How To Have A Successful Year

This uplifting meditation will help you to start your year feeling fulfilled and inspired. Lou will guide you through a series of practices to make peace with the past, surrender the future, and experience the joy of the present. You will create feelings that help you realize your goals and come into a place of wholeness. In the first few minutes, Lou shares an insightful explanation as foundation for the guided practice.

Transcript

So I'd like to start with a quick introduction to this practice because it's New Year's which has a tendency to bring up a lot of our insecurities of feeling like we need to lose weight or to change these habits or to start our new project and we set these resolutions for ourselves.

And I'm not a big fan of the term resolution.

For one,

To resolve means to settle and to be resolute is this firm decision that we make and there's this very yang energy to it where we feel like we have to pump ourselves up so we start on our goals and maybe it goes pretty well for three weeks,

A month,

Maybe two months,

Maybe three months.

But then something starts to happen and what we hear of so many times is that whenever someone starts on a resolution so many times that people don't actually hit their goals.

Why is that?

It's because the energy in which you do something matters more than attaining that perceived outcome.

So if you are so hard on yourself,

If you are doing it from this place of feeling like you're not enough,

Then every time that you do that thing it's going to bring up those same feelings and you're going to need to get yourself motivated and sometimes we're not going to feel that motivated.

And that's what I think the big difference is between motivation and inspiration.

Motivation pushes you to do things that you don't want to do.

And inspiration pulls you to do things that are in line with who you desire to become and who you really are.

And the way to feel inspired is to change the energy that we come at it.

So the reason that we set goals is because we have this idea that that goal is going to give us a feeling.

We act on very emotional tendencies.

So understand that you don't want more money because you want more paper bills in your household.

You want more money for the feeling of security or freedom and for maybe a less superficial goal of having more success or just more inner peace I guess would be the better way to explain it,

More happiness.

You think that some goal of finding love is going to give you that happiness and that connection but it's the feeling.

It's the feeling of love,

The feeling of connection and that we can find right here and right now and meditation is how we do that.

So we are going to work on bringing that in with our practice today.

So go ahead and find your space.

So take any of your movements that you like to take before settling into any sort of meditation.

And I offer for today a movement.

So maybe rolling your shoulders back and up and then after a few moments rolling them forward and eventually allowing them to settle resting down your back.

Bring the eyes to close.

Soften through the body.

Soften through the tongue,

The jaw.

And begin to come into your breathing.

Starting to release where you feel there is tension in the body.

Just for a few moments to ground us simply following the rise and the fall of your breathing.

In our meditation practice it's really not about attaining goals that are outside of ourselves.

What we are really doing is removing the blocks that keep us from experiencing the light that we are within.

So I'd like you to feel an openness through your heart.

And allow yourself to place a beautiful bright light at the center of your heart.

And one that just expands a little bit out through each side of your body.

And find a few breaths feeling the warmth and the brightness of this light that surrounds your heart.

And we are going to come into an appreciation for our past year.

And I'd like you to scan the past year and think of a person in your life that has influenced you or has supported you.

Someone who has had a significant impact,

Significant presence.

I'd like you to show some appreciation and gratitude for this person being in your life this year.

And with each breath allow that light to grow a little bit larger.

A little bit brighter.

And see if you can maybe even think of a moment that you spent with this person and visualize how that felt.

What was there?

And again follow the breath.

And use whatever feelings of gratitude to fuel the light within.

And once you feel complete with that I'd like you to move on and take a look at the past year and see if you can find a specific moment or experience that you can be grateful for.

Just in this past year.

It might be a moment of achievement,

A moment of love,

Of peace.

And it could also be a moment that you have overcome.

A challenge that you have pushed through and maybe go through the experience of what it was like to be on the other side.

Of appreciation for yourself moving through it.

Or it's you painting the picture of that beautiful moment or experience that you got to share with yourself this past year.

You were blessed to experience.

And if you'd like you can also think of a place that was significant.

Maybe a place you visited.

Maybe a place that came into your life.

Maybe you started to go to a studio,

A teacher that you found,

Their place.

And again,

With any feeling of appreciation,

Growing and expanding that light just a little bit.

I'd like you to take a nice and conscious breath in and let that out.

We're now going to move into something that you'd like to make peace with and leave in the past year.

It might be a relationship that no longer serves you.

It might be a feeling of judgment or unworthiness or any sort of negative experience that you'd like to make peace with and leave in the past year.

And there may be a few that come up or just any negativity that you can scan that you'd like to leave.

I'd like you to feel these experiences or these feelings moving out of your body and into a dark cloud that is right in front of you,

Right in front of your light,

Allowing yourself to breathe out anything that you'd like to keep in this past year.

So once you've created a little cloud of energy,

Darkness that's in front of you,

I'd like you to give it a sign of appreciation for what it's showed you,

Maybe a symbol and then experience of telling it that it's no longer serving you and that you'd like to let it go.

