Another year is almost gone… and again, I don’t know how, when, or where it went… so many things happened this year, and so many things didn’t.
As we are preparing to move into the New Year 2025, let’s do our usual end of year reflection. It is time to sit in silence and ponder… time to dig into our soul looking for answers or making peace with not finding some of those answers.
Here are our 7 journaling prompts to reflect on.
If you are a paper and pen type of person like I am, you can print the images, stick them in your journal and dedicate some time every day during the remaining days of the year to reflect and make some decisions and choices.
Wish you all a blessed, happy, healthy and joyful New Year!
As we are preparing to move into the New Year 2025, let’s do our usual end of year reflection. It is time to sit in silence and ponder… time to dig into our soul looking for answers or making peace with not finding some of those answers.
Here are our 7 journaling prompts to reflect on.
If you are a paper and pen type of person like I am, you can print the images, stick them in your journal and dedicate some time every day during the remaining days of the year to reflect and make some decisions and choices.
Wish you all a blessed, happy, healthy and joyful New Year!
| 2025-reflections.pdf |
Despite life's endless challenges, there are always tons of things we are grateful for. God sends us grace and blessings every single day, every single moment. We just need to be awake and aware to receive them. For me, having a grateful heart is in itself the best Divine gift and blessing ever.
Write your list of at least 3 things you are grateful for in 2024. Allow yourself to breathe them in, embody them, and fully feel the gratitude within every cell of your body. God promises us: “If you express gratitude, I shall certainly give you more” (Q. 14: 7)
Write your list of at least 3 things you are grateful for in 2024. Allow yourself to breathe them in, embody them, and fully feel the gratitude within every cell of your body. God promises us: “If you express gratitude, I shall certainly give you more” (Q. 14: 7)
For many of us, thinking about our accomplishments might be challenging. Sometimes when we look at our life, we think we didn't achieve much because we didn't reach any concrete goals yet... This is mainly because we learned to measure our success from a Western mentality standpoint, looking only at material achievements - things that we can see, hear, touch, taste or smell; Things that we can perceive with our five external senses; and worse yet, things that others can see and praise us for. With all the selfies and hypes on social media, it is extremely difficult to even try to fit in… we can’t help but compare and we end up beating ourselves up and torturing ourselves with guilt and feeling worthless.
But, this shouldn’t be the case. Sometimes our biggest achievement is in laying the foundation and the groundwork for our next stage in life, our inner growth, our inner heroic journey that only God could see.
When considering your achievements this year, I invite you to first consider your heart, namely its state: Is its mirror well polished reflecting the beauty of your human spirit? Is it closer or further away from its Creator? Is it more loving, forgiving and caring? Is it more balanced? Is it braver, more courageous? Is it wiser and more just?
Take out your journal and start your reflection…
But, this shouldn’t be the case. Sometimes our biggest achievement is in laying the foundation and the groundwork for our next stage in life, our inner growth, our inner heroic journey that only God could see.
When considering your achievements this year, I invite you to first consider your heart, namely its state: Is its mirror well polished reflecting the beauty of your human spirit? Is it closer or further away from its Creator? Is it more loving, forgiving and caring? Is it more balanced? Is it braver, more courageous? Is it wiser and more just?
Take out your journal and start your reflection…
Ambiguity and chaos have been integral parts of my life for years. 2024 taught me once again to make peace with them and to embrace my fears and worries as signposts rather than decision makers. I can't claim that I got rid of my anxiety for good, but I believe I achieved a good progress and still working on it. I learned to slow down and listen to my heart and let my spirit guide the way.
I've also learned that I have to speak up, to walk the fine line between fear and peace-making.
I re-learned to connect to God on a much deeper level, talk to Him and embrace silence so I can listen to His answer. I learned to see Him in everything and everyone I encounter. I learned to love Him like I never experienced before.
Now, it is your turn. What lessons did you learn in 2024– the hard way?
I've also learned that I have to speak up, to walk the fine line between fear and peace-making.
I re-learned to connect to God on a much deeper level, talk to Him and embrace silence so I can listen to His answer. I learned to see Him in everything and everyone I encounter. I learned to love Him like I never experienced before.
Now, it is your turn. What lessons did you learn in 2024– the hard way?
My mentor once told me, God is painting the most beautiful canvas of our life, if you keep holding on to the brush and insisting on putting your own colors, you will end up with chaos.
Painters know that adding just one wrong color to the mix can turn a beautiful vibrant paint into a muddy mess. I indeed need to let go of the brush… Letting go does not mean giving up. It means keeping the work while surrendering the results. refraining from being attached to any specific outcome… doing the best that I can while trusting the Divine to paint the ultimate piece of art for me.
Letting go of the need to control the outcomes.
Letting go of the need to know the outcomes.
Letting go of the need to know why.
“Look round our world; behold the chain of love
Combining all below and all above.
See dying vegetables life sustain,
See life dissolving vegetate again:
All forms that perish other forms supply
-by turns we catch the vital breath, and die,
Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne,
They rise, they break, and to that sea return.
Nothing is foreign: parts relate to whole;
One all-extending, all preserving soul.
All served, all serving: nothing stands alone;
The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown.”
- Alexander Pope (An Essay on Man, 1732)
Now, it is your turn. What do you need to let go of?
Painters know that adding just one wrong color to the mix can turn a beautiful vibrant paint into a muddy mess. I indeed need to let go of the brush… Letting go does not mean giving up. It means keeping the work while surrendering the results. refraining from being attached to any specific outcome… doing the best that I can while trusting the Divine to paint the ultimate piece of art for me.
