Every year I look forward to the time between Christmas and New Years to reflect on my year. I find it cathartic, especially as negativity bias and recency bias can tend to take over in a way I block out some of the good things that happened throughout the year, giving preference to whatever I’m going through now. It’s an opportunity to zoom out and gain some perspective.

This year I chose a very different guiding force [word/theme/phrase for the year—something we work towards in the fall Mapping Your Path]. I surprised myself when I landed on “The Magic within You” (you can read about it here). Mid-way through the year I wasn’t too surprised that my year was very different from past years given my very different theme.

Early in my year, a series of monthly events (which come summer a friend helped me dub beautiful curveballs) started happening. In the grand scheme of things, they were rather small, yet highly jarring. They felt like a series of tests and lessons from the universe to see if I was truly ready to embrace this uplevel it turned out I was in. I laughed at the fact that I had put a slinky on my vision board, thinking it was an element of fun, only to later discover this was part of the huge S T R E T C H I’d experienced throughout the year. It was neither good nor bad, it just was.

While you may look at my year-in-review doodle and see lots of good things, it was a process for me to be able to see through the lens of whiplash at times. In fact, I’d nearly forgotten all of the good things that happened at the beginning of the year as I was so focused on the destabilizing events where I learned a lot about the link between my body and my mind (multiple times my nervous system had to catch up with my logical mind.)

Early August was a key turning point. I both learned the importance of speaking my truth (I felt it in my body when I had been scared to speak it), and found myself in tears in front of a friend when I realized that my whole world was changing around me, and despite feeling change coming for myself for a while now, I didn’t know what was happening. And so started my journey into acknowledging the discomfort of transformation and my season of slow. I was very grateful that I had magic to counteract the uncertainty. It was a process—one that I’m not sure that I’m completely through yet—where I learned a lot. It truly was a journey of evolution.

First, let’s look at the magic from 2022:

I bought a magic carpet in Istanbul! (I didn’t want a carpet, I wasn’t going to be in Istanbul 10 days prior—the trip was following a ping that came to me. Grateful I’ve come to embrace following crazy ideas that don’t always make sense to others!)
Slept in a hotel room in Istanbul with a magical view that matched my vision board!
Street Wisdom (incredible messages daily, that were bountiful in Istanbul, and awakened the magic in London—I also got to facilitate two sessions the World Wide Wander, and connect with founder David Pearl in London twice)
Spotting magic numbers daily! (I started seeing 11:11 nearly daily ever since my dad and I got on the magical train ride in Nov 2021, setting the stage for this year)
I bought my first tarot deck (Tarot for All Ages) in Amsterdam, and had my first tarot reading with Merlin on a canal boat in London
I had a truly magical day in Avignon, a city where I wasn’t supposed to be at all, and it all just unfolded
My train to Amsterdam was cancelled due to Dutch rail strikes, so I had to go a day early and have an extra day there. Woe is me ;) I got to meet a friend I talk to regularly but never had met in person. The joy of a simple canal boat ride was palpable.
I got to be part of my dad’s magical trip through Europe all through trains, and see how all the pieces fell in place when the timing was right, and be part of a reunion with dear family friends in Dinard—another reminder to follow crazy, sometimes impractical ideas.
Through my London travels, I’ve learned not to plan, but to trust that my plans will unfold as the will. If someone can’t meet up, I’m not supposed to see them that trip. I don’t have to do/see it all, or stress about. I also got to spend my first birthday in three years not in lockdown, at a wonderful dinner somewhere I’d always wanted to go with my cousin and friends.
4pm gratitude hour, inspired by Ashley Bearden in Tuscany, is something that has supported me daily. Every day at 4pm my phone alarm goes off with a Taylor Swift song and I pause to say three things I’m grateful for. Whenever others are with me I make them share too (this is most fun on professional projects, because they’re caught off guard by the prompt).
My best external projects came to me this year, I didn’t have to seek them out. (Not without a couple projects not panning out first, only for something better to come along.) I’m always amazed when companies want to work with me for the reason that I bring a different perspective. It helps when you’re working with a dream team and things just flow. (And even with the challenges, we learn.)
Mapping Your Path – the workshop + community I created continues to bring me joy and delight every day. It’s been wonderful to connect with mappers IRL, and see them grow and flourish in a way that truly lights me up.

The magic taught me that while we’re tempted to look outside of us for happiness and to tell us what to do and where to go, it really is within us!

