Welcome to Pushing Pause! A once a month (sometimes twice) newsletter where we push pause to explore faith, rest and beauty in our everyday lives. I’m glad you’re here.
We’ve stepped into a new year, maybe you limped, but either way, we’re here together! I’m a sucker for the fresh energy of a new year but I’m not really into resolutions and hard core goal setting. I reflect a lot on the past year and then ask myself a few simple questions that don’t necessarily feel that simple to answer. If you’re still slowly easing your way into 2023 and letting the intentions and desires for the new year bounce around your head, I’m there with you. There are no rules that say you have to have nailed down your intentions, a word of the year, or resolutions if you will, by the 2nd week of January. I tend to travel the on ramp at a slow pace until the opening feels right before merging into decisions or in this case a new year. I should mention that I get a bit of driving anxiety in real life so maybe that analogy isn’t the best coming from me. It’s true though and honestly most days I’d rather just coast in the slow lane on the highway of life. OK, Enough driving analogies just put me in an Uber.
We don’t have to speed up our reflection or the intention setting for our life just to fit into the January new year mold. We can go at our own pace. We can hold the questions and let our life speak (Thank you Parker Palmer!) whether it’s January or June. The truth is you don’t have to put any effort into thinking about change, growth, pursuits, or hopes for a new year at all. You’re here breathing, living, loving, and that’s enough! Sometimes our good intentions can get in the way of appreciating who we are and where we are in the moment. Our pursuits can turn into navel gazing or unhealthy attachments to success and productivity instead of receiving the gift of this current moment and version of ourselves. I can’t tell you what is best and neither can any self-help guru. Only you know what you need and long for in this season. I believe we each have a deep knowing to tap into. I believe the Spirit of Life is within each of us to guide and lead us. What does that deeper voice within say you need as we arrive in 2023?
A Practice
If you find yourself desiring some simple questions to ask to help you listen to the voice within here are the questions I use. I ask them and keep coming back to them for several weeks adding and rethinking as I go and then sitting with them in prayer.
1. What do I want or long for? Name the practical (a vacation, to plant a garden, etc) and the deeper longings (more connection with my spouse, wisdom for a hard season of parenting, friendship, etc). Sometimes naming the deeper things we long for can feel scary or too vulnerable. Give yourself space to let the question linger and see what rises to the surface of your thoughts.
What are the invitations I sense for this year? These may be things like a shift in my position at work, volunteering, practicing sabbath, deepening a friendship, etc. This requires some quiet listening and paying attention to where you notice the sense of invitation or movement.
What do I already expect for this year? These are the literal things like my kid will start kindergarten, a planned surgery, or a family trip, etc. Naming those things helps you see a more complete picture and helps you notice what your capacity may look like for adding things in or needing to scale back in some areas.
You can learn a lot about what you desire and hope for with those 3 questions. While we’re using them at the cusp of the new year, we’re asking the questions for who and where we are right now. The answers may change in May so don’t be so precious about your answers that you cling to them. It’s just information for the moment. Come back to the questions every few months and notice what has shifted and what remains.
A Resource
Because it’s the new year and I love the joy of getting a new planner I wanted to share this pretty little “week at a glance” planning pad. I’ve used the same version of a paper planner for 3 years and loved it but found in the 2nd half of last year that it wasn’t working as well for me. I’m switching things up this year and just using a monthly calendar spread and Google calendar along with this weekly note pad because I love putting pen to paper. Do you use a paper planner, all digital, or some hybrid of the two?
Thanks for reading. If’ you’re inclined to share, I’d love to hear something you’re longing for this year. Cheers and blessings to you for 2023! - Lindsay