Artwork by Erin Mihalchick
I wrote about the Squirrel quite awhile ago…and what he was preparing us for. In that post I talked about the “Hibernation” stage. Here is the link to that post if you are interested in familiarizing yourself; Let’s take a lesson from the squirrel. I believe we are now entering…that hibernation I spoke of.
What do I mean by Hibernation?
It is time for us to reflect and contemplate what we have learned and experienced thus far. Time to really look at the whys and the how comes. Time to ask ourselves what was the greater meaning of this or does it even have a greater meaning. How does it fit with where we are or where we are going?
Everything happens for a reason. Taking time to look at what that reason was or just acknowledging the event is key! This time of hibernation is an important step in our growth. It really ties in everything I have talked about lately. By taking the time to review you will be in a better place to let go…or if need be, hold on to what is necessary and release what no longer serves you.
I feel that we can expect to be in this time of hibernation from January 15th till about March 15th.
How do we go about this process you may be wondering. I am going to list a few of the ways you may have reviewed things in the past:
- Sit in contemplation Give yourself at least an hour of uninterrupted time to think about some key events.
- Make a list of events / experiences that you have carried with you. Writing them down adds a level of focus and review all on its own.
These may have worked for you before…but during this period of time a deeper focused contemplation is really needed. I have been guided to share with you a technique that should help bring into focus what to carry with you and what to let go of, right now.
Pick an area of your life you would like to review.
Career – Family – Relationships (interpersonal) – Intimacy (romantic)
After you have picked an area to review, cut a piece of paper into a bunch of squares (a size you can comfortably write on). With a pen or pencil begin to write out the experiences or emotions you are feeling and carrying with you in regards to the area of review. One per square.
After you have written out everything you can think of. Now set the slips of paper aside. You will need to either make and label 5 piles or containers. For example purposes let’s use the area of review as Career.
For CAREER you could label them something like this:
- Enjoyed/ Rewarding
- Successful Outcome
- Unsuccessful Outcome
- Unacceptable Event or Experience
- Time to let it go
What you label them should feel right and have meaning to you. The labels will also change slightly based on the area you are reviewing, for example RELATIONSHIPS could have labels like: Acceptable experience, Unacceptable experience, Traits you like, Traits you dislike, Rewarding experiences… I think you get the point that this is where you customize your piles.
Keep doing this until you have thoroughly reviewed each slip. This process allows you to really think and contemplate on the issue that was important enough to make its way onto the slip of paper. You will be able to decide how and where it fits in your life currently (if at all).
After going through each slip of paper. Take a deep breath! That was a lot of work and a mighty big accomplishment!
When you are ready for the next step (take a break if you need to, an hour…day or week). When you are ready to proceed make two addition piles (something like this works might well for career) Learn from / Carry with you and Look into deeper
Look at your piles or Buckets… Go through each pile saving the Let Go of for last. Review each pile, make note of which pile had the most items in it. How many experiences or incidents have you enjoyed? Set an intention to try to focus on creating more of those activities in your life. How many were you unhappy about the outcome…what can you learn from those experiences??? anything?
While going through each of these piles, pick up each slip of paper and again choose a new pile to place it in.. The Learn from and Carry with you pile or Look into deeper pile or Time to let go pile that you had previously filled.
The point of the exercise is to help narrow it all down to letting it go…or carrying it with you. Sometimes the mere process of placing it in a pile or bucket labeled letting it go…enables us to really let it go. In reviewing the piles we created and filled we are able to really focus on the things we have been carrying with us to determine whether or not it is still necessary to hold on to them. Often we hold onto experiences just because we feel obligated to, or out of habit. Not everything needs to be continually dragged around with us.
This detailed process should be done in each area of your life. Remember you don’t need to do it all at once… this period of hibernation gives you time to really focus and do one area at a time, giving it the undivided attention it needs, you have till March 15th to really try to process all that we have accomplished and experienced up until this moment.
Remember the purpose of hibernation in the post about the squirrel was to really take the time to review and release what no longer serves your highest good. A time for meditative contemplation of the experiences we are living and have had.
If you notice one labeled bucket or pile is much more full than the others….ask yourself whyis that? Is is a good thing or are you carrying more weight around than you need to? Has the experience ran its course? Is is beneficial any longer? If you find upon review that you continue to repeat a specific experience…why is this? Do you need to look closer at the experience to see what you may be missing from it? Is there a lesson you are missing or perhaps avoiding? What does this tell you about the area of review? Sometimes just seeing a bucket full, gives you the awareness you need of what the experience is teaching you.
This is a lot of information… I hope you find it helpful! Enjoy your hibernation!!!!
Namaste~