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Reflections on 2011 – The Year of the Table

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forkreflection-300x225It’s that time of year, when many of us hole up a bit (amidst lots of gathering and mingling) to reflect on the year passing and plan for the year arriving. Alas, it is that time for me, too. This is my summary of The Year of the Table.

I choose a theme each year as a personal and professional focal point for channeling my overall message in the world. One of the many fascinating things about being a messenger (one who has a distinct message they are working hard to share in the world) is that, when you really pay attention, the message takes on so many forms in day to day life. 

As you read, consider the ways your own last year served your message for the world.

The Year of the Table took on an expression that really surprised me in some ways, and yet felt completely “on path”, too.

Primary is the fact that we moved our table all the way across the country! As I look back on my hopes and dreams for 2011′s Year of the Table, I have to say it’s gone quite nicely, for all of its unexpected adventures. We shared about 85% of our dinners together at a table (it would have been much higher, except for my husband’s travel in the first half.) This is up from about 70%, I’m guessing. We used to feed our kids earlier and eat after they went to bed. This gathering to eat together each night has served our family beautifully as we share stories from our day and table games each night, enjoying greater connection than before.We’ve eaten healthier (less take out, more cooking), set the table nicely more often (but not as often as I would love), and shared meals with friends and extended family even more. Good on our family for The Year of the Table.

As for business, collaborations definitely increased in 2011. 

As I mentioned, I’ve been working on a couple of cool collaborative projects. One of them is a book for which I authored a chapter along with other extraordinary coaches from my brilliant coaching school, The Baraka Institute. I look forward to sharing that book with you in early 2012. Watch for it.

The Year of the Table invited me to connect with some wonderful people with whom I will be partnering in 2012. In that way, the business application of my 2011 theme was also a grand success.

While I am genuinely pleased with 2011, there are some things I want to do different in 2012.

For example, I will never promise not to change my website again – as I did in that blog post a year ago. That’s just silliness. Things change. Ideas evolve. My website will be changing again. It’s all in service of being a better messenger and serving other messengers more effectively. This is something that I learned in collaboration with my really smart business coach (Year of the Table = collaboration!) and continue to embrace as I move into this next year. I have a strong value on congruency and when I make proclamations, I can get stuck on sticking to them (a very sticky and stuckedness situation.) I am going to ease up on that kind of rigidness in the coming year.

A couple of life-changing experiences this past year brought me insight into serious blocks in my own growth and self-expression. It’s amazing what the Universe brings to you to help you wake up, to help me wake up. I am grateful for that, though it’s been pretty tough to get through parts of that wake up. I’ll share more about those – and most importantly, what I hope you might be able to take from those lessons along with me – as the year ventures forth. For now, I am still moving through the waves of this learning and am not quite ready to put “pen to paper” on them yet. The important thing is, in ways brand new…

I’m more awake now.

And I’ll never quite be asleep in the same way again. That’s the thing about growing: once you know, you can’t go back. My theme for 2012 will have a lot to do with this evolution. Stay tuned for more on my 2012 theme in the coming days.

Meantime, may you find time to look inward at your year’s lessons – and plenty of time to reach outward to embrace the beauty of Right Now.

What did 2011 bring you in service of your message and mission in the world? I’d love to hear in the comments, via email or any way you are willing to share.

Thank you, zeevveez, for this dually appropriate image of a fork (year of the table!) reflection (a reflective blog post.)