Category: Transitions & Change

Empowering Vision and Intention for the New Year

Posted on by Jean Skeels

Another year is coming to a close and a fresh chapter of this blessed life is about to open.

It may seem trite or cliché to set intentions for the New Year, but consider that consciously creating the energy and enthusiasm for this beginning opens the door to possibility. Our inner world does affect how we show up in the outer world. Energy is everything and actively creating yours is a powerful thing.

Intention Meditation:


Sit or lie down (but stay awake), perhaps put some music on that connects you to your joyful heart. Begin by taking some centering breaths allowing all thoughts of past and future roll through and each breath makes more space to come home to the present moment.


Once you feel present, begin to allow a vision of your year ahead to flow through you in a way that feels natural for you. You might view it in a sequence or perhaps it will meander. Simply be completely open to everything and anything that comes to your awareness. Take as much time as needed to let everything that wants to be known and received to bubble up.

When you feel complete grab your journal and write it all down. 


Review what you have written and identify any themes. Identify what calls to you most intensely. What values are you called to step into to create the year of your vision?

Next create an intention statement in the affirmative, including the values you are centering.


I (insert your name) am ___________________.


Make this intention concise and clear. For example:


I (name) am caring for my body and health.

I (name) am creating connection and love in my life.


Finally create three action steps toward that intention. Make them simple and achievable.

If you are comfortable, feel free to include your intention in the comments below.

The Hard Parts of Holidays

Posted on by Jean Skeels

The holiday season is here and it is full of messages about love, togetherness, joy, and spirit. It truly can be a magical time of gathering and celebrating, but for many people it also is a time of loss, grief, loneliness, conflict and other difficult situations and feelings. This can be compounded by feelings of being wrong, not wanting to be a burden or a downer for other people, resulting in increasing isolation and emotional upset that can spiral into depression, which can prove very difficult to move through. 


Here are a few ways to support yourself when the holidays get hard.


  • The most accessible and direct way to manage feelings is conscious breathing. Taking even just three slow, even, conscious breaths changes our state significantly, It takes us out of our stress state and toward a relaxation response. There are a whole range of breathing techniques that are very helpful, but simply moving awareness from our thoughts to our breath is very effective.  

  • Understand and support yourself in knowing your grief, sadness, anger, or other feelings are valid and deserve the space to be acknowledged and felt.

  • Seek out support from friends, family, or community. While we do need personal space to work through our feelings, when we get to a point of withdrawal and isolation we are not serving our need for love and connection. Find at least one trusted person who you can share your feelings with and get support. That person can be a therapist, a support group or other source if you don’t want to share with people you know personally.

  • Practice exquisite self care. Focus on nourishing your body with healthy foods, water, exercise, sleep, and doing the things that bring you happiness. You may not feel like doing these things so it may be useful to connect with others who are also working on health and well being. 

  • Meditation and other spirit centered actions. Engaging with our heart and spirit through meditation, prayer, attending religious or spiritual services and getting out in the wonder of nature can greatly boost mood and help us to both process our difficulties and elevate us to a higher state. If you are new to this possibility try different meditations, practices, and attend gatherings that seem aligned with you. 



One of my fellow Inner Peace Press Authors, Amber Lohret, author of Invisible, shares her thoughts on the transformative power of meditation. Perhaps you will resonate with her words as well: https://www.downtoearthsoul.com/blog/transform-your-life-the-power-of-meditation

I leave you here with a wish that no matter what circumstances you are meeting this holiday season, that you be blessed by the light of your own goodness and grace, and that you meet your own heart with the powerful tenderness of deep self love. May that love lead you today, every day, and into the New Year and beyond.


Looking at Death to Enhance Your Life

Posted on by Jean Skeels

Why would anyone want to spend time thinking about death at all, much less their own?


Death might be the last great taboo, which is truly unfortunate since death is an integral part of life. It is one of only two universal aspects of life, the other is birth. 


When we develop a relationship with the fact of our own mortality we open a door to living more intentionally and consciously. When we are aware of the preciousness of our time here we gain a certain impetus to live more true to our purpose and to embrace the now and not wait for the perfect moment to do the things we are drawn to and called to do and be.


Death is not our enemy, and when we choose to see it, like birth, as another powerful mystery of life, something sacred, something blessed, a wise teacher and guide that helps to live more fully and authentically, then death enhances and benefits our lives enormously. 


Contact me to find out about coaching and my book Before You Go: A Death Doulas Guide to Living Your Best Life is available at www.beforeyougolegacy.com