Leaving the security of what you know and stepping through your personal portal to a new dimension takes courage.  The time between December holidays and the first of the new year can be a major challenge for you.  Do you recognize the signs of your challenge?

We can look at what might be construed as negatives:

• You're sad or mad because the holidays didn't match your wishes and desires.
• You're worried or self critical or both because you spent too much and you wonder how you are going to deal with the financial crunch ahead.
• You're more lonely than you thought because relationships in your life proved unsatisfying, disappointing or sad because the people are gone.
• You dread the coming of the new year because going back to work or looking for work seems exhausting and grim.

We can look at what might be construed as positives:

• You feel love and gratitude for the caring and generous people in your life.
• You feel enthused about new projects that you want to begin in the new year
• You feel satisfied that you created a festive and joyous experience for people you love.
• You are at ease with your financial situation.

If you are receiving an invitation to travel to new dimensions where adventure, health, wisdom and glorious new ways of relating to people and all life and your personal stargate is opening before you, how will you respond?

What difference does it make if you are coming from the negative or the positive scenarios I describe above?

• Is your situation so bad that the thought of anything being risky and worse is impossible to contemplate?
• Is your situation so good that the thought of losing what you have is impossible to contemplate?
• How extreme does your thinking get?

Isn't it curious that both negative experiences and positive experiences can hold you back from accepting an invitation to expand your life? What could expand your life? A stargate could lead to:

1. Recovery
2. Different living environment (street, city, country)
3. New career or different level of profession
4. Spiritual awakening
5. Greater sense of aliveness as you move in a world that is loaded with possibilities for you?
6. New and different kinds of relationships (with people and with money).
7. Discovery of new ways of thinking and feeling within yourself

This time between holidays and the new year, this time of the winter solstice and great change for the planet, touches us in ways we may not understand or recognize. We might even create major distractions to keep us unaware of our stargate invitation.

What vibrational glimmer is around you now? What little things attract your attention in a mild way and which you push to the side? What's a familiar attraction that you reject in the same old way?

These are invitations. When you pass through your stargate, you experience your life in a new way. If you pass by the guitar again your life remains the same. If you pick it up and play a chord or enroll in a class, your life will change.

Please know that your fear, loneliness, sorrow and anger are guides pointing you to your stargate. Sit with your feelings and listen to them. Let your courage emerge to support you in your decision about your invitation.

Please know that you might be resisting the portal that leads you to a better life because you are comfortable where you are. Sit with your feelings of comfort. Notice if somewhere within you resides a desire to accept your invitation. Let your courage emerge to support you in your decision-making.

Please remember that when we receive an invitation to pass through our personal stargate, we don't get to see what's on the other side until we make the crossing. Even then, it may take a while for us to appreciate where we are. Aren't you curious? I am.

Happy New Year. And please let me know about any invitations you are receiving and how you are responding to them.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Written by Joanna Poppink, MFT. Joanna is a psychotherapist in private practice specializing in eating disorder recovery, stress, PTSD, and adult development.

She is licensed in CA, AZ, OR, FL, and UT. Author of the Book: Healing Your Hungry Heart: Recovering from Your Eating Disorder

Appointments are virtual.

For a free telephone consultation, e-mail her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.