The New Year is well underway and we thought, a couple of weeks into 2021, the theme of restoration and renewal might be a beautiful topic to explore, recorded on the Winter Solstice (in the Northern Hemisphere). The Winter Solstice is a time to pause and look up, away from our day to day concerns and allow hope and optimism to bubble up. The human spirit is a remarkable thing. We can admire what's possible and get curious about what renewal and restoration could mean. What are the seeds? What is possible? This year could take us into despair or numbing ourselves, tuning out, feeling overwhelmed by the bigness of the challenges we face collectively.

Here's what we explored:

• is the New Year a time for something other than personal goals and resolutions?

• recognizing the gift of presence: to ourselves, our clients, and our losses

• when we are present, time and space fall away

• in presence we find renewal and then we return to the fray of life, again and again

• being present to our experience, whatever that is, including grief

• in presence, we find openness and tenderness,

• we don't have to fix or control, there is a sense of relief

• in presence, we find the wisdom to know what's next

• leaders can create a culture where it's okay to grieve, to have ebbs and flows in productivity, to embrace our humanity

• the push to produce more and more is not replicated in nature

• clocks and timetables are useful for very specific purposes eg making appointments but so much in life happens independent of clocks

• the only thing that makes something good or bad, valuable or not, is our judgment, made of thought

• being present gives us more access to common sense which guides us beautifully

• grief and gratitude are two sides of one coin. When you make space for the loss, you also make space for the gratitude

• we often want to fix bad feelings, get through them quickly, but if we can pause and honor what is, there is a richness available

• when old griefs come back around, maybe they are coming up for air, for healing

• when we get really lost in our painful stories about ourselves, others, the past, and the future, we suffer

• to really see how human beings create stories all the time and our stories are ever-changing is a huge insight

• when we recognize the illusory nature of our stories, we get to hold them more lightly, let them flow through us

• not using 'getting present' as a way to avoid our feelings or bypass them

• presence and tenderness are so healing

• by honoring the experience you are in right now, you are honoring Life

• we are built to experience Life coming through us

• what occurs to you around renewal and restoration?

Quotes and References

• 'The Reith Lectures, Dr Mark Carney, How We Get What We Value - transcript