Leading With Authenticity

Hello, Emily. Good morning. Happy Monday. I am here with my trusted advisor, Major. Major. Look, look, look. How are you on this amazing Monday? Hello, Colleen. Happy Monday. Nice to have you here. Trusted advisor ready and present. I speak wonder. Happy Monday. It's Monday. We're here. We made it. It is the last Official Monday of 2020 24. Hi, Jules. Good morning. Recognize landscape jewels. Hello, Lindsay. Good morning. Last Monday of 2024. My name is Jean. I'm going to invite everybody as you jump into the call here this morning.

Hi Jocelyn. To just take a breath. Take a nice long slow breath. Eyes open, eyes closed. Feel that breath as it expands your lungs. Feel that breath as it fuels your body. Mondays can be crazy and hectic. And on this Monday, how many people have to work today? Give a little heart. If you're working today, it's or a thumbs up in the chat. It's one of those weird. That's okay. Major Zandau saying hello everybody. It's one of those Mondays where it's a little weird, right? Because coffee shops speak wonder coffee shop juuls.

Amazing. Jocelyn has to work today. So it's one of those weird holidays, right, where Christmas fell on a New Year's, falls on a Wednesday, and businesses are a little uncertain on what to do. And some people are taking time off, some people are working the whole way through. And then you might have to go to work on Thursday and Friday. It's just an awkward week. But what is beautiful about this day? I'm gonna do a little pop quiz. Energetically speaking, does anybody know what today is? So I'm gonna hold space there.

December 30, 2024, from an astrological perspective, what is today? So I'll tell you, but I'm gonna see if you can guess first. So on this Monday, as we are kind of preparing for a new year, I want to just throw out a few things as we Capstone 2024. Now, I don't know about you, but I think that when on Thursday, it's going to be another Thursday, but the calendar is going to tell me it's a brand new year. And maybe a long time ago there was something magical, we thought that happened on that new day.

A final cut from what 2024 was to what 2025 might hold as possibilities. And we set these goals. So I co own an indoor cycling studio. And there's always the known people that are regular members that ride throughout the year, go to their gyms throughout the year. And some of them dread January 1st because that's when they call it kind of the rookie, the Rookie Holiday or the Rookie Month, because so many people will jump in and start their new fitness trends. Because it's the first day of a new year.

And if that's you, I love that. I love it. Because sometimes we need something that says something is complete for something to begin. And what I love about just even that simple transition of mindset from 2024, books are closed, 2025 opportunities are opened. Is even if Thursday you wake up and it feels just like it did on Wednesday, there's something fresh about it. There's something that provides a possibility, an opportunity for closure and an opportunity for opening. And so I've been doing some painting at the studio.

There's some walls that need to get refreshed. We're gonna redecorate a little bit. And I was listening to a podcast. I don't know if any of you listened to Mel Robbins, but if you don't, I would encourage you to do so. And I'll. I'll find the episode and I'll pop it in the comments after we're done on the main page so everybody can explore it. But before I dive into that, I'm going to share with you that today is the last new moon of the year. It is called a black moon, the darkest moon of the year.

And on new moons, it's an opportunity for us to reflect and create. A new moon means if you look into the sky, and in Minneapolis, it's hazy today, so you can't really see anyway. But what it means is that the moon is dark. The sun has taken it over, and she's dark. And it's pretty apropos because we are transitioning from winter solstice, the darkest, longest day of darkness in the year, into this black moon. And it's the last new moon. And so it's a Capricorn. So if you're Capricorn, this is your moon.

But what it represents is that time for us to not just start to create what we want to have happen. So moon or about creation, putting intentions out there. But this one is significant because it asks us to look back and reflect, look back on 2024, look back on our lives, look back on our year so that we can take advantage of all that we've created. We can take advantage of ideas that we forgot and use those to plant the seeds for what's to come. So I like to think of moons as our garden, and I like to think about our ideas as seeds or our goals.

If you're very structured person. You like goals, milestones. If you're a little bit more into the feeling, you might have ideas or creativity, there's no right or wrong. But if you think about it as a garden and using the moon as a garden for us to plant a bunch of seeds, what seeds do you want to plant? What new seeds? What weeds grew from seeds that you planted before? So if you think about 2024, metaphorically, what's in your garden that didn't grow, or what's in your garden that didn't turn out just right, that maybe you're okay letting go.

And if you think about what's coming in 2025, what seeds do you want to plant in 2025, what milestones do you want to hit? What goals do you want to achieve? What aspirations do you have? For me, I like to do themes. So last year, my theme was grace, gratitude, and give back. And it was to give myself grace for the healing journey that I was on, gratitude for all the gifts that were coming my way and the gifts that have come my way, even knowing that there were so many losses. A gift doesn't mean that it's always beautiful.

A gift could mean a challenge, a struggle, because that gift can be something I can have gratitude for as I work my way through it, as I heal, and as I grow and expand and give back. To me is what are my opportunities to give to the community that is always given to me. And I really liked that theme, so I've decided to not change it for this year and see what else comes in, because I don't feel like that theme is complete. Speak, Wonder says. I love that you said something needs to be complete before something new can begin.

