An invitation to give yourself more time to settle into your intentions this year

Published 9 days ago • 4 min read

There is a concept in Montessori education that really resonates with me - the idea that each individual has a “sensitive period” in which they are primed to be introduced to something new. In the classroom this means that while there are milestones that are considered appropriate for the whole group, there is a greater emphasis placed on each individual’s readiness to meet those milestones at their pace. It is the job of the adults in the classroom to observe the students for these windows of opportunity and to guide each child’s movement through the materials of the classroom according to the pace and rhythm that they naturally reveal through their curiosity as well as their comprehension and skill development.

This idea of a “sensitive period” is something that has stayed with me and continues to inform my approach to learning, relearning and unlearning - for my own journey and in my work with others. It is a thread of acceptance that I have come to weave through each interaction - there are moments that we are primed to receive insights, learn new ways of being and release old constructs and patterns. And there are moments - likely many more of them - in which we are not.

So often, we force ourselves to conform to an artificial (and likely external) timeline for doing any of the work of healing our inner wounds, growing capacity within our systems, rewriting the narratives that have been with us for decades, etc without giving much thought to whether we are truly ready.

An excellent example of this is fast approaching - the New Year’s ritual of setting intentions, goals and/or resolutions.

In case no one has ever mentioned this to you before, it’s okay to not have it all figured out when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st and the calendar flips to 2025.

If setting intentions is something that you like to do (or would like to do more consciously) but you sometimes feel overwhelmed by the avalanche of “new year, new you” messages that roll into your social media feeds and inbox, I’d like to invite you to take a more measured approach this year with an inner eye and ear focused on feeling into your individual sensitive period for releasing the old and setting a course for the new.

We are stepping into the sweet spot of energetic support for the intention-setting season right now -

🌕 the Full Moon on Dec 15th offered a chance to begin the process of revisiting, reflecting and releasing the energies of 2024

🌅 Solstice is on the 21st and is a chance to explore what thrives when it is planted and left to germinate in the stillness and the dark

🌑 the final New Moon of 2024 is on the 30th (and aligns nicely to the New Year’s holiday) bringing supportive energies for planting seeds of intention

🌕 the first Full Moon of 2025 is on January 13th and offers another chance to revisit, reflect and release the accumulated energies of the previous year

🌑 before the first New Moon of the year brings the Lunar New Year and an additional opportunity to set or refine the seeds of intention that you wish to tend in the coming year

This is the backdrop before which you are invited to sense into the pace and rhythm of welcoming the arrival of a new year that is most natural, most nurturing and most nourishing for you - to find your "sensitive period".

We aren’t just supported for a brief period on or around December 31st and January 1st - the turning of the wheel of the natural world holds space for a season within which we are free to move at our pace and in alignment with our inner guidance system.

Have you ever given yourself more than a month to settle into your intentions?

I’d love to see us all give ourselves a lot more space and become increasingly observant of our own sensitive periods for whatever we’d like to learn or unlearn or shift or create in 2025 and beyond. It's a generous act of self-love to do so.

Sending you Love,

Tawnia

PS: I’ve created an entire suite of offerings this season to support you taking more time in being with your inner guidance system and setting your intentions this year - please consider joining one, some or all of them as it resonates with you (when you sign-up for Sit with It, you gain access to them all):

Dec 21st (9am-1pm ET) Ground Your Light! Solstice Gathering - guided meditation journey and neurographic art practice ($33; included in the Wellspring Membership & Sit with It: a month of meditation gatherings)

Jan 6th - Feb 7th (Mon-Fri 7:30am ET) Sit with It: a month of meditation gatherings to set the tone for 2025 & beyond - settle into stillness and deepen your relationship with yourself by investing 33 minutes a day for 33 days in guided practice ($33; includes access to the Solstice Gathering and What’s Your Intention events and access to the meditation recordings for all of 2025)

Jan 25th (11am- 12:30pm ET) What’s Your Intention Workshop- guided meditation journey to connect with your intentions, a journalling practice to create affirmations to support you and acknowledge potential pitfalls, and a tapping practice to release stagnant energy and align with your intentions ($22; included in the Wellspring Membership & Sit with It: a month of meditation gatherings)