Before Winter ramped up, we had a list of things to do, such as get the car checked, stack firewood, or prepare for hurricane season. Depending on where you live, the list may vary. What doesn’t vary on my list is the spiritual tune-up. I use the days when I can’t go outside to work on my inside. I don’t mean the inside of my house, but if you have the energy and the inclination, go for it. I’m referring to a spiritual house cleaning of sorts.

The holidays are busy times for most people with the gift-making, giving, and receiving. Seeing or speaking to the people we only contact once a year or spending quality time with those we love. We also have to make time for ourselves. When the bulk of your holiday busy time is over, usually after New Year’s, take the time to take stock of yourself.

Winter is the perfect time to evaluate where you are and where you want to be, which is why I also think it’s a great time to do shadow work if you’re ready for it. Even if you’re not ready for it, you can still look back at the year in regard to what happened with your spiritual progress. Did we get as far as you hoped? If so, what helped you get there. If not, why not? This is not an opportunity for you to kick yourself for all the things you “should have done” and didn’t. There was a reason you prioritized other things. What was that reason? Has that been taken care of, or is it still a factor?

Why do this at all? You owe it to yourself. If you don’t know where you are, you won’t know how to get where you want to go. Once you have figured out where you are in your spiritual plan, you can think about possible steps to keep you moving toward your spiritual goal. Does that mean you’re definitely going to get there in the time frame you assume you will? Nope. It means that you have a plan. Count on life to throw a few wrenches into that plan, but if you you keep at it, you will get there eventually.

What does a spiritual tune-up look like? Generally, you decide what aspects of your spiritual development you want to assess, such as how well you’ve been doing with meditation, astral traveling, or speaking to your guides and ancestors. Do you feel more connected to the Source/The Universe than you did before? Are you feeling drawn to work with a particular deity? Have you been getting signs that it’s time to focus your attention on something else? We are busy, and many of the messages we get from a metaphysical perspective are akin to whispers instead of shouts. We miss them, ignore them, or forget about them after the moment passes. How many of those whispers do you remember now, and what role will they play in what you choose to do in the future?

The phrase I’m going to mangle is something about “those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it.” This is true regardless of whether you’re speaking about a terrible time in history or a terrible personal experience. Assessing our experiences and what part we played in them ensures we don’t do them again. The greatest gift we can give ourselves is to learn our hardest lessons and remain open to new experiences. We can come out on the other side of a situation armed with the knowledge that we won’t be falling for it again. This is what we can carry with us into and through the new year.

I’m not a great believer in New Year’s Resolutions, as I, like most people, drop them like a hot rock by the end of February. Most of the time, they are unrealistic expectations that inevitably lead to disappointment and a sense of doom for my future. Instead, I like to set an intention for the year, one in which I will always make decisions for the highest good of all concerned, I learn my lessons the first time, and that prosperity finds me at every turn. A spiritual tune-up allows you to let go of the old patterns and ways of doing things to embrace the new year. It’s a fresh start, a second chance, new possibilities, and the promise of all things prosperous.