Dear readers,
Happy new year!
Alas, it's 2024. As I write this now, the wind howls and specks of snow are dancing down my window from my New York City apartment. There is something so nourishing about relishing in the feeling of coziness, of hygge, of hibernation. During this season of renewal and intention setting, I’ve been cherishing the act of ‘wintering’ - letting the insights, dreams, and goals seep in slowly during these cold months.
There’s a gas leak in our building and so we have been without hot water and heat for a week. But I am enjoying being bundled up in blankets, wool socks, bulky sweaters, and any excuse to cuddle with my partner. Already I feel rejuvenated with the deep rest that only comes with deep winter. As the city slows down, so have I been - and it has been nothing short of glorious.
Regarding intentions for this year, I am kind who loves the excitement of fresh starts. Even if most new year’s resolutions are short lived, better to have lived at all, I say! Taking the time to define what our best lives look like - even if they feel out of reach - helps us make daily decisions in alignment towards this vision on a subconscious level. If we don’t know where we’re going, how can we know where to go?
It’s the hope of what can be - the thrill of pure potential, the ideas to bring into being - that motivates me to spend a good chunk of January spent in both reflection and forward thinking, supported by a counter-balancing of mindful presence and simple moments of joyful awareness: slow mornings spent in ritual, brewing hot cocoa, consulting the I-Ching, and breathing in the deep sighs of release and renewal that always comes with the introspective process of re-defining what living an authentic, whole-hearted life looks like for this year. I’ve included some recommendations below of some of my favorite intention-setting practices in case you’re looking for new ways to kickstart 2024.
The words that continue to spin in my head this year include: deep embodiment, uninhibited expression, focused resilience, strength, surrender, inner peace, and poise. But mostly, it's the word Joy that I’ve been returning to. What I continue to ask myself is, “How can I allow for greater joy and vitality in my life?”.
What then comes up for me is the notion of choice - in other words, coming to terms that saying Yes to something inherently means saying No to something else (hello, opportunity cost). Which habits foster rejuvenation and joy, and which habits deplete them? What do I need to say No to in order to say Yes to feeling revitalized and refreshed?
I recently heard the term JOMO, “the joy of missing out”, which I immediately resonated with and love. Where else can FOMO be transformed into JOMO - where our choices of saying No are felt less as sacrifice and remorse, and more as reclamation of joy and compassion? How might we practice gratitude - the antidote to scarcity and fear - to experience more joy? What choices do we make on a daily basis - consciously and unconsciously - that make up the fabric of our lives? I encourage you to ask these questions and see what comes up for you.
_________
"Choose joy. Choose it like a child chooses the shoe to put on the right foot, the crayon to paint a sky... Joy is not a function of a life free of friction and frustration, but a function of focus — an inner elevation by the fulcrum of choice. So often, it is a matter of attending to what Hermann Hesse called, as the world was about to come unworlded by its first global war, “the little joys”; so often, those are the slender threads of which we weave the lifeline that saves us. - Maria Popova
_________
This will be a year of growth and expansion with Fleurvoyant as we commit to spreading joy via earth’s natural beauty and medicine. As it has always been, and will always be: If we can make one person smile because of our flowers - if we can create that simple moment of pure joy for others - then it will have all been worth it (and already is!). For that, I am grateful - for the earth, for the flowers, for the smiles, and for participating together towards infinite positive karmic action.
As Brené Brown remarks, “Both joy and gratitude were described as spiritual practices that were bound to a belief in human interconnectedness and a power greater than us.”
On that note, I’d like to take a moment to give each of you a virtual hug and say, “Thank you”. For being here, for listening, for supporting, and for choosing to spread the joy that is experiencing this beautiful earth.
Dream it, believe it, live it, enjoy it! Happy 2024.
xx,
Emily