Letting go of the need to control the outcomes.
Letting go of the need to know the outcomes.
Letting go of the need to know why.
“Look round our world; behold the chain of love
Combining all below and all above.
See dying vegetables life sustain,
See life dissolving vegetate again:
All forms that perish other forms supply
-by turns we catch the vital breath, and die,
Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne,
They rise, they break, and to that sea return.
Nothing is foreign: parts relate to whole;
One all-extending, all preserving soul.
All served, all serving: nothing stands alone;
The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown.”
- Alexander Pope (An Essay on Man, 1732)
Now, it is your turn. What do you need to let go of?
The feeling I aiming for in 2025 is “Peace”.
One of the Divine Names in Islam is AsSalam, The Perfectly Peaceful, The Source of All Peace.
Joseph Campbell talks about a stage on the Hero’s journey called: “the Belly of the Whale”. It is like the dark night of the Soul, described by St. John de la Cross. One main characteristic about this stage is that you do not get to choose when or how you get out of it… you just surrender… totally surrender and once you are ready, you’ll find yourself in the world again totally renewed and rejuvenated, totally transformed and restored – a better and more wholesome version of you… a version that is free from judgement, anger or resentment, a version that is filled with love for the world even if this world still seems unfair and unfriendly, a version that is connected to herself, to God and to the world… a version that is at peace with life ambiguity and paradoxes.
This is how I want to feel in 2025: At Peace... I want to find this Peace in my heart that only strive for love & service, that embodies the love and beauty that God created, that fully trusts God in the dark as well as in the light.
Now, it is your turn, how do you want to feel in 2025?
One of the Divine Names in Islam is AsSalam, The Perfectly Peaceful, The Source of All Peace.
Joseph Campbell talks about a stage on the Hero’s journey called: “the Belly of the Whale”. It is like the dark night of the Soul, described by St. John de la Cross. One main characteristic about this stage is that you do not get to choose when or how you get out of it… you just surrender… totally surrender and once you are ready, you’ll find yourself in the world again totally renewed and rejuvenated, totally transformed and restored – a better and more wholesome version of you… a version that is free from judgement, anger or resentment, a version that is filled with love for the world even if this world still seems unfair and unfriendly, a version that is connected to herself, to God and to the world… a version that is at peace with life ambiguity and paradoxes.
This is how I want to feel in 2025: At Peace... I want to find this Peace in my heart that only strive for love & service, that embodies the love and beauty that God created, that fully trusts God in the dark as well as in the light.
Now, it is your turn, how do you want to feel in 2025?
When you decide how you want to feel in 2025, it is time to dig deeper. What is your Call for Adventure at this time of your journey?
I realized that I chose the same word back in 2022. At the time, feeling at Peace, for me, meant Persistence, Congruence & Connection.
This time, it is a bit different, the words that came to mind when I chose Peace were: Love, Beauty, Serenity, and Intimate connection with the Divine.
At this stage of my journey, these psychological and spiritual goals are more of a priority than any material achievements. Yet, I also added some career goals and family plans.
What about you? Where are you on your life journey? What is your Call for Adventure? What goals you would like to achieve? Think and craft your list.
I realized that I chose the same word back in 2022. At the time, feeling at Peace, for me, meant Persistence, Congruence & Connection.
This time, it is a bit different, the words that came to mind when I chose Peace were: Love, Beauty, Serenity, and Intimate connection with the Divine.
At this stage of my journey, these psychological and spiritual goals are more of a priority than any material achievements. Yet, I also added some career goals and family plans.
What about you? Where are you on your life journey? What is your Call for Adventure? What goals you would like to achieve? Think and craft your list.
Studies show that mere positive visioning of the desired outcome is not enough to take us there. The “Law of Attraction” does not work if we do not do the work.
I like to divide my habits into 3 categories: Body, Mind & Soul.
Body – What healthy food, exercise, or sleep practices do you need to put in place that will help you reach your goals and desired feeling?
Mind - what mental habits, states, or beliefs do you need to adopt for your specific goals? What daily, weekly or monthly habits do you need to set in place? Ex. studying time, reading habits, silence and reflection time, accountability and tracking habits, reminders, social connection, self-care practices, relationship habits…
Soul– In our daily life, we feed our body and mind, but we forget to feed our soul – The only food for the soul is its connection with its source, with the Divine. How do you do that? Focus on your heart. Our heart is the gateway between this earthly realm and the Unseen – between the body/mind and the Divine spirit within us. What heart-based habits do you need to set in place for this heart to be able to reflect the beauty of your spirit?
Set some time to work on those habits and plans… Let’s make this New Year the best that we can.
I like to divide my habits into 3 categories: Body, Mind & Soul.
Body – What healthy food, exercise, or sleep practices do you need to put in place that will help you reach your goals and desired feeling?
Mind - what mental habits, states, or beliefs do you need to adopt for your specific goals? What daily, weekly or monthly habits do you need to set in place? Ex. studying time, reading habits, silence and reflection time, accountability and tracking habits, reminders, social connection, self-care practices, relationship habits…
Soul– In our daily life, we feed our body and mind, but we forget to feed our soul – The only food for the soul is its connection with its source, with the Divine. How do you do that? Focus on your heart. Our heart is the gateway between this earthly realm and the Unseen – between the body/mind and the Divine spirit within us. What heart-based habits do you need to set in place for this heart to be able to reflect the beauty of your spirit?
Set some time to work on those habits and plans… Let’s make this New Year the best that we can.
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