Letting Go of 2023

 

It's the end of the year, so it's time for my annual letting go post! I've written them for 6 years now and you can see my previous posts at the links below:

Letting Go of 2017: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/12/letting-go-of-2017.html

Letting Go of 2018: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/12/letting-go-of-2018.html

Letting Go of 2019 + Starting a New Decade: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/12/letting-go-of-2019-starting-new-decade.html

Letting Go of 2020: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/12/letting-go-of-2020.html

Letting Go of 2021: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/12/letting-go-of-2021.html

Letting Go of 2022: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2023/01/letting-go-of-2022.html

 

The end of 2022 wasn't very good for me (due to personal reasons), as I mentioned in the previous Letting Go post. And 2023 didn't start off that well. But it got better further into the year. I also write a mid-year reflections post and you can read 2023's here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2023/06/mid-2023-reflections.html

If you follow numerology, the Universal Year Number for 2023 was 7, so 2024's is 8. Its themes are empowerment, manifestation and abundance. It's supposed be an "accelerator" year, which will help people push forward on their goals. You can read more about it here: https://astrostyle.com/8-universal-year-2024-numerology-horoscope/

Gratitude List

Today is New Year's Eve, so here is my last Gratitude List of 2023! :)

Things I'm grateful for this month: 

• Yule/the Winter Solstice
• Chocolate advent calendars! 
• Christmas 
• Getting new slippers
  
• Hot chocolate and seasonal Christmas drinks
  
• Winter sunshine 
• Ghost stories for Christmas (books and TV)
• Christmas lights

 

Happy New Year and wishing everyone a wonderful start to 2024! :) I will also be posting my yearly letting go post today, so look out for that.

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Last burst of the autumn colours
• Walking in the park
• Sunny days
  
• Library books
• Hot chocolate
• Positive online spaces
  
• New Jennifer Lopez music- a preview of her new song Can't Get Enough!
• The last full month of autumn
  

 

And here is a recent photo I took in the park:

Autumn trees in Hove Park.

 

 

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful this month:

• Autumn colours
• Going to a belly dance class with Nadia Undine
• Going to Lancing Beach- I wanted to go again before it gets too cold!
• Watching 16 & Pregnant repeats
  
• Gold chocolate coins for Christmas already being in the shops, lol
• Seasonal reading (i.e. ghost stories!)
• Cosy autumn vibes (cooler weather but not really cold yet)
  
• Hallowe'en/Samhain tomorrow!
  

 

Gratitude List

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but since today is the last day of September, I'm writing my monthly Gratitude List today instead :)

 

Things I'm grateful for this month: 

• The late summer hot weather we had at the beginning of the month!
• Going to a belly dance workshop with Katie Holland
  
• Going to the library
• Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox
• Golden sunlight as autumn starts
• Trees starting to change colour
• Music
  
• Going to Starbucks

 

Thought I'd share a picture I took recently in the park:

Leaves starting to turn- Hove Park.

 

Gratitude List

 Thing I'm grateful for this month:

• Lammas
• Last full month of summer
• The weather warming up and feeling more "summer like"!
  
• Having a computer again! :)
  
• Going to Five Guys
• Sunsets
• Libraries
• Going on a beach walk with a local group

Finding a Way Forward

I haven't posted much on the blog so far this year. As I said in my mid-year reflections post, I found the first half of 2023 quite difficult. While I've still been blogging on my entertainment blog Star Sparkle Blog and seasonal living one The Seasonal Life, I've not had much motivation to post on here. I cover "deeper" topics such as self-help, spiritual methods and mental health, and just didn't feel like I had the energy to write much about them.

But I would like to get back into blogging more here, so today I'm writing about finding a way forward when you've been feeling stuck or lost in life. 

Two years ago I wrote a couple of posts about moving upwards and feeling better when you've been in a low place. You can see them here:

Starting from the Bottom- Part 1: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/04/starting-from-bottom-part-1.html

Starting from the Bottom- Part 2: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/08/starting-from-bottom-part-2.html

And last year I wrote another post about feeling better when you've been down for a long time: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2022/02/when-youve-been-down-for-too-long.html

I've spoken (or written!) before about having depression and anxiety. So if I'm really struggling it can be hard to see a way forward. Especially if I feel stuck in certain patterns.

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• First full month of summer
• The days still being quite long 
• Iced coffees
• Going to Wendy's
• Getting a new bookcase- I've wanted to get one for ages but hadn't got round to it!
• The sun coming out after rain (we've had a lot of rain lately!)
• Devi Sietaram's YouTube channel- she makes videos about spiritual subjects (e.g. manifesting) mixed with psychology and quantum physics
• More baking!

Gratitude List

I normally post on Sundays and Mondays but I wrote my mid-year reflections post yesterday, so I'm posting today instead. :)

Things I'm grateful for this month: 

• The "official" start of summer 
• Going to Nando's (very belated birthday meal!)
• Going to the park
• Litha/the Summer Solstice
• Baking 
• Burger King mocha coffees
• Buying new books
• Summer weather 

Mid-2023 Reflections

Update: 1/7/23: I've added an extra bit to the post because I had more to say! 

