I love this week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  Culturally, we are finally given permission to slow down and focus on the things that matter most to us.

For many people this simply means catching up on rest or enjoying time with family and friends. Others take advantage of the lull in the chaos to set goals and strategies for the next year.

But with one foot still in 2013 and the other reaching for 2014, this is probably not the best time to actually start any new initiatives. And often we begin to plan the next steps before we have energetically completed the last steps. In order to avoid doing the splits and landing flat on my face, I like to take this time for sacred completions BEFORE I move into intentions, goals or strategies for the future.

Often we check our tasks off an ever-evolving list of arbitrary goals that we have set for ourselves, but this doesn’t mean that we have actually completed the most important piece – being at peace, at ease with ourselves around those actions! This is a somatic experience of relaxed emptiness and full satisfaction at the same time. One we feel deep within our bodies.

So here is my version of how to approach completions as a prequel to any new year goal setting. Once again this is a perfect opportunity to use the OARSS process. Observe. Ask. Release. Set a New Direction. Show up as if you are the change. (Read more about the OARSS Process in an excerpt from my book here.) Completions only involve the first three steps, but it is difficult to set a new direction if you have not first completed your inner work on releasing the old.

1. Start by observing your physical sensations. Not your emotions or what you think about your sensations, but simply what your body is feeling at this particular moment that you are checking in.

When you run through your “achievements” and “failures” for the past year, ask if you feel complete – on the inside. Sometimes we are not even complete around our greatest successes. We might not have been able to receive or acknowledge our own accomplishments. And often we are still critical of the areas where we perceived we were not good enough.

2. Ask your body what it would like to find completion – in this moment. If you feel tightness in your gut about something, ask, “What else is possible? What would it feel like if my stomach felt at ease? What if I just let this go? What if I really am enough just like I am?”

3. Release any attachment, criticism, judgment or belief around this subject/issue. Sometimes completion is an iterative process. Feeling complete in the moment is enough.

My friends at Seven Stones Leadership recently held a wonderful call about completions. And I love how Gina does a completion exercise for herself at the end of each day. Click Here if you would like to listen to the free recording.

I am very excited about 2014 and have a lot of great stuff to announce (watch for new classes and how to set intentions next week), but before we move into any strategies for the future, let’s all take this moment for energetic completions for 2013. We will be able to create from such a different place and hold so much more expansive visions if we learn how to let go into inner completion first.

May you have a peaceful, grounded and freedom filled end of year!