This year 2018, I feel will be totally different from 2017 and I both do and don’t know why or how I know that. Weird right?

What did I do in 2017 – A LOT! A lot of little life changing acts of getting out of my comfort zone, especially where travelling is concerned.

My word for the year was Trust and a few months later Love kept coming up, so I decided to develop them both within myself and take polaroids through out the year (which I will continue to do).

I also set up a Living List, things I want to do while alive and completed some items on there.

My vision board started really simple and changed throughout the year when things were completed then got filled with quotes and messages of positivity!

Vision board 2017

Things I completed or that came true on my vision board 2017:

• Doing my Level 1 Kundalini Yoga training
• Went to Wilderness Festival, Oxford
• Got on a plane and visited Prague
•  Visited Edinburgh
• Went to Blenheim Palace at night time
• Taught some yoga classes
• Went to Basquiat Art exhibition in London
• Went to Sikhi camps
• I did some art journaling again
• Go swimming, gym again
• I found a friend to go to India with
• Finishing the Why Guru course (almost)

Things I didn’t do that I still want to:

• Visit Kew Gardens
• Go up The Shard
•  Go to Gravesend Gurdwara
•  Day out in Oxford visit Ashmolean Art Gallery
• Try out Martial Arts classes
• Visit Harminder Sahib (Golden Temple) Amritsa, India

2017 Recap….

A key thing that I realise looking back is even though my word for the year wasn’t ‘explore’ I was away a lot. If I wasn’t packing a suitcase I was booking hotels or messaging a friend about staying over theirs and joining the yoga class next day. I think one of the many gifts of grief has been the deeper knowing life is short and that was transferred into going out and experiencing stuff in real life, stuff that I had only read about on my computer screen and only wanted to go to before. I did almost all go the things that I’ve wanted to do for years!

It’s also been about taking a chance and just going, experiencing a different side to life, one I might not get a chance or even want to again. Such as queuing up in the mud for a shower, being in a site full of people in fancy dress and dancing at the front while The Turbans played at Wilderness festival. Or waking up each morning to do a Sadhana by the lake then swimming in it between workshops at Yoga Fest and experiencing a Cacao ceremony and Gong bath at Vegan Fest. Festivals are incredible like that, the moment you drive in it’s like you’ve signed up to be in another world for a few days!

I’ve made new friends this year too, in getting out of my comfort zone, people I really connect with and already my life has shifted in a positive direction as we’ve made time for meet ups. I made a lot of me time possible, out and about on my own, can you believe that I was that vulnerable shell that felt weird eating on my own at my favourite cafe when newly single? I love eating out, especially pizza, I call them ‘me dates’. I’ve even got a new computer to use them productively this year.

Another BIG thing that happened in 2017 was my Kundalini Yoga training as it lasted 9 months! I went to many workshops, classes and taught my own too. It’s an interesting journey as it can be used for personal development and to teach and what I learnt about myself from yogic teachings and other students has been invaluable and priceless.

Along the way I’ve developed my Sikhi and spiritual life through reading and speaking more Gurbani, listening to kind words of friends, going to Katha’s, attending camps and doing Seva. I’ve also experienced a relationship that was ’not Sikhi’ and through that I’ve learnt more (about men) and developed my Sikhi more. It’s through real conversations, experiences, Simran that I’ve developed or re dug out the creative courage to continue my writing and art.

….And Reflection

The downside or shadow side to all the travelling, days out and friend meet ups is that I didn’t really get any personal projects completed. Or down time. I’ve partly pushed aside activities I’m passionate about because I didn’t want to stay in my family home (when you’ve lived outside of it for almost 10 years) it’s kind of weird and wonderful but mostly I want my own space and how is that done – through hotel rooms!

I started the year off in a tiny box room then moved to a bigger one and in the new year I’m having two rooms! This is expansion within and without. I’ve grown to love my own space and I finally feel in this temporary space of bed, altar, computer and art desk, I can be myself and make a big shift in writing and making art 2018!

Here’s to a wonderful 2017 and amazing 2018 to come! Please check out my 2018 vision board and new year posts coming shortly.