How I Welcomed My New Year, from Debbie Rosas.

It’s been that time again — my Birthday has come and gone and I find myself another year older and another year wiser. Birthdays are not just markers of time, they are sacred thresholds; moments when we pause to honor the life we’ve lived, the lessons we’ve learned, and the person we are becoming. Each birthday is a doorway to a new year and a new chapter filled with possibility. It’s a celebration not of aging but of evolving and an invitation to step deeper into wisdom.

As I look back at my life and especially at 2024, I am reminded that at the age of 74, each day is a gift. Life, like nature, moves in cycles — seasons of birth, growth, reflection, and renewal. With every cycle, we are given the chance to shed the old and to embrace what is essential. Aging is not about decline, it’s about refinement. Like a tree that stands taller and stronger with each passing year, so too does the spirit grow more resilient and wise through lived experience.

This journey has taught me that life gives me room to choose how I travel my path. It allows me to decide what I pack and carry on my body, mind, emotions, spirit, and soul journey. What I carry in my mind, I now know, is of the utmost importance. Thoughts are powerful — energetic seeds that shape my lived reality. When thoughts become habitual, they seek expression, and they long to take form. This wisdom has taught me to be discerning and to choose my thoughts.

I often ask myself this question: what resonates with my vision of a meaningful and harmonious life?

Words are another form of resonance. The words I use to describe my body, mind, emotions, and spirit matter. Like notes in a symphony, they compose the music of my life journey. All relationships — those I hold with people, my body, love, health, career, and my higher self — are interconnected. These thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes are like signals I send to the Universe, creating a vibration that flows through and around me. And with each birthday, I get another opportunity to make my life better.

Birthdays remind me that growth is not linear but cyclical — like the moon waxing and waning or like the tides rising and falling. I am the sum of my choices and the evolution of my relationships with myself and the world. This year, as I step into my 75th cycle, I lean on a practice I first created in 1992 for a program I named The Awakening Project. It is a practice of reflecting and of pausing to acknowledge where I have been and where I want to go. Using my map, I revisit those relationships with my body, mind, emotions, spirit, and soul for a new transformation.

I am the sum of my choices and the evolution of my relationships with myself and my world. When I sit in meditation, asking the Universe for wisdom, I am humbled by what I receive. The messages are often simple, yet profound. This year’s wisdom was no different: “Debbie, you need to soften. The resonance you project into the Universe changes when you soften your body and tone. Speak to the human before you — not as their potential, but as they are in their present form. Meet them gently.”

Birthdays always remind me that our growth is cyclical, like the moon waxing and waning.

I take this guidance to heart because, like a crystal, I know that growth requires time in the dark — a space to elongate and let more light in. This light brings clarity and alignment, connecting me to my divine mind that observes, without judgment, my life’s unfolding. As I celebrated my 74th birthday, I looked into the mirror with gratitude for the journey I’ve traveled. I honor my body, which has carried me through 74 years of joys, challenges, and transformation.

I honor my mind, for the power of thought and choice it brings me. I honor my emotions, which allow me to connect deeply and compassionately with others. I honor my spirit and soul for their ceaseless quest to grow, love, and return to the Divine. This year, I choose to embrace aging as a cycle of wisdom. Each year, I refine, shedding what no longer serves me and growing more into the essence of who I am meant to be. I see the beauty in this cycle, even as life’s agitations have helped me create pearls of understanding, truth, and love.

Life does not happen to me — I create my life. And I do so with reverence, intention, and a deep trust in the guidance of the Divine and the Soul of the Universe. With each passing year, I move closer to the mystery of life, closer to others, and closer to myself. So, as I step into this new year of life, I celebrate. I celebrate the unfolding. I celebrate the unknown. I celebrate the gift of being alive, fully present, and open to the Divine whispers that guide me along this journey.

Here’s to another year of living life — and to joining me soon for Awakening A New Feminine Spirit!

With Gratitude and Love,
Debbie

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