Time to Reflect

As the year is wrapping up in a hurry and winter is unfolding, I’m feeling called to take a pause and go within.

When I grew up in Japan, it was our tradition to deep clean the house to prepare for the new year. For many years after coming to the U.S., I practiced that custom at the end of the year. It used to take at least a few days to go through my dwelling as it involved purging the things that needed to be removed from my home, either for recycle or donation or in worst case trash. I admit it has become increasingly challenging in the recent years. It’s not only that I have the physical space to go through but now we have the digital space. If I want to do a really thorough job of it, it would take me a solid week minimum.

While I once was rather compulsive about getting the house clean before the mid-night bell rang on the New Year’s Eve, I have eased my self-inflicted marching order in recent years. Yet it is definitely my desire to clear out the old energy both physically and spiritually. In fact, the spiritual aspect of it feels more critical at this point in my life.

I used to go to a silent meditation retreat at the end of the year between Christmas and New Year. Only through sitting in silence for an extended time I could clear my mind space. As the year-end retreat is no longer offered by my teacher, it is up to me to carve out some time for reflection: What were my goals, desires, and dreams I was able to realize? What were things that I didn’t quite accomplish? What are my goals, desires and dreams for the coming year?

2022 has been a year of lots of positive progress both professionally and personally unlike last year, which was loaded with losses. I feel like my effort in my green real estate business is starting to pay off, and more opportunities are coming my way. Yet this is all the reasons why I need a time to pause and reflect. So I think the new few weeks before the New Year is it. Time to reflect.