Right. So for me, with my theme from last year, it doesn't feel complete. It still feels right in my heart. It still feels right in my soul. So for me, 2025, that's going to be my theme. However, with the New Moon energy and with this podcast that I mentioned from Mel Robbins, she did something really unique that I hadn't considered before, or if I have, maybe I hadn't put some intention around it. So what she did is she had a list of seven questions, and I was painting, so I was really high on a ladder, so I didn't get a chance to write the questions down.

But what stuck in my mind was this. She asked us to go back and look at 2024, and we have documentation of 2024. Right. So if you're somebody that journals speak Wonder, I would imagine you Have a love for journal. Maybe, maybe not. But your way with words is always quite impeccable in my mind. But maybe you journaled. Maybe you are somebody that listens to a lot of music. I listen to a lot of music. Music tells stories to me. I like to read books. I take a lot of photos on my phone so our phones can become documentation of our year.

And so in this podcast, what she said is, go back to 2024 and look at your photo album. What did you do? Who are you with? And you can do your albums by year. So just go into 2024 and see what's there, but also see what's not there. Did you not go to enough concerts? And you love concerts, but maybe you don't have any photos of concerts. Maybe you spent time with your besties. Maybe you didn't spend enough time with your besties, and you don't see the photos there because we happen to be in a space where we photo everything.

I play a lot of music, and so when I taught my spin class yesterday, I created a compilation of songs from people that ride in my community from their top 100 playlists of 2024. And I learned a lot about music and how people think about music. And so I looked at the music that I listened to the most last year, and I went to a lot of concerts, but I also trained for marathons. And so. So I had a lot of songs in my playlist that would inspire me or motivate me, but there's one group that I listen to the most, Actually, there's two and one.

I saw their concert probably four times last year. I know that's egregious, right? But I was really fortunate that I had a lot of frequent miles so I could fly to some new cities, go meet up with friends, and go see this concert from this group that I love. And this tour is a tour that got me through the loss of my mom and dad. And every time I went to their concert, I felt like I was connecting to my parents. I don't know how to explain it. It was almost a surreal religious experience for me. Each concert was super different.

In each concert, I felt them in a very different way. So in my playlist, I saw a lot of those songs in there, and it reminded me of those moments that I had throughout the year. So for me, music in combination with photos really helped me capstone my reflection. So look back. So the other thing that you could think about is, what didn't you do this last year that maybe you wanted to do so. I said I like to read, but I didn't create enough space and time to read because I couldn't sit still long enough.

That was also part of my grieving. It was movement. So the actual essence of sitting for long periods of time almost made me anxious, like I wasn't doing enough. And that to me says a lot, that 2025 is my opportunity to slow down and just be and be okay with that. So when we look back and we think about the things that we love and if we didn't see it there, what does that tell us in our story? There's no right or wrong answer. There's zero judgment about it. It's simply an opportunity to explore.

And if we go back to that garden, maybe those were seeds that just didn't get enough water. So they're still there. They just didn't get an opportunity to create any roots and sprout and grow. So when I think about looking ahead to 2025, that's my opportunity. Do I have seeds that I planted that I didn't grow? Do I have goals that maybe I didn't meet for really good reasons? It's not a time to judge ourselves for what we did or didn't do. And that can really easily become our focus. But it's a check in to see what are our possibilities.

Give yourself grace to speak. Wonder that I was fresh and raw with grief. I couldn't read. I was simply unable to process the written word. Coming from someone who likes to write. And as a poet, that says so much, so much. So what will you do on these last few days of 2024? How might you reflect a little? Type in the chat. One thing that you'll consider for yourself and how will you leap into Thursday knowing that it's another Thursday? It's the day after Wednesday and when you wake up that morning, it might not be different, but what's changed is a calendar, an opportunity.

So if you're willing, type in the chat something you're you're open to exploring in the next 24 to 48 hours. If you're curious about moons, type in the comments and I'll get you some energy or I'll get you some information. But if you can just simply go out to Google or Instagram and type in about the black full moon or, sorry, New Moon, black New Moon and new moon December 30, you'll get some Instagrams that will pop up with some insights as well. I work with a lot of moon energy. It's kind of part of my practice.

But just give yourself some grace. So as you're leaning into your lives, you're leaning into your day, my invitation to you is to look back. There's rich, valuable information in there for you. And then look ahead and plant those seeds in your garden. And remember, those seeds aren't going to grow unless you nurture them. You water them, you invest in them. You give them sunshine. You give them nighttime to rest. So what are you willing to invest in your garden this next year? So with that, I wish you the best.

Monday Manger is just hanging out saying hello. He'll make cameos all year. Ooh, a haiku. I would love to see your haiku if you write one, if you don't mind speak wonder posting it in the comments out on the main page. I'd love to see what you create and then maybe teach me how to write a haiku for 2025, everybody. If somebody hasn't told you today, I'm gonna steal this one from Mel Robbins. I love you. I'm proud of you and what you've accomplished in 2024. And if somebody hasn't told you that you are loved today, let me be that person for you.

I hope you have the best day and I'll talk to you soon.