Celebrating and Releasing 2011

     On Facebook around, oh, Dec 31, I noticed a lot of good riddance to 2011.  It seemed to be, among my tribe anyway, a year that symbolized a lot of struggle, challenge, and frustration with the status quo - personally and globally.  On the other hand, it seemed to me that same frustration drove folks to find the road less traveled, to passionately forge new ground for themselves because it just wasn't working anymore.

    The categorizing of years by polarizing good and bad and meh doesn't quite jive with me.  It's convenient, and it's nice to have a date to revamp, revisit, and revise.  In fact, let's set a few, shall we?  March 24th.  Nov 5th.  Let's throw in Feb 15th too, it's really soon!  Let's use it though, because it's a common milestone and it resonates with people.

    As you may know, I happened upon this gorgeous manual for truly creating and manifesting the year of your dreams, driven by your Goddess self.  I've completely glommed onto the concept of the Goddess as the guiding light in life.  Through most of my own challenging 2011, one wild, scratching, biting, kicking, clawing, screaming, primal voice surfaced over and over, no matter how many times I tried to silence her.  I didn't see a way out of our situation anyway, so why honor the voice?  In the end, it was the voice of my inner woman, my Goddess, the force of creation, life, consciousness... the source of creation to which all those words, including God, point.  I can get on board with her.  She makes sense to me.  Which brings me to the Goddess Guide, which you can find here if you are interested in going the journey with me.

    I wanted so badly to dive into the now, the 2012 part, the leave all the rest behind, join the good riddance group.  Goddess Leonie has other plans for us, however.  She asks that we celebrate and release 2011.  How tedious.

    How liberating!  By posing some critical questions, Leonie helped me reframe the year into the gains, not the losses, and to be intentional about that which we would like to leave behind.  For me, I realized that the howling inner Goddess that landed me in the psych ward actually set all my limiting beliefs on fire, and that instead of being ashamed that I had to go there, I feel proud that I have a fierce fighting source inside of me.  I realized also that I want to leave the "story" behind... all the bitterness and blaming.  How can I bring it with me into this great future, which is unfolding this exact second?  All that seemed unfathomable is now true and glorious.  (Except maybe the school switch... we'll see how that plays out).

    The exercise of celebrating and releasing 2011 invigorated me, but I honored the heavy feeling that came over my hands at the end of the pages guiding me through that process.  I set aside the remaining 95 pages of the Goddess Guide, and will spend some time meditating and searing the lessons of 2011 onto my soul.

     Whether you join me via the guide, or via your own inner guide, share your thoughts about the gifts of the past year.