Positive Reflections on the Year gone by 2023 {+FREE Printable}

On December 12, 2023December 16, 2024 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn Emotions, healing, Mind, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Self Reflection6 Comments

“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.” ~ Rumi

❤ Read and get the 2024 Reflections FREE Worksheets HERE ❤

As a practice for many years now, I love to end the year by reflecting on the year that has gone by. Its a practice that has helped me deepen my relationship with myself, it helps me learn from the experiences I’ve had this year and in general makes me more appreciative of the year that was.

For me to even begin reflecting on the year that has gone by, I have to sit with my journal. I have to look at all that I added to it in the past year and really notice where it is that I spent my energy.

Its such a great practice honestly. To really reflect on the year, I had to bring to mind everything about the year. Here’s how I did it:

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3 Positive Steps to Begin Fresh in 2024

On December 5, 2023December 8, 2023 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn healing, Mind, Mind, Heart& Soul-Motivation&Inspiration, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Self Reflection, spiritual healing6 Comments

“Hold the vision, trust the process.”

As the year is coming to an end and a new year is around the horizon, most conversations have been revolving around How to start fresh in the coming year. Honestly, in my own life too, major changes happened in the last year and that is why as the year ends, my mind is on how to begin fresh in the next year too.

A feeling of, “…is this really my whole life?” is where it all began. Ironically this happened in the beginning of 2023, which led to my insides collapsing. It felt like everything around me wasn’t making any sense. Actually, myself most of all. I went from feeling apathetic to experiencing what felt like every emotion within a day, every day.

This has been an eye-opening journey–one that I’m still on–but I’ve gained a lot of clarity, by getting very honest with myself, and have expanded my ability to trust and surrender. It’s those times in life when we have no other choice but to let go that can be some of the most powerful, life-changing experiences.

Today, I’m sharing some things I’ve learned during this time that helped me to get clear within myself in order to start over with a fresh mindset and a more positive way of being in my life.

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6 Signs You are Stuck in a People-Pleasing cycle& How to Heal from it

On November 13, 2023November 13, 2023 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn healing, Mind, Mind, Heart& Soul-Motivation&Inspiration, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Self Reflection, spiritual healing9 Comments

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner. ~ Lao Tzu

People-pleasing is a common coping mechanism humans use to fit in to their surroundings. Most of the time we develop the habit of people pleasing because of our need to protect ourselves from negative emotions. It shows up in a pattern of behaviours that, on the surface, make us seem ‘nice, sweet, flexible, very understanding and agreeable’.

Confession: I am a reforming people-pleaser myself. So, I know first hand that Empaths and Sensitive souls suffer from people-pleasing the most.

While being kind and helpful is generally a good thing, going too far to please others can leave you feeling emotionally depleted, stressed, and anxious.

We really want people’s approval and to stay in their good books, which often results in us neglecting or not even being aware of our own needs.

Because of our need to please others, we struggle to set boundaries and tend to overcommit, leading to overwhelm, anxiety and burnout.

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