Annual Gratitude Letter 2023 - My 19th annual letter to myself - Squarespace

Annual Gratitude Letter 2023
                       My 19th annual letter to myself
It is now 1 January 2023 and I have been reflecting over the past few days as I see out another year
and prepare myself to write my next annual gratitude letter. This is the 19th year I have penned a
letter to my future self as an intention of the vision of how I wish to experience the coming year.

Reflecting on 2022, the year following the passing of my dear mumma bear Maureen, and following
two years of pandemic craziness, it has been “a year of building deeper foundations, dropping into
my heart, aligning with my truth and tuning into the ancestors and angels.”

2022 saw my heart crack open and my joy flow in many ways and across many aspects of my life –
from the land and plantings to my work and mission and my relationships and connections. To be
honest I was surprised at how much I felt open and allowed myself to be vulnerable.

The year 2022 had been full of richness and depth – from walking country and graduating from my
second level of lore with the elders, to exploring new love, building stronger ties with my
community, it was a year of growth spiritually and emotionally. Physically however it took some hits.
Towards the end of 2022 I had taken my eye off staying high vibration and had found myself shifting
back into all work and no play, to the detriment of my health and vitality so for 2023 my focus will
turn back to a balanced, aligned way of living.

In preparation for writing my letter each year I read a book over the holiday season. The books
always choose me, this year the book that came to me was Metabolical – The truth about processed
food and how it poisons people and the planet by Robert Lustig. The book offered a vast amount of
information about how our cells are affected by the modern lifestyle especially sugar, salt, stress and
caffeine – the main factors that have negatively impacted my health on and off and the drivers that
inspired my creation of my online 10 Degree Shift Lifestyle program several years ago.

In the book Robert debunks the truth about diseases, how modern medicine treats symptoms not
the disease and how big pharma are controlling the messages we hear and believe. The truth he
paints in this book is that most of what health really looks like is when we realise that “most
conditions are not druggble but foodable”. Processed foods are making us dumb, sick and broke.
From reading this book I gained a new wave of inspiration to get my own health back on track and a
double down on my commitment to support others return to wellness and performance. My desire
to support humanity’s evolution to a more conscious and alive existence has only grown.

Today as I reflect, review and write, I am reminded of the words of Maryam Hasnaa “the vibration of
being who you are and doing what you love is magnetic. You will align everything you need in your
life with that energy.”

I am about to walk into one of the best years of my life!
This gratitude letter is written a year in advance to help me envision what my life will feel like a year
from now. My aim for 2023 is to up my game. To begin, I chose two words as my guiding north stars:

1 – Soar – to soar like an eagle – just like the indigenous elder Uncle Bill told me to fly with the
eagles and my totems eagle and crow show me, it’s time for me to rise and soar. Soar to me
represents elevating my life, my health, my work and my perspective. Soaring, unlike coasting, is not
a bludge, it still requires effort, focus and power but the energy is used purposefully to move to a
higher field where there is less resistance, more flow.

                      Original artwork in the foyer of my house – Soar with the eagles

2 – Impact – the second word I chose was IMPACT – that is to streamline my activity to get the right
things done that will shift the needle the most. Focusing my time, energy and strengths where I can
have the greatest impact and shedding the drainers that keep me spinning my wheels was a massive
feature this year. With impact as a core focus I chose to work primarily with leaders and executives
as transformation at the top in organisations has a broader impact across entire companies. The
result? Instead of impacting just one person at a time this approach means I can have a one to one
to many impact that is exponential.

1 January 2023 however didn’t go exactly as I had initially planned with a bit of rough start. A dog
with diarrhoea meant a stinky house full of poop to be mopped up and a trip to the vets – I hope it’s
not an indication that a shit storm coming humanities way for the rest of 2023 – oh dear.

In a way however, it made sense. We have to shed and purge before we can rebuild and grow. I
believe we are entering the most intensified purification process the Earth that we have ever
experienced. We are at the cusp of a complete global and galactic energetic revolution. When I sit
with the grandmothers and senior lore women around sacred fire they herald it’s coming too. We
are right here now because we are meant to be part of that revolution, part of the seekers seeing
and creators bringing in a new world perspective. I have been given clear messages from the elders
that there is more to come if I choose to walk the right path right way and am ready to awaken and
remember who I am. It’s there for us all if we tune in and listen.

