The end of the year is a time to reflect on what happened in the past year and what you would like to manifest in the new year. So on this last day of 2017, I want to summarize what I’ve learned this year.
2017 was a time for new beginnings, new endings, lots of learning, and change. It was a great year, one where I got to know myself and the world around me better. One that was difficult but incredible at the same time. One that brought many challenges, but yet those challenges only helped me to grow. One where I was lucky enough to travel in Asia for half of the year, and then to come back to my old life in the US with clarity, incredible insight, and a newfound perspective on life.
Rather than focusing on what I did in 2017, I’d like to focus on what I learned and how I grew from my experiences. 2017 was an amazing year full of infinite exploration (cue music). So without further ado, here are my major takeaways!
1. I learned that there is something greater than myself.
I know I’ve said this many times, but my time in Bali this year and my yoga teacher training (YTT) in April changed my life. I did not consider myself to be a spiritual person upon arriving in Bali, and I’m far from religious. Yet what I learned at the YTT and then discovered myself at the subsequent five day silent meditation retreat and my time living in Bali was a game changer.
Yoga is so much more than the physical postures. Yoga quite literally means “union” or “connection” with all beings. Traditional yoga is the ability to connect the body, mind, and spiritual energies to obtain a higher level of consciousness. To understand that there is a soul that lives outside our physical bodies. That all souls are part of this universe and one.
We are not our thoughts and emotions. Rather, these energies pass through our physical bodies. It is our choice whether we choose to follow or become involved in what’s flowing through our minds. We control our reactions to what is presented before us. When you learn to become aware of what is, your reactions, and why you are doing or acting in certain ways, you are able to accept what cannot be changed and change what can.
In learning and practicing this since April, I am now more able to trust myself and my own intuition. When something I perceive to be bad happens, I believe that there is some greater reason for it to have happened, something I may not necessarily be aware of yet. There is some larger energy at play, and I trust that the Universe knows what is best for me.
When you learn to go with the flow of life, things happen effortlessly. You don’t suffer needlessly when you allow things that you cannot change to occur. Generally, you are happy and at peace. This is the practice of yoga.
2. I learned to believe that energy controls our being.
For an entire month at my yoga teacher training, I struggled to believe what I was being taught. What was holding me back was my ability to grasp the general premise of yoga. Yogis believe that life is energy. Everything we do, everything we feel, everything we think and see, every movement we make is energy, or “prana.” Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Karma. Everything we put into our bodies holds a certain energy that can affect our being in a negative or positive way. I understood what I was learning, and respected that others believed it, yet I didn’t believe it.
After the YTT, I went to see a High Priestess in Bali who performs water purifications. Wanting to believe this this whole “energy thing,” but not having yet experienced it, I didn’t expect to get anything out of the experience. But what ended up happening was quite the opposite. As soon as Ida Resi Alit started pouring the water on my head, my forearms started to tingle and go numb. I could literally feel the energy moving up my arms. It gradually made its way down to my legs as well. While this was happening, an intense emotion suddenly took over my whole being. I felt emotion bubbling up, like it needed to be released. I wanted to cry, yet at the same time, I was incredibly happy.
Suddenly, I was a believer in energy. I could literally feel the energy running through my being in so many ways. Ida made me a believer.
Life is energy. Our bodies are energy. With this newfound knowledge, I try to maximize the positive energy I am around and minimize the negative energy so that I can maintain a state of balance. Doing this through yoga, healthy (mostly) vegan eating, surrounding myself with positive individuals, and through general self-care are just some examples of how to do this.
3. I learned that life is all about perception.
This sounds cliche, but it’s true. We choose how we relate to everything that happens in our life. We create our own suffering; choosing to suffer is a daily choice that we make. Suffering only occurs when we resist change. Obviously, some level of pain is inevitable in all of our lives. Whether it be a break up, the death of a loved one, or illness; all of these things will naturally cause pain. But what causes suffering is our inability to accept that these events have occurred. When we can rewire the brain to learn to accept rather than avoid what we have no ability to control, we can move on with our lives with acceptance and ease.
Obviously, pain will come and go. We have to let it come and go, but try not to allow it to cause unnecessary suffering. Even our feelings are changing - when we can allow those to be, we can watch them come and go with grace and ease, knowing nothing is permanent.
Of the many tricks that helped me learn this skill, there is one very important book I’d like to share with you that helped me to view life from a different perspective. Reading this book gave me the skills to be able to watch life pass by, viewing life from above as a witness. Some might call it “witness consciousness.” I highly recommend giving yourself the gift of this book, The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer, in the new year.