Maybe give it a namaste.

And then with each breath I'd like you to increase your light and watch as that light moves into your dark cloud and let's go of all of that darkness as you brighten your light and come into more of an appreciation for who you truly are and are to become in this next year.

Even after you've allowed the darkness to fully dissipate and take a nice breath in and let that go.

I'd like you to think of a goal or a resolution that you would want to set for yourself for this coming year.

And see if you can bring to mind what that end result looks like.

Bring to mind you actually achieving what it is that you desire or maybe it's a habit and see yourself continually showing up each day for that habit.

Visualize where you are,

What it looks like.

Most importantly see if you can find the feeling that you're looking to create.

Is it a success in your job because of feelings of having more financial freedom?

Then it's the freedom that you want to cultivate.

Is it a significant partner?

It's the love and the connection that you want to cultivate.

And the incredible thing about our mind and our body is that we can choose and we can work to feel those emotions right now.

We don't have to wait to receive that job or get in that relationship to experience the love and the freedom and the peace that is in with each of us right now.

So after you have created what you desire,

What this goal is,

This resolution,

And after you've created this feeling,

I'd like you to give thanks for yourself and appreciate yourself for aspiring to it.

And then see if you can just surrender the outcome.

Surrender having it to go the way that you think that it should go.

And you might surrender it to God,

The universe,

Higher power,

Or just the goodwill of mankind.

Knowing that while it will be great to achieve it,

That you have what you need right here and right now.

And continue to breathe into that light that you've created.

And we're going to move through a few affirmations to really reinforce this practice.

You're welcome to repeat out loud or silently in your head.

I have everything I need right here and right now to be happy.

I have everything I need right here and now to be free.

I have everything I need right now and right here to be fulfilled.

I have everything I need right here and right now to be joyful.

And I have everything I need right here and now to be at peace.

And you're welcome to repeat one of those that may resonate or maybe you cultivated a different feeling and what that desire or that goal you hope to get.

And just affirming that you have everything you need right here and right now to feel that within your heart.

And to truly experience your light.

Just a few more breaths.

And let's take a good conscious breath in.

And let that out.

And there's a concept in spiritual practice is that you don't push for what you want.

You get inspired to be what you are.

So as we practice coming into our wholeness,

We are inspired to do more things that make us whole.

As we practice coming into our freedom,

Our peace,

Our love,

We get inspired to do more things that make us free,

Peaceful and loving.

So slowly begin to just come back to the energy in the body.

And you're welcome to come back into the movement that we started the practice with.

Be rolling out the shoulders and just starting to bring life back into your body.

And whenever you feel complete,

You can go ahead and open your eyes and start to come back into the room.

Before I leave you,

I'd like to say that if you liked this practice,

I have a short talk on Insight Timer on how to set goals,

It's titled How to Set Goals.

And it's around the same concept and especially for the New Year,

I think you might find it to be a different approach than you're used to.

So if you have five minutes,

I would say maybe give it a listen.

As always,

I'm wishing you the most loving,

The most peaceful,

The most vibrant,

The most purposeful 2019.

I'm so appreciative that many of you continue to practice with me.

And I look forward to what this year brings for all of us.

Much love and Namaste.

Reviews

That was great! I love your take on how a “resolution” should look and feel. 💚 Now I know why I never was into new year resolutions. Thank you Lou and Happy New Year! 🙏

Namaste! Happy New Year <3!

Thank you Lou - loved your whole outlook. Perfect! ❤

Perfect timing, thank you for the guidance to release what no longer serves me. I will continue with this and let it go until I get to a place of peace. Namaste.

Perfect way to start my birthday. Thank you.

I love this ❤️
Thank you 🙏

Powerful and effective. Thanks.

Soothing voice, I love it and will look for more

Lovely as always! Thank you

Lou thank you again for another insightful and thought provoking meditation. Very helpful. The idea of the pull of inspiration vs the push of motivation really resonated with me.

Namaste. Looking forward to listening to your 5min. talk.

Anothr wonderful and inspiring meditation. Thank you for accompanying me on my path.

Inspiring way to look at the year ahead. A truly wonderful and gentle meditation. Thank you 💜x

A very special message. Namaste.

Beautifully gentle. Thank you!

Really beautiful guided meditation. Coming back to where we place our intention 🙏 The creation of a calm and centred space between the meditator and those with the opportunity to learn and grow. Thank you🧘‍♀️🙏

Extraordinary meditation! Thank you!

Beautiful. Thankyou for helping me. Hope you have a wonderful 2019 also. Namaste 💖💖

This was beautiful. Feeling inspired to be what I already am and cultivate the gems within. Namaste.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
May we all have a great and wonderful 2,019 🎆🙏🎆
Namasté