I’ve always thought the timing of making New Year’s resolutions has been wrong, too rushed, and just not in synch with nature.   It definitely is not in synch with my internal timing and all the emails I get from other coaches asking me to set goals really irk me!  I personally use the entire month of January to reflect and get clarity and I just discovered that there’s a systemic reason for this. From a human design perspective, the New Year doesn’t begin until later in January.  Sort of cool that the internal time table I was already following is also a cosmic time table!  (See closing the door at http://www.jovianarchive.com/site/site.html)

The rush to make resolutions can actually rob us of a powerful reflection and intention setting process. Now is the time to gently reflect on this past year, to sink into the emotions of both joy of a life on track and perhaps even despair of a life not meeting our expectations.   But don’t run from this joy or this despair – allow the journey into the feelings to guide you to what is important.  Be willing to explore the shame of goals unmet to find the deep desire underneath those goals.  Be willing to let go of facades and others’ expectations and listen to what’s deep inside of you.

And then your deep desires can bubble up from inside of you, the commitment can build, the excitement of what is possible can ignite you, and you’ll find extreme clarity about what’s worth spending your time on, your energy on, your life on!

So let’s consider a few questions:

Looking at this past year, what have you done, become, let go, changed that makes you smile?  If the answer is nothing and just the very question drags you down, that’s a pretty good sign that we can do some tapping and do deeper into what message is asking to be heard.

The set-up:

Even though my life has failed this year, and I have NO successes whatsoever, I am open to the idea of loving and accepting myself.

Well, many of you have heard by now that today Gary Craig announced his retirement.  You can read his announcement here: 

http://eftcommunity.emofree.com/blogs/eft_blog/archive/2009/12/12/gary-is-retiring.aspx

I'm not sure what impact his retirement will have on the EFT community and I imagine some folks are concerned.  

 As an EFT practitioner, I will miss the emofree.com site as it's been an incredible resource of case studies and materials and I do hope it can be continued in some form.   The forums were invaluable to me as a place to meet other EFT practitioners and share information in a central place and Eric has already posted that he hopes to find a new home for them.  And I know that there already are other EFT forums around - the Ortner's tappinginternational.com is the first that comes to mind.

The presence of Gary as the founder made it easy for folks to know whom to go to for the "official" answers.  And there comes a time when the founder passes the reins onto someone else. In this case, there is no someone else designated so the community as a whole will be sorting itself out.  There already are many respected EFT leaders and I'll be watching carefully to see who are the resources to connect with.    

Now imagine being tied down like Gulliver of Gulliver's travels with hundreds of tiny but strong ropes.  Each rope is anchored to the ground ... it is not so easy to move anymore is it?  EFT is one approach to snip all those ropes, very effectively releasing all those extra baggage that comes from past traumas, limiting beliefs, and past experiences.

But what happens when we are done snipping those ropes?  What comes next? 

I've been astounded watching my clients move from fixing into creating: expanding their lives, following their dreams, making new decisions, stepping into their power.  They still use tapping to support themselves as needed but they have so much time and energy and confidence now they look and feel like different people.  They now trust themselves, knowing that their needs and values and desires are completely valid.  They understand that it's not that they don't fit into the world, it's that they just didn't know their unique place and value.  They understand that their journey and process with all the pain and challenges and bumps was the doorway into an incredible radiant and glowing life.   

So as you check in with yourself, ask yourself a few questions:

• What is still bugging me about my life?