CHAPTER 1 - WAITING FOR THE LIGHT TO RETURN
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of The Quiet Ground.
This week actually is my first full episode. And it's the new year. We are but a few days into 2026. So I thought I'd talk about something that I've been speaking to lots of people about since Hogmanay, and that is New Year's resolutions.
The path that I follow tells me that January is a terrible time to make big promises to yourself that you're probably not going to keep. It's dark, it's cold, you're pretty much skint after Christmas and there's not an awful lot to be motivated for. And I'm saying that as a coach, so I know it well. However, that doesn't mean to say that you can't start thinking about the sorts of goals and plans and changes that you want to make. Instead of setting and starting your goals now at this massive turn point for our society and our culture, why not wait a little longer for the light to come back, especially if you are in this part of the world.
But if you're not in Northern Europe, then you can always use the mark of the 1st of February of Imbolc as a psychological and coaching marker to return with the light and with that renewed energy of spring coming along the way to start your new year and your resolutions at that point instead. Imbolc is a traditional Celtic, I would say, Scottish and Irish festival. which is associated with the goddess Brigid, particularly in Ireland, and her forge, which brings the light back to the world. But there is a physical returning of light, if you are, say, in Scotland, where I am.
The days just gain a few seconds more of daylight around about the 1st of February. But this can be used, as I said, in a coaching way. You can start to make and take those first few steps of all the plans that you've thought about since the turn of the new year. You can turn them into actions.
I would always suggest that you make those first few steps really, really small, really tiny and achievable, so you're not overwhelming yourself. And I wouldn't ever recommend starting more than a couple of things at a time. So you don't get frustrated when things maybe slip from your diary or you miss a session of something that you'd like to start or perhaps family illness or even, your job gets in the way and you don't quite manage it. And then of course we get into that cycle of beating ourselves up and asking ourselves why we started it in the 1st place. So always start small. start doable and take action. And it doesn't really matter what it looks like as long as you put 1 foot in front of the other and you try it. So that's my suggestion for this week's Quiet Ground.
If you started your new year with high hopes and big plans and it didn't quite go to plan, you have another chance at it. It's coming up the 1st of February in bulk, the returning of the light. And hopefully with that, a very tiny hint of spring and possibility. So think about using that energy to start what you really truly want to start in 2026.
Artwork in thumbnail “And if you gave your love” by Ffion Evans - www.skullandbolt.co.uk
Music Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/avbe/full-moon
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