12 days of Advent: a Substack Community Celebration #7

A simple Art/ Writing exercise to help you take an inventory of your energy right now, and to help you ensure you focus your energy exactly where you want it in 2024!

Hi, I'm Laura, and I’m a multi-passionate mama of 3, excited about demystifying creativity, obsessed with other people’s pivots and delighted by flat whites, long walks and learning.

three works by Tamzin

That drain can no longer take so much from you. Build a wall, a dam, whatever it takes, to redirect some of that water back to source. Once you call that energy home to yourself, you can spend it where you want it to go, which results in big shifts and transformations…

- Tamzin Merivale

It’s day seven in our 12 days of Advent: a Substack Community Celebration. Oh this is such a joy, and no more so than today’s gift from

Tamzin

, an intuitive artist, writer and creative mentor. In creating her unique Soul Sign Energy Portraits, Tamzin guides her clients through an immersive experience to unearth their powerful selves, their incomparable light, their impact and their strength. Her writing on

Resurface

gives readers tools and insights to release their struggles and live a life that feels expansive, free and aligned. Tamzin's mission is to hold space for greater empathy and understanding, as these are the true enemies of prejudice and judgment.

Tamzin…I love the lights in this photo!

Tamzin writes…

Take a piece of paper, and draw an oval on the page. This oval represents your pool of energy in 2023.

Imagine the pool as a bubbling hot spring in the middle of a lush forest. It’s overflowing with water, filtering off in different directions.

Some of the streams are just a trickle, pinpricks in the soil, where not much water is escaping. Others however, will be much larger, perhaps rivers of water gushing out, faster than it can be replenished.

Start to draw out these streams on your page, where was your energy flowing this year? For example: relationships, work, creative projects, etc. Now have a look at your drawing and journal or ask yourself the following:

1. Where did your energy go this year?

2. What were the biggest drains? Drains can be tricky relationships, unhappy work situations, or even mental and physical blocks. They can even be stories we tell ourselves, that limit us and hold us back. What were they for you this year?

3. Were there any areas that asked too much of you, or where you gave too much and feel exhausted as a result?

4. Which areas took a manageable amount of energy -- a natural give and take?

5. Where did you really want to focus your energy, but couldn’t, either because your resources were depleted or because you were blocked by something else? What form did that block take?

6. Where and how did you replenish the pool throughout the year, how did you nourish yourself?

If there were some severe, unwanted drains on your energy this year, I recommend drawing a block on the page, as a signal to yourself. That drain can no longer take so much from you. Build a wall, a dam, whatever it takes, to redirect some of that water back to source. Once you call that energy home to yourself, you can spend it where you want it to go, which results in big shifts and transformations…

Picture yourself diving into the pool. How does it feel, now at the end of year? Is the water too low? Is it cold or hot? Is it crystal-clear, or polluted with grit and dirt? What’s the quality and quantity of the energy you’ve been left with? Whatever answers come up for you, ask yourself what you need in 2024, to ensure the water doesn’t get so low. What boundaries might you need to put in place? What might you be able to do for yourself next year to keep your energy levels flowing and intact?

Now, for the fun part! Draw another oval, this time thinking about 2024. Brainstorm your ideal scenario for next year, your dreams, and show yourself on the page where you truly want to place your energy. Which direction are you going to flow in? What relationships, work or projects truly deserve that abundance of your energy and attention next year? How delicious will it feel to be taking action towards how you want your year to unfold?

If you like, you can think about what blocks may present themselves, but just like you had to build a dam to prevent the drains, here you can knock those blocks down with a sledgehammer!

Be sure to include some nourishing practices that are just for you, to make sure that when you check back in with your pool, it feels full of deliciously warm, clear water. Or at least that if it doesn’t, you know what you need to do to care for yourself in the meantime!

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Now, as soon as I read Tamzin’s piece I knew I had to give this exercise a go: I struggle with “drawing” but found these prompts and approach so simple, yet so useful. Thank you so much Tamzin! I would urge you to give this a go, and would love to know your thoughts on this, on Tamzin’s art, or simply how Advent is treating you right now.

With much love,

Laura x