A Month of Reflection – zen habits zen habits

By Leo Babauta

We’re getting into the final month of the yr, and for many people, it’s a darker and quieter season.

It’s the right time for reflection.

I like to make use of December to deepen into reflection, and in my ​Fearless Residing Academy​, we do a yearly ritual that I name “Sacred Bow” (as in “bow in reverence to your previous yr”). On this ritual, we:

• Spend a while reflecting on what we completed, went by, and discovered for the previous yr
• Get clear on what objectives and initiatives we fell brief on, and what we are able to study from that
• Envision our coming yr, with objectives and intentions
• Create construction to make these intentions a actuality

I invite you to ​be part of us in Fearless Residing Academy​ and be part of this Sacred Bow course of!

On this article, I’ll share some further methods I prefer to deepen into reflection in December …

Replicate on Life & Which means

Life rushes by so quick. Day-to-day, it looks like a dashing river and I barely have time to note the water passing by earlier than it’s gone.

Taking a while in quiet and stillness implies that I can decelerate and mirror on life. On my life, on human life. On what it means, or what I would like it to imply.

What have I discovered in recent times that provides to the which means of life for me?

What I’ve been discovering right here recently is a way of sacredness and depth to every second that I typically don’t discover, as a result of I’m so centered on getting stuff achieved or coping with the state of affairs in entrance of me or letting myself be distracted. After I decelerate into stillness, that depth and sacredness turns into extra accessible to me.

Replicate on My Follow & Development

I discover the tip of the yr an necessary time to mirror on what I’ve been training with in my life. Have I been deepening into mindfulness, training with uncertainty and worry, studying to turn into extra conscious of my patterns as they present up?

That is an ongoing journey of progress, and it’s immensely necessary that I take time to mirror on it regularly.

What have you ever been training recently? What are you studying from that apply? What progress have you ever been noticing?

Replicate on Darkness, Stillness & Demise

December is a phenomenal month to decelerate and mirror on three issues:

1. Darkness: The place I stay now (northern California), December is the darkest month of the yr. I discovered that miserable once we moved right here from Guam, and that continued for years after we moved … till latest years, once I determined to begin to look at my relationship to darkness. It’s a profound reflection for me, and I’m beginning to open to the wonder and surprise of darkness, each outdoors of me and inside.
2. Stillness: It’s additionally a month when issues really feel frozen and nonetheless, and I’m studying to embrace that as effectively. I’m somebody who likes to maneuver shortly, however there’s a lot knowledge in stillness. I’ve to apply in opposition to my default tendency. Sitting outdoors in stillness, and noticing what reveals up in that stillness, is a apply I resist and love.
3. Demise: As a society, we are likely to worry dying. That’s comprehensible. However winter is a dying that opens house for brand new life, and I embrace it as an affirmation of life. I mirror on the family members I’ve misplaced, and the way a lot they nonetheless imply to me. I mirror alone dying, and discover a point of acceptance of that.

Do any of those subjects resonate with you?

I encourage you to carve out a while for reflection because the yr involves a detailed.

And as soon as once more, if you happen to’d prefer to be part of the Sacred Bow ritual, I invite you to ​be part of us in Fearless Residing Academy​!