Places I visited in 2022:

Pernes-les-Fontaines/Casa Pernoise (France), Insbruck (Austria), Munich (Germany), Reims (France), Tuscany (Italy), Florence (Italy), Ardèche (France), Avignon (France), Deauville/Trouville (France), Dinard (France), Normandy (France), Edinburgh (Scotland), Orleans (France), London x 3 (UK), Folkestone (UK)

Wild and wonderful mundane things I did this year:

All the feelings this year:

Wild discomfort, sadness, hurt, disappointment, frustration, rollercoaster, confidence, alive, happy, joy, delight, surprise, magic, whiplash, vibrations, loved, supported, spontaneous, slow, selfish, empowered, proud, challenged, lost, impatient, low energy, confusion, disbelief, wonder, curiosity, growth, excitement, mysterious, unease, spiritual, patient, trusting, surrendered, all the things, present, intuitive, turbulent, calm, quiet, amazed

Overall my attitude with the “beautiful curveballs” that kept coming my way were BRING IT ON. I’m ready to play, break these patterns, learn and grow.

Big picture wins:

Had hard conversations
Did things that scare me and I would have avoided in the past
Spoke my truth and paid attention to the things that bubble up
Worked through subconscious blocks
Learned to follow my intuition
Financially successful year while taking a lot of time off and slowing down far more than was comfortable and how society tells me is how to live
Featured in a book in French! (NOUS)
Trusted my flows and accepted that I’d know the next step even though I thought I should have it already figured out
Wrote a book! (It just flowed out!)

Insights/learnings from 2022

Trust yourself to do things even when they don’t make sense to others. You don’t need external validation.
You get to choose how you respond.
People have to do things/figure things out on their own time.
Things will take the time they take.
Slowing down is one way to super speed. Don’t force what’s not flowing.
You’re on the right path when you don’t need external validation.
No one talks about the discomfort of growth and transformation. It is very real. Discomfort = I’m growing.
Breaking patterns is part of how we grow.
Everything is energy (you can learn a lot about energetics in terms of how you talk about a situation)
Protect yourself and your space. Put yourself in situations that bring you energy. Don’t be surprised if things happen in waves.
Hard conversations are hard, but better for the long term.
Your mind may understand something but your body (nervous system) needs to catch up. Or vice versa. Regularization is necessary to up level.
Pay attention to your body. It holds clues. Don’t wait for it to get extreme to make the change.
You won’t always have words to describe what you’re in, but that doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. Metaphors can help (ie. being “in the goo” and “updating your operating system”)
Even if you think you should know where you’re going, sometimes you just need to be. The universe has a better plan even if we can’t see it yet.
We’re part of something bigger than us.
The ego doesn’t always know what’s best.
Focus on one step at a time. You don’t have to have it all figured out. Each action will give you clarity for the next.
You can’t sit back passively and expect magic to happen. You need to show the universe you’re serious about what you want (even if it’s through the tiniest actions).
Speak your truth (without self-judgment), especially when you feel it bubbling up. There won’t be a better time.
Rock the boat or the boat will rock you.
Plant seeds now for future you.
Some seasons are for action. Some are for resting. (Don’t fall pawn to the fact that society and late stage capitalism don’t want you to rest).
Stand up for yourself even if “that’s not how things are done” and it may not make everyone a happy camper. It’s ok—and good—to shake things up. We’re in this for the long game.
Each test from the universe takes us closer to our path/alignment when we learn from it.
When you trust the flows and unfolding of life you let more magic in.
Sometimes you need to ask for what you want. Just ask. Plant the seed.
You need relationships where you can show up as yourself.
Let go of attachment to outcome and good things unfold. It’s the ultimate trust muscle.
Letting go and surrendering doesn’t mean you won’t get what you want. It may not turn out in the form or when.
Question everything. Get curious. You’re not the only one questioning how things have always been done.

Supports throughout my year:

London Writers’ Salon daily Writers’ Hour, morning pages, evening “download” journal, Creative Mornings FieldTrips, To Be Magnetic (+ Expanded podcast), therapy, energy massages with Camille, floating massage, numerology, Desei’s 8-min soul jumpstart, podcasts (Expanded, We Can Do Hard Things, Dear Gabby, It’s All Related, Impact the World with Lee Haris - energy updates, Mel Robbins), long walks, The Pattern app can read my mind + helped me understand myself and friends better, Chani’s birth charts and weekly readings were a helpful support, wisdom from friends

Listen to me this year:

Still Loading podcast ep. 18
What Works ep. 378
Looks Like Work podcast
a fun project I can’t talk about or share ;)

You’ll have to stay tuned for what my 2023 guiding force word is… My map is ready, but still needs to go to the printer.

I also have some fun stuff listed on the workshops page! On Jan 5th I’m running a free Make a Map! CreativeMornings FieldTrip, on January 7th I’m running a Vision Board Workshop, Write Your Own Rules is now an on-demand self-paced workshop, and mid-January enrollment opens for my next 3-mo cohort of Mapping Your Path workshop + community! If you want to set yourself up for success this year, you’re not going to want to miss out.

Looking back on 2022: The Magic Within You