Holidays, reflections & self-compassion

A few thoughts and appreciations as we move into the new year.

Hi there; it's been a minute! This post comes to you at a slightly different time than usual. I want to share a few thoughts before we head into the last week of the year.

Undoubtedly, many of you, including myself, are preparing for the holidays: wrapping gifts, preparing food and adding finishing touches to give the space the most energizing holiday vibes one can hope for.

For me, this time of year is a time of love, gratitude, and blessings. And let's not forget the non-stop holiday music streaming on our home speakers and car radios. Some might cringe at how much it plays in this household, but we love it!

As I prepare for everything to come, I also can't miss that the end of the year is upon us. While I never recommend waiting for it to take a moment to reflect, it presents an opportunity if you haven’t consistently reflected throughout the year.

Here's a simple one. What are you grateful for?

As I reflect on mine, I’m thankful to be privileged to have a wonderful family: parents and a sister I love and a wonderfully supportive partner, Amanda, whom I love very much too. This year was exciting and challenging; I'm sure it was the same for many of you.

I'm also grateful and want to share my deep appreciation for everyone on this Sunday Spark journey. Your attention is precious, and I don't take it lightly. Thank you for always allowing me to share the various reflective thoughts and ideas dancing in my mind. It means a lot to me.

Life always presents in ebbs and flows. It’s a sine wave of intricate and beautiful events stitched together in ways we most often can’t imagine. Yet, these present themselves in moments that offer us continuous growth opportunities.

We can start to recognize when those growth opportunities are knocking at our door: they challenge us and often humbly reveal that our current approaches to our personal, professional and/or business lives may no longer be structurally sound if we want to thrive.

These are always some of the best opportunities for self-reflection and, more importantly, self-compassion. It is part of life to face periods where we feel ill-equipped for the challenge. That is precisely how human development works. By adopting self-compassion, we allow ourselves to acknowledge our current limits and make space to reflect on what we might need to do differently moving forward, the first step to making a change.

The alternative is sticking to what we know and doubling down, which keeps us feeling like we're in control, but, unfortunately, has the reverse effect we are looking for: it stunts our developmental growth and keeps us from becoming more whole and capable of more complex thinking and being.

We're all moving through our different challenges, dealing with circumstances we never thought we'd have to face. Giving ourselves and others the gift of compassion might be the best thing we can offer.

I'm hopeful for the future, even though it might seem and feel grim at times with everything that is happening. There is still much beauty all around—we must choose to look for it—and the opportunity to shift things in ways perhaps unimaginable right now. I have an inkling that 2023 will present many more opportunities for growth as a species.

I look forward to writing some more here in the new year. The various projects I'm working on will surely inspire some interesting thoughts and ideas. Thank you again for reading.

As always, I love hearing from you. If you are yearning for something new this coming year or have noticed one of those challenging opportunities for developmental growth, please get in touch; I want to hear from you.

Have a great end of the year and a fantastic holiday period: much love, gratitude and compassion to all.

Miguel,
Sparknotion — Think Differently.