A Month of Reflection By Leo Babauta

We’re entering the last month of the year, and for many of us, it’s a darker and quieter season.

It’s the perfect time for reflection.

I like to use December to deepen into reflection, and in my ​Fearless Living Academy​, we do a yearly ritual that I call “Sacred Bow” (as in “bow in reverence to your past year”). In this ritual, we:

Spend some time reflecting on what we accomplished, went through, and learned for the past year

Get clear on what goals and projects we fell short on, and what we can learn from that

Envision our coming year, with goals and intentions

Create structure to make those intentions a reality

I invite you to ​join us in Fearless Living Academy​ and be a part of this Sacred Bow process!

In this article, I’ll share some additional ways I like to deepen into reflection in December …

Reflect on Life & Meaning

Life rushes by so fast. Day by day, it feels like a rushing river and I barely have time to notice the water passing by before it’s gone.

Taking some time in quiet and stillness means that I can slow down and reflect on life. On my life, on human life. On what it means, or what I want it to mean.

What have I learned in recent years that adds to the meaning of life for me?

What I’ve been finding here lately is a sense of sacredness and depth to each moment that I often don’t notice, because I’m so focused on getting stuff done or dealing with the situation in front of me or letting myself be distracted. When I slow down into stillness, that depth and sacredness becomes more accessible to me.

Reflect on My Practice & Growth

I find the end of the year an important time to reflect on what I’ve been practicing with in my life. Have I been deepening into mindfulness, practicing with uncertainty and fear, learning to become more aware of my patterns as they show up?

This is an ongoing journey of growth, and it’s immensely important that I take time to reflect on it on a regular basis.

What have you been practicing lately? What are you learning from that practice? What growth have you been noticing?

Reflect on Darkness, Stillness & Death

December is a beautiful month to slow down and reflect on three things:

Darkness: Where I live now (northern California), December is the darkest month of the year. I found that depressing when we moved here from Guam, and that continued for years after we moved … until recent years, when I decided to start to examine my relationship to darkness. It’s a profound reflection for me, and I am starting to open to the beauty and wonder of darkness, both outside of me and within.

Stillness: It’s also a month when things feel frozen and still, and I’m learning to embrace that as well. I’m someone who likes to move quickly, but there’s so much wisdom in stillness. I have to practice against my default tendency. Sitting outside in stillness, and noticing what shows up in that stillness, is a practice I resist and love.

Death: As a society, we tend to fear death. That’s understandable. But winter is a death that opens space for new life, and I embrace it as an affirmation of life. I reflect on the loved ones I’ve lost, and how much they still mean to me. I reflect on my own death, and find some degree of acceptance of that.

Do any of these topics resonate with you?

I encourage you to carve out some time for reflection as the year comes to a close.

And once again, if you’d like to be a part of the Sacred Bow ritual, I invite you to ​join us in Fearless Living Academy​!

About Leo:   I am is a regular guy, a father of six kids, a husband, a writer from Guam  (moved to San Francisco in 2010, now living in Davis, California). But I have  accomplished a lot over the last couple of years (and failed a lot) and along the way, I have learned a lot. 

Leo's website: http://www.zenhabits.net and  https://seachange.zenhabits.net