Why January is not the right time to review your year and set your goals

We are in the month of goal setting frenzy and year review and everybody seems to be so willing to change everything in their lives …  I wonder though, is it the right time to do this?This is what the outer landscape can look like in January!

I am a woman and I have been practicing menstrual awareness for over six years in a conscious way. Before I was tracking my cycle out of my own intuition, therefore I was unconsciously cycle aware.  As such, I know that I go through four distinctive ‘inner seasons’ every month and at the end of every cycle I do a review of how my month has been.  Why do I do that?   Because I learn my lessons every month and I want to start my next cycle knowing where I am standing and where I want to go!  Hence, when January comes, I don’t feel the need to go through my whole year again as I do it regularly.  Moreover, I also follow the outer seasons, as I know that they impact my life big time living in the Northern hemisphere, so I know that the beginning of January it is not the right time for reviewing.

How do I know?  Well, winter has only just started. The winter solstice happened on 21^st December, therefore my body and consciousness is only starting slowing down to go into ‘hibernation’ so to speak. I am starting getting in contact with my soul and starting exploring my inner landscape, so how can I be prepared to have clarity to set my next year’s goals?  I will be much better prepared to do that at the end of February or mid March when Nature starts waking up and my body too, as it follows the natural seasonal rhythm.  An alternative to reviewing my year in spring is doing it in autumn, at the end of November, beginning of December when my body and consciousness are naturally slowing down and reviewing things anyway.  The secret to have a happily flowing life is to follow Nature, rather than setting some unnatural planning that clashes with it.  I went into more details about the energy of autumn in my last blog ‘Autumn is a feminine season’ and I would like to explore now a bit more the nature of winter.

Winter energy is a cooling energy spiralling downwards, therefore very apt for going in and checking in.  As when I walk in a wood in winter, I can easily see all the trees and what is on the ground where normally there is plenty of foliage during the other seasons, likewise during winter it is time to listen attentively to my soul and her needs. To be able to get these messages I have to become silent and retreat from outer activities, as Nature does.  It is not a good time for reviewing, because to be able to get my lessons, I need to hear first the messages from the invisible world to be able to wake up in spring and have clarity!  What is the point to set goals just for the sake of it and then not follow through because they are not soul driven?  It is a dangerous activity that can destroy our enthusiasm and won’t help us understand ourselves and what we really want, so why to do it?

As a woman I happily cycle with my inner cycles every month of the year and I review them accordingly, so I always know where I am standing and what my body and my psyche want to do.  I just follow Nature and go in ‘hibernation’ in winter to be able to feel renewed in spring and use my natural energy, fueling my enthusiasm to get what I want in life.  My female cycle and Nature are my best friends!  What are yours?