This lovely image is by Amanda Clark – find her work at https://www.etsy.com/shop/earthangelsarts (I had to buy this print!)

Tonight is Winter Solstice, apparently the darkest night in 500 years (how is that for a metaphor?). (Update: apparently Snopes disagrees with this fact – I should have checked earlier.)

Yesterday, it struck me that today would be a good day to consciously name the things that we want to leave behind in 2016 — everything from ineffective behaviors, to wasted time, to undone goals.

I think we carry around a lot of extra “sludge” – a term coined by my friends Cali and Jodi who wrote Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It.

Sludge is unnecessary and unhelpful emotional residue in the form of resentment, shame, denial or anger.

Maybe this was your year to write your book, and you didn’t get it done.

Or you meant to start a regular exercise program, but never got it together.

I did a live stream yesterday on Facebook and asked my friends what they wanted to leave behind.

Here were some of their answers:

• An office environment!
• Lack of confidence
• Talk without execution
• Stuff
• No time
• The election
• Procrastination
• Super humility
• Tech work

Let it go

Sometime today or tonight, I invite you to consciously name then let go any sludge, broken dream, disappointment or angst from 2016.

They will NOT serve you in 2017. We need your creative energy high to tackle your new projects and goals (boy, do we have a lot of work to do!).

You can write it down on a piece of paper and burn it.

Or say it aloud while holding a glass of water, then pour the water in the earth outside.

Maybe you just want to yell it out in your car (preferably alone, but hey, your family might want to do it together!.)

 

“I am leaving ______ behind in 2016!“

Despite the huge challenges we face, I am optimistic that we will build great things together.

Feel free to name what you want to let go in the comments below.

Enjoy your Winter Solstice!