Well, friends, we’ve reached the end-of-year countdown. I hope you can carve out some time in the coming days to look back and ask yourself: What did this year mean? While we can (and should) pause and reflect throughout the year, there is something undeniably symbolic about closing out the current calendar. Even if you’re not a “New Year’s person” or don’t make resolutions, this transition offers a rare opportunity—an intentional pause to reflect, take stock, and carry forward the lessons and insights that matter most. How we create beginnings and endings matters.
Perhaps it is helpful to start the process by reviewing surface highlights in the different areas of your life: professional, financial, physical/health, family, relationships, purpose, spirituality. But I encourage you to keep going. This isn’t just an exercise of listing what went well or what didn’t. This is an invitation to explore the subtle undercurrents that both shaped your year, and have the potential to guide the one ahead. Here are a few questions to get you started:
Pause and feel into the past 12 months. Take in the fullness, rather than disparate moments. Let one word or a single image arise that encapsulates the past year. Trust the first thing that comes to mind. What is it? This word or image doesn’t need to be perfect, and it might not make sense right away. It’s just a portal to understanding how the year felt to you, beneath the day-to-day details. What does this word or image reveal about your growth, your struggles, or the essence of what this year meant to you?
What was something unexpected—whether joyful, challenging, or seemingly insignificant at the time—that ultimately became a gift? Often, the moments we overlook or resist are the ones that transform us most profoundly— if we allow them to. What did this year teach you that you didn’t see coming? How might this lesson position you to move forward with greater wisdom or empowerment?
What feels incomplete or unresolved as the year comes to an end? As nice an idea as it is to try to wrap everything up with a neat bow, life rarely works that way. Acknowledging unfinished business isn’t about judging yourself, or trying to fix or change your situation. Taking note of what is in process creates an opportunity to carry your work and growth forward with intention.
What part of yourself—your shadow or a hidden strength—revealed itself in a surprising way this year? This might be a quality you’ve long ignored, a pattern that revealed itself, or a new capacity that emerged unexpectedly. How might you integrate this part of yourself in the year ahead?
Finally, if the future could whisper to you now, what wisdom might it offer? What does it tell you about what truly matters, to where you might shift your focus, or how to approach what’s next with grace and courage?
As we step into 2025, remember: reflection is more than looking back—it’s a way of actively listening to your life and the inner wisdom that is always trying to reveal itself to you. The insights you uncover aren’t just a conclusion to this chapter—they are seeds of possibility for what comes next. What might open up for you if you enter the new year with awareness, intention, and a heart ready to receive?
All blessings,
Jill
