having gratitude for what I have done while acknowledging and learning from what I haven’t (with kindness and self-compassion). I give thanks for my blessings, release the unmet goals, unfulfilled desires, and unlived dreams, and I feel into what my heart and soul wish to dedicate time, energy and resources to going forward.

I look back in time – Where was I at last month, last year, or maybe even last decade?

I examine the present – Where am I right now in my life?

I look to the future – Where do I envision myself going?

Reflecting and planning has become an annual ritual that creates a sense of continuity in my life. Rituals serve an important function for the human psyche. Rituals help establish rhythms and patterns, (like those of nature), in our fluid and fast-moving lives. They give us a way to mark our own movement through the wheel of time. Rituals provide a container that holds life in place on deep and profound levels in the human psyche. That’s why our ancestors have performed them for eons. They create a sense of continuity on the timeline of life. Reflection rituals help us integrate our past and present so that we can move into the future with awareness, balance, and hopefully, a sense of wholeness.

I wish you many blessings for 2015!