It's already June and the middle of the year, so it's time for my annual mid-year reflections post! It's later in the month again like last year, but never mind! I've been writing these for a few years now, I started in 2018 (although that post was in May, so not quite halfway through the year). You can see my previous posts below:

Reflections (2017): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/05/reflections.html

Mid-2018-Reflecions: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/06/mid-2018-reflections.html

Mid-2019 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/06/mid-2019-reflections.html

Mid-2020 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/mid-2020-reflections.html

Mid-2021 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/06/mid-2021-reflections.html

Mid-2022 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2022/06/mid-2022-reflections.html

I also write an end of year post. Here's 2022's (written in January because I couldn't get it finished earlier): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2023/01/letting-go-of-2022.html

As I mentioned in my year-end post, the end of 2022 was quite hard for me due to personal issues. So the beginning of this year didn't start off that well. I feel like I've struggled quite a bit during the first half of 2023. I also find it hard adjusting to a new year, although this time it wasn't as much of a "comedown' after Christmas, since it wasn't that great. 

Gratitude List

Last month I started my Gratitude List but then didn't get it finished till it had gone over to May. So I missed April's but never mind! Here's May's. :)

Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Beltane
• Going to the beach for sunset- I went on Beltane
• Going to Perch café on Lancing Beach (the first time I'd been in the café!)
• The weather getting warmer and sunny days
• Roses coming out
• Increased light during this time of year 
• Buses 
• Iced coffees 

I've been having a bit of an anxious time lately and sometimes I find it a struggle finding things to be grateful for. But I enjoy doing this list. If you're also going through a hard time, I hope you're doing ok. :)

Thought I would also share a picture I took at the beach this month:

Sunset on Lancing Beach. 

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month: 

• Birthday presents and wishes. :)
• Oestara/the Spring Equinox and the official start of spring
• Seeing more signs of spring
  
• The days getting even longer since the Spring Equinox
  
• Having an iced coffee (and a muffin) from Gail's Bakery
• Going to the park
  
• Late winter/early spring sunsets
• Eating more pre-Easter chocolate (like last month)! lol
  

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Sunny late winter days
• Daffodils coming out
• Going to a belly dance workshop with Lianna Greene 
• Early Easter chocolate, especially Kinder Mini Eggs and Cadbury solid choc eggs!
  
• The days continuing to get longer
• Cybele's YouTube channel- she posts relaxing lifestyle videos and silent vlogs
• Celebrating Falling Petals' 10th birthday! 
• Connecting with others online in positive ways
  

Falling Petals' 10th Birthday + Fave Posts

It was Falling Petals' 10th birthday yesterday! It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since I started this blog and now 5 years since I celebrated its 5th birthday. :)

I started Falling Petals on 25th February 2013. You can read my first post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/02/welcome-to-falling-petals.html

And here is my post to celebrate the blog's 5th birthday: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/02/falling-petals-5th-birthday-fave-posts.html 

Falling Petals was the second blog I created, having previously started Star Sparkle Blog (about entertainment) in April 2011. I also set up The Seasonal Life (about seasonal living) in July 2013. I've loved writing since I was little (mainly stories) and blogging gave me a new way to do that. I think that starting Star Sparkle gave me the courage to start this blog covering "deeper" more spiritual/philosophical type subjects. 

In my first post (and the 5th birthday post) I explained that the inspiration for the blog's name came from Liza Dalby's book The Tale of Murasaki which I was re-reading at the time, about the real-life Japanese author, poet and lady in waiting Murasaki Shikibu who wrote The Tale of Genji. (I'm actually reading it again now; I re-read about it once a year.) She observed seasonal changes and wrote poetry about the seasons, such as cherry blossoms in spring.

When I started out, I wasn't sure which direction the blog would go in exactly, but ended up expanding from self-help and spiritual topics, including the Law of Attraction (LOA), to sharing resources for finding information about self-help/personal development. Since then, I've also covered mental health topics, because I have depression and anxiety myself. 

Gratitude List

I normally post on Sundays or Mondays but I'm behind with blog posts (I also run the blogs Star Sparkle Blog and The Seasonal Life), and just remembered I haven't done January's Gratitude List! So here it is on a Tuesday (and the last day of the month). :) 

Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Going to Creams Cafe in Brighton again (first went in November)
  
• Going to Starbucks
• Winter sunsets
• Sunny weather after days of rain
• The days getting gradually longer again
  
• Baking gingerbread cookie bars- I planned to make them for Christmas but didn't manage to, so I did them this month instead
• Finding meal ideas online
  
• Getting new slippers 

 

And here is a sunset picture I took recently:

Coronation Green, Shoreham-by-sea.

 

Letting Go of 2022

We've just started a new year, so it's time for my annual letting go of the (previous) year post. I normally post this on New Year's Eve but wasn't able to this time, so I'm posting it today instead (even though it's not one of my usual posting days). :) You can see my past year-end posts at the links below:

Letting Go of 2017: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/12/letting-go-of-2017.html

Letting Go of 2018: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/12/letting-go-of-2018.html

Letting Go of 2019 + Starting a New Decade: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/12/letting-go-of-2019-starting-new-decade.html

Letting Go of 2020: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/12/letting-go-of-2020.html

Letting Go of 2021: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/12/letting-go-of-2021.html

 

2022 was an up and down year for me and probably for a lot of people. It had been the first time in two years when things were feeling a bit more "normal" after the pandemic and all the lockdowns. All restrictions were basically dropped in the UK in March but things have still felt a bit strange. I wrote a mid-year reflection post in June. You can read it here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2022/06/mid-2022-reflections.html

If you follow numerology, the Universal Year Number for 2022 was 6, so 2023's is 7. It's supposed to be about spiritual and personal growth and evolution. Read more about the universal year here: https://astrostyle.com/7-universal-year-numerology-horoscope/

My Personal Year Number for 2022 was a 1, which means that for 2023 it's 2. It's about partnerships and co-operation. I normally use the book 21st Century Goddess for my year number, but I have also used this resource a couple of times (it helps you calculate your personal year): https://feliciabender.com/monthly-numerology-forecast/#calculate