4. I learned to trust my own intuition to make decisions.
This is a big one. My entire life, I have been a terrible decision maker. I never trusted myself and my intuition to make decisions and to choose the best path for me. This is likely for a number of reasons, but when I learned to silence my inner critic and to deeply listen to what my soul desired, I have been able to make decisions from the heart.
5. l learned that it’s okay if a decision isn’t made when you want it to be made.
Even though we may want to, we can’t rush decisions. Put quite simply - a decision will be made when it is ready to be made. When you learn to accept what is, you also learn that one cannot force something that is not yet ready to change. And sometimes, the decision quite simply might be not to make the decision yet.
One of the goals of my YTT was to try to determine what to do for online work. Yet, during the entire month, no answers were coming my way. After the YTT, I was incredibly disappointed that I hadn’t found my answer yet. Why hadn’t it come? What was the point of me even going to Bali?
After the YTT, I went straight into a five day silent meditation retreat with the same school, Blooming Lotus Yoga. Again, I was getting nothing out of the experience in the way of answers during the first four days. But then suddenly, I got my answer. And that answer came from within during a meditation. The answer was “be patient, the answer will come.” I’ll never forget those words.
And suddenly, just like that, I was incredibly joyful and at peace. Between they High Priestess experience and my own intuition giving me an answer, I was suddenly a believer in the lessons taught during the YTT. Most importantly, I learned that it’s okay if a decision is not yet made. It may not be ready to be made, and it will come when it is ready. So if you are truly struggling with a decision, know that the answer will come. It will come just when it is meant to come, and when you allow that to happen, you will be at peace with the outcome.
6. I learned that silence is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.
No need to elaborate too much here. I found that the more alone time I had, the more I had time to process my feelings and dive deep into what my intuition was telling me to do. Whether it was a silent meditation retreat, detoxing from social media, or opting out of a social event to be with myself, each time the benefits outweighed not being silent. We expend so much energy doing too much, talking all the time, always making plans. But when you can slow down, be silent, journal, do whatever internal work you need to do, you will feel grounded, at peace, and in touch with your true essence. Being silent is one of the best gifts we can give ourselves because it allows us to tap into our soul.
7. I learned to be.
The main point of my six month journey on the other side of the world was to figure out how to make a living online as a digital nomad. Yet the more I pressed the matter, the more I tried to figure out my magical money-making cure, the more confused I got. There were so many options, and none that seemed ideal.
After the YTT and being silent, and upon receiving the same message time and time again in Bali from various sources, I discovered that maybe ‘doing’ and trying to figure it out wasn’t in the cards for me right now. Rather than being impatient and hard on myself for not having figured out the magical cure, maybe the answer was to just let myself live. I decided to stop spending money at coworking spaces. I stopped working on the blog. I stopped trying to figure out what just didn’t want to be figured out.
Maybe I just needed to relax for once. Maybe I just needed to have my three hour daily morning yoga practice. Maybe I needed to eat amazing vegan food. Maybe I needed to socialize with friends when I felt like doing so. Maybe I needed to attend workshops and classes if I felt called. Maybe I just needed to do whatever the hell I felt like doing in that moment. Maybe I just needed to get over the work burnout from the past six years. Maybe I just needed to be.
Turns out, that is exactly what I needed in those six months. Coming back to the US, I felt rejuvenated, in touch with myself, grounded, and ready to take on the next chapter of my life.
8. I learned what true love is.
2017 was a tough year for me in the love department. I met and fell in love with an amazing man in 2016. Yet, my travels and his life circumstances pulled me from him and continued throughout 2017. Even when I returned to the US, we simply couldn’t be together. I learned that timing is everything, but I also learned the nature of true love.
True love is free of attachment. It is without greed. It is allowing a person to be who they are without trying to get something in return. When you truly love someone, you will also be able to let them go, if that is what they want to do. You do not stifle their growth by looking for something in return. So, even though my love and I cannot be together, I still love him from afar. I can still love him even though we are not together.
Maybe, someday when the timing is right, we can be together again. For now, we cannot. And that is okay. True love does not have boundaries or set expectations. We are both where we are right now for various reasons. We both have lessons to learn and things to accomplish on our own. Maybe our paths will cross again one day, but for now, I accept our current reality. True love of self and him allows for that. I accept that if we are not together right now, we are simply not meant to be together. And that is okay. The Universe has something else in store for both of us.
In summary, 2017 was a year full of amazing experiences, people, and insights into the nature of reality. I hope that you are able to take some of the lessons I learned in 2017 and implement them into your 2018.
As usual, let me leave you with a collage of pics to summarize my year!
May the new year bring you plenty of new insights, experiences, and people that set your soul free. Happy new year!
Love and light,
Jodi
* Cover photo taken from a sunset viewing spot in Amed, Bali in May 2017.