One more week of January 2025 to go. How are we all doing? Did it feel like it would never end?
The few bright mornings we had and the sight of daffodils and snowdrops sprouting have helped me through. It hasn’t felt so bad this year. I am grateful for that.
I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions – I believe that you can and should make changes any day of the week, any time of the year – but I was intrigued when a friend suggested that we go to a sound bath and meditation workshop, where we could make a vision board for the coming year.
Coincidentally, this invitation came at a time when I had become curious about visualisation and meditation, even manifestation.
Before I lose some - perhaps many – of you who are cynical about these practices, let me assure you that I have approached this objectively.
I have tried not to be cynical because the many business leaders and successful people who practise regularly cannot all be wrong.
Meditation for me is a work in progress. Taking time to myself to find quiet at all, never mind clear my mind, is a big challenge.
Has my attention span completely disappeared or do I constantly have too much in my head? A bit of both, I suspect.
Anyone who does meditation regularly raves about its benefits. I continue to try to master it.
I found the sound bath incredibly relaxing. Our host, Laura, played everything from singing bowls, to drums, to the rain maker.
I was amazed how I was affected by the different vibrations the instruments created. I slept like a baby after the session, and that I welcome at a time in life where between perimenopause and the sleeping patterns of a five-year-old, a good night’s sleep is never guaranteed.
The other part of our workshop was the vision board. I hadn’t given my hopes for 2025 much thought to be honest. I was surprised what I prioritised when I had to focus on the vision for 40 minutes or so.
What do I want out of my family life, my friendships? How much do I contribute to my community? What about work: where does it, should it fit in?
The host had prepared a selection of images and quotes, which made their way on to my mood board. I am really glad that I made the time to think about this and do feel that it will benefit me this year.
When it comes to visualisation and manifestation though, how does it work? Can we manifest the big house, the dream job, ‘the one’? I don’t know.
At the end of last year, as people I follow curated their ‘best of ′24’ on their social media feeds, I picked out a few books I liked the look of.
One of them was Manifestation – 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life, by Roxi Nafousi. A Sunday Times best seller, the claim is that this book will change your life. That’s BIG talk.
I downloaded the audio book and listened cynically at first. I really wanted to hate it. I didn’t.
Before listening, I had misunderstood what manifesting was. I thought that it was a mad notion – imagine what you want and it will appear. I mean, come on.
When you drill into it, manifestation is in fact for anyone who wants to feel more empowered in their lives.
Of the seven steps presented, three jumped out at me because I think that anyone would benefit from concentrating on them: remove fear and doubt, align your behaviour, and embrace gratitude without caveats.
The latter was the most challenging for me. My gratitude always has caveats. I’m happy enough but if I could just shift those extra few pounds, do a little more exercise, have a slightly bigger house, I would be much happier.
She talked about setting herself the challenge of writing a positivity journal each day. Ten things you are grateful for in any given day.
Think about that: why do most of us, myself included, have to be challenged to focus on the positive?
Being positive isn’t easy if things aren’t going well, if we are tired, dealing with sickness or tragic circumstances, but Nafousi challenges us to find the glimmers in life and promises that a grateful heart is a magnet for miracles.
Can’t hurt to give it a go.
Five days in, I feel the better of it.