What Lies Dormant Within You?

When I was living in Arizona, I tried to make it a point to come to Los Angeles every year at the holidays to see my family for three or four days. I’d stay at my parent’s house; the house in which I grew up.

During the day, both my folks would be at work, and since the other birds (my siblings) had long since flown the coop, there was just me hanging out.

I’m a person who enjoys solitude, so I always looked forward to that time. I would walk from room to room in my parents’ house,  looking at framed photos, thinking about all the time that had passed since I had left to be on my own. I’d think about my childhood, and people I’d lost touch with.  Sometimes I’d read, or play my guitar, or just sit and think in the quiet stillness.

One day I went out to the backyard to walk around and noticed one of the trees had completely lost all it’s leaves. All that remained were sticks. It looked dead. I remembered that the last time I had visited LA, in spring, it was big and full and had flowers on it. I wondered, “What’s  keeping it alive?” What was going in on there? It occurred to me that maybe the tree was like me, just kind of hanging out and being quiet for a while. A crazy thought occurred to me, that maybe the tree was reflecting on its life, in anticipation of the burst of energy that is Spring, in the revolving cycle of the seasons.

December 21st is the shortest day of the year, the winter Solstice. There’s that sense of dormancy, quiet, shutting down for a while. I think it serves us to take a cue from nature and do the same.

I invite and encourage you to take some quiet time to reflect over the past year and get in touch with what is possible for you in the future. Focus on the good stuff that happened to you.  Get a journal or some paper. Ask yourself some questions about the past year and write down the answers:

• What challenges did you overcome?
• What challenges stopped you?
• What did you accomplish?
• What remains left undone?
• What did you learn?
• What potential became real in your life?
• Who have you become that you were not one year ago?

I think there’s great value in doing this. You can become present to your own self-development and growth.

But I think the most important question to ask yourself during this introspective time of year is this:

What lies dormant within me that is ready to awake?

See yourself as part of the cycle of the seasons. We all get our leaves stripped off of us at times. Sometimes we feel that we will be taken down by the winds of circumstance and change. But we can come back with renewed energy and life. It’s in our nature. Be at peace now with what happened over the past year. It’s done, it’s over. Take the seeds of growth that were given to you, take the lessons, the wisdom and the learning, plant them in your mind and move forward.

Get really clear about what you want  for your life. Maybe you are unsure, but as Les Brown suggests, tell yourself “It’s possible!” Everybody talks about taking massive action. For now, do some massive dreaming! Consider that what you thought wasn’t  possible for you in the past is no longer valid because you are not that person anymore. You have a whole year of new experiences, wisdom and learning. What are you ready for now that you weren’t ready for previously? How are you stronger and more prepared to take something on, to be more engaged with life, to play a bigger, more confident game? I guarantee you that there is something: writing a book, learning an instrument, learning a language, stepping into a new relationship or recreating an existing one,  a new job, greater health, prosperity, happiness. Discover it. You may have to dig a little in some cold and frozen soil but it’s there.  It’s waiting.

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Dedicated to helping you move to your next level of greatness,

TMan