It’s coming up to the New Year – that time of year when many of us like to reflect on the past 12 months and also and the year to come.

Personally 2013 has been a year full of emotional ups and downs for myself and for my family. It has been a year of being brave, facing fears and taking chances. Along the way I have found enormous support from my friends and colleagues and an inner strength that I always suspected was present, but one that had never really been tested to such an extent.

Throughout the year I have also been so privileged to watch the changes in my clients – who so often go from being in really painful places in their lives to moving forward in such a positive way. ?I have a great job and I’m continually inspired by what it is possible for a person to achieve.

I often find myself talking to clients about that old NLP idea of ‘There’s No Failure, Only Feedback’ and how every experience can just be a platform to stand upon to take you closer to what you want in life. One of my greatest feedback learnings this year has been to reach out and ask for help when needed. It’s funny that as a therapist who’s job it is to encourage others to reach out, I had forgotten how much I needed that too. Being emotionally self sufficient is my default setting when I’m under stress and not always helpful. We are all a work in progress and how great that in every moment is the possibility for things to be different – emotionally, mentally and in the situations that we create around us. It is a truth that we are only limited by our beliefs of what is possible and that every new thought brings a possibility of a new idea, which brings a possibility of the insight that could ?to a major change.

I was just reading a friend’s blog http://openmindhypnotherapy.co.uk/category/blog/ (check it out – it’s well worth a read), where Chloe talks about what her themes were from the past year. I think for 2013 mine would be strength and growth. Strength to be me – to move forward, to change things that aren’t working and to create more of the life that I want to live. Growth – never to be afraid to stay in growth rather than protection. To be able to move forward towards the things that seems difficult and look for a solution, rather than staying still hoping to avoid rocking the boat. Rocking the boat now seems like such a good idea when a few years ago it would have been about battening down the hatches.

I quite like that sailing metaphor. ?Here’s to new journeys, new ways to explore the seven seas of life and to bringing on the storms. Because it’s from them that we learn the most about what we’re capable of.

Rather than leaving it to chance, I’m going to choose a theme for 2014 of having fun being me. ?Sounds good doesn’t it? Last year fun got forgotten about a bit but I intend to embrace it fully during 2014. Gentle, healthy, successful fun.

What will you be aiming for during 2014? ?Why not drop me a line or pop over to my Facebook page to let me know.