In 2023 I was inspired by Thomas Paine’s words “we have it in our power to begin the world over
again.” So I started over again. I brought myself back to the highest vibration possible, beyond
previous lives and years as I began to fully live at the level of love and joy. Buoyed by my connection
to the earth and land as well as my spiritual practices, I rose up. Moving into the next level meant
being able to be in my power and let my light shine, without flowing into other people’s space,
overshadowing or overwhelming them. I did not dim or shrink but used my discernment to flow
where it was most welcome and natural.

I dug deep and found a new level of courage. When I showed up as the real me some people didn’t
know how to take it because to see a soul and spirit that’s light and free frightens those still chained
to the conformity cage. But I decided to keep showing up as the real me no matter what, to keep
doing the inner work, to break free from the shackles of shame and to keep sharing my Uptimisms.
As more of my clients also found this courage we taught others to do the same which is how we
begin to have impact through elevating collective consciousness of humanity.

I focused more energy on rest and digest, sleep, yoga and calming meditations and started seeing
some great benefits that consistently calming my nervous system brought me - mental clarity,
relaxed attitude, a toned and strong body and a level of ease and grace. My goal is to be the
healthiest 100 year old I can be so I can continue to contribute and do what brings me joy for the
rest of my life. In 2023 I loved feeling STRONG, CALM, JOYFUL and ENERGETIC! This felt authentic
and in integrity as I continued my work as an Executive High Performance Coach, grew my property
investment portfolio, ran immersive retreats while continuing to grow a forest and wattle grove by
planting a tree a day.

I’m proud that this year I became an even more sought after Speaker and Executive High
Performance Coach for conscious leaders who wanted to shift into the zone of elite performance
without compromising their lifestyle. Through helping them master their productivity, strategy,
communication and wellbeing they in turn had a positive impact on their companies, their cultures
and the people they serve. Win, Win, Win!

The 10 Degree Shift Program, my signature program, continued to go from strength to strength – I
started the year with a 10 Day reset and began training a group of amazing new coaches who
supported the program participants with one on
one and group coaching, our community grew and
achieved results they had previously only dreamt of.

My collaborations with colleagues deepened and I
published a major piece of work I have been
working on for several years. The Blue Tick
Company Productivity Score and my Conscious
Culture Performance Spectrum. Both of these
aligned with the conscious leadership work and
podcasts have been in the pipeline for several years
and provided a framework to allow businesses to
finally measure their levels of consciousness and

productivity and benchmark themselves against the industry. These partnerships were deep and
trusting and my business success supported me to soar higher than ever before resulting in me
doubling my income which allowed for even more sustainable, impactful investments.

I also did a lot just for the joy of it in 2023 like impromptu weekends away, fitness fun in my local
village, motorcycle adventures on my new Kawasaki “Zeus” and launching a very satirical podcast
with my funny guy wingman Mickey – called the Condescending Podcast Show, in a very Australian
humour style we took the mickey out of popular culture magazines, books and posts in the
“improvement” trend – self-improvement, home improvement etc – it was another way to have fun
and unleash our creativity together – what a blast! Mickey continued to surprise and delight me.

In 2023 I also allowed myself to make more mistakes, because doing so meant I was innovating,
changing, shifting and growing. Stepping out of my comfort zone more, I discovered is that when you
do things you’ve never done before then you truly are living and growing.

In 2023 shifting became my new normal as I was attached to nothing but connected to everything.

In summary in 2023 I was most grateful for the more and less of life:

More: sunrises, impromptu fun, reading, weaving, painting and creativity, rituals and ceremonies,
rest, deep conversations, time with my doggies and my love, adventures, writing, daily yoga and
meditation, connecting with country, time with indigenous elders and pappa bear, star gazing, profit,
ease, property investments, energy, freedom, focus on what shifts the needle, mistakes, speaking
and sharing, podcasting, allowing, surrender, prosperity, helping others, animal encounters,
renovations, tree plantings, laughter, silly voices, hot sex, swimming, shared memories, deep and
meaningful friendships, more time in nature and more magic.

Less sugar, salt, stress, second guessing, debt, feeling torn, waste, needy clients, restriction, doing
low value things that don’t matter, procrastination, to do lists, self-consciousness, stuff, dental
issues, frustration, less doubt, high heels, hustle, sweating the small stuff, buying stuff, approval
seeking and less time in cars and concrete buildings.

Every day, especially as I watched my ageing father, I was
reminded that in every life moment we have a choice, and
that I must be mindful of the ebb and flow of energy. Not
only do our choices require grace, determination and skill
but also a commitment to meet life in the moment. To
find flow in the chaos.

In 2023 I took unconditional responsibility for my energy
and I soared like an eagle having a positive impact on the
world. I had nothing left to prove and was free to be me.
How cool is that.

Love AJ