traditions
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The past few days have been filled with celebration, family, laughter, and lots of fun. Presents have been unwrapped, love has been shared, and joy and gratitude has filled my heart. I am so grateful for my family and the way we come together to celebrate.
As the year comes a close I will be taking the time to reflect on what was and open my heart to what will be. I have a few traditions that I carry out each year and this year I will dig into them again. Some of them are:
Photo Look Back
I take many photos but rarely print them out. They are all housed inside of my computer. At the end of the year I carve out an hour or two to sit down and go through my entire year of photos. I start with January and work all the way up to December. Memories resurface and the simple every day moments that I took with my iPhone get savored again. I love these photos because they are a true reflection of the life I live every day.
Mondo Beyondo List
This tradition was brought into my life by the wonderful Andrea Scher. At the beginning of each year I sit down for ten minutes and write down all of my wildest and craziest dreams that I would like to come true as well as the little things that have been nudging my heart. As soon as I start my timer I don't let my hand stop writing until it dings ten minutes later. It is interesting to see what spills out. Dreams come up that I didn't even realize I had.
Once my new list is written I go back and take a look at previous years to see what has come true or what has been written again. I love having these yearly list to go back through. Sometimes it takes years for a dream to come true but the simple act of writing it down plants the seed.
Collaging How I Want to Feel
I have always been drawn to collage. For years I have been ripping images out of magazines and gluing them down. Some of my early collages have been framed and hang in my kitchen today. What I love about collage is the freedom. As I go through magazines I rip out the images I am drawn to; the ones that make me feel good for one reason or another. Then I lay them all out and start gluing them down sporadically. There is no rhyme or reason for where they end up, just a feeling. Sometimes one page becomes two and other times I love the way they fit together so much that I pull it out of my notebook and frame it. These visual pages are a reflection of feelings deep from my heart.
I am big on traditions. They are a touchstone in my life and a reminder for me to slow down and savor the passing of time. The three above are just a few that I practice. What traditions do you have? How do you savor and celebrate the passing of time?
