HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Let’s take a look back over the past 12 months, at ‘the year that was’. How did you fare? On a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high), how would you rate your personal experience of 2013? Would you give it a 9.5 or a 6 or perhaps a 2 (and how does that feel)?

Right now is the perfect time for reflection – to evaluate our score. So ask yourself: on the scoreboard of My Personal Values (what’s important to me in life) and Morals (ie what is right), how well did I (really) do? How many ticks or gold stars can I award myself? And, if I’m truthful with myself, how many crosses or zeros did I collect? Knowing the end result of the Game of Twenty-Thirteen, how could I have done things differently? Could I have chosen thoughts, actions, behaviours that were other than those put into play – and what would that have looked like?

We’ve all heard the maxim, “Do what you did, get what you got.” Yet too often, when pitted against our desire for change, we (choose to) allow our habitual patterns to win the day – and we end up losing the game.

But think about it. In your recreational gaming – PlayStation, chess, WOW, Civilization, Skyrim and Monopoly come to mind but feel free to insert the game or sport you’re familiar with – you can grasp this concept easily (intellectually at least). You employ various tactics or strategies in your game-play, and depending upon your choices – combined with the might of your allies as well as the strength of your opposition – the final result is determined. And if we’re unhappy with the result, we change tactics when we next play. Simple, right? (Of course, we may refuse the invitation to play again.)

The game may last anywhere from a few minutes (the life-span of my average chess game before I’m check-mated) to a saga over many months (the epic ‘big game’ that has the big kids in your life engrossed for hours on end); however, the end result is undeniably clear. Let’s not get caught up by the distraction of now philosophising the principles of living in a society where we have ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. Let’s not do that (for those whose minds were straying in that direction).

Let’s stick to: looking at what we did, seeing what we got, looking within to see if we’re happy with that outcome, and if not – to take clear action, employ different strategies and tactics, and set sail for 2014, plotting the course for a new destination.

However, grasping a concept intellectually is not the same as putting it into practice, right?

And stop for a moment.

What if you’ve already made countless New Year’s Resolutions over the years, started out with the right intention to make some changes – yet, in your eyes, ultimately ‘failed’ by year’s end? That is, you chose to allow your habitual patterns to win the day – which meant you did not (win the day, that is). If so, you may now feel justified in your reluctance or downright refusal to embrace yet another New Year with the same gusto as previous games. Is that why our hospital emergency departments expect at least a 25 per cent rise in patients due to alcohol abuse on New Year’s Eve? Worth considering, isn’t it.

So if we go back to our understanding of “Do what you did, get what you got,” where does that leave us? Where does it leave you? What if you don’t understand which changes are critical to do more than just survive in Life (ie you have a ‘block’)? Or maybe you do understand; but find it impossible to implement the changes you know are necessary (again, you have a block).

A dear mentor of mine (some of you know him) will often remind me: “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Think about it.

More than a decade ago I attended a series of seminars by Landmark Education. It seems that poor old Landmark has its fair share of detractors and has been labelled ‘controversial’ – even, hilariously, a ‘cult’. Funny how some of us react when we get confronted and have our buttons pushed, isn’t it? Regardless, my experience of Landmark was one that contributed greatly to my personal growth and raised my awareness of the ‘stories’ we tell ourselves and others; and the lens through which I viewed my life, hence the attribution.

And so it came to pass in recent days, when pondering my intention for 2014 and using technology learnt from those Landmark seminars, that – with help – I uncovered, acknowledged and had a huge breakthrough with one of my own blocks (yes, I’m a slow learner). It’s funny. It’s so easy to see when others have faulty ‘programming’ running their lives (by faulty, meaning that it has them survive but not thrive in this Game of Life); yet we can be so blind to our own. I’ll give you a tip: often it’s that very trait in others that we particularly dislike and see ourselves as being ‘above’ or ‘better’ (‘than that kind of behaviour’). I got the concept years ago, but only really ‘got it’ experientially last month. It turns out that when others exhibit the personality trait we dislike so much, we’re simply holding up a mirror to ourselves.

Want me to share? Maybe later… Keep reading and I might just tell you.

Let me warn you though. When you get your ‘Aha moment’ and discover the deep-down dirty side of yourself, it’s not pretty – and it’s not a pleasant discovery to realise that you’ve been succumbing to your Shadow side in ways you never knew.

But the great thing is that once you’ve exposed it, it releases its hold over you, and you can then move forward in your life with a true understanding of who you are, and what stops you from becoming your greatest and highest potential as a being on this planet.

There are a number of ways you may choose to consider to help you uncover and break through your Major Block. You won’t be surprised to hear me say that this therapist http://thereikigarden.org/shaun/ is the one I would personally recommend, but you may have others come to mind. Choose who and what feels right for you. But JUST DO IT.

To help me understand the origins of my particularly spectacular block, the Universe presented me with Personality and Spirituality, http://personalityspirituality.net/articles/the-michael-teachings/chief-features/ – a blog written by psychologist Barry who-appears-to-have-no-surname. No matter, I encourage you to explore it and see if within its pages you come face-to-face with your own Shadow side.

If 2013 was a tough year for you – as indeed it was for many of our loved ones – just get back up again and dust yourself off. 2014 is a new game and you can choose to play differently this time around.

Did you ever play Tekken? I hear the kids are up to Version 100 now, but I only knew the original that we played on the first PlayStation models. That was twenty years ago, and I still remember the booming “K.O. KNOCKOUT” when my character bit the dust. But did she stay down? No! (My stubbornness wouldn’t let that happen.)

And neither will you. You’re not going to give up the ghost; you’re going to remember that Diamonds are only created after incredible heat and pressure, and sometimes the impact of high-speed collisions – and you’re not going to let yourself be stopped by the whisperings of your Shadow side.

Fare thee well on your journey through 2014. Much love and best wishes, S x