Three wishes for you in 2023
Three wishes to power your growth and build resilience in this brand new year. Three guides to help you navigate your 2023...
If you’re joining from the DesignUp Newsletter - welcome onboard! This is your invitation to read, share this newsletter and check if it resonates with you. It’s an invitation to go on an inner journey via your inbox, in 2023.
365 days of possibilities
This massive, oversized beautiful blue sphere we call home (or a pale blue dot, depending on our viewport) has been spinning on its axis and circumnavigating our Sun for millions of years. And as per many other calendars in use around the world (most pre-dating the Gregorian calendar by millennia) - it may not be 2023, and January 1 may not even signal a New Year. But let’s go with our shared notion and say today is the day.
Today is always the day. 24 brand new hours. And the time is always now.
A day for hope and optimism, and a day that billions around the world have woken up to the idea of a brand New Year.
365 empty pages of a diary. 365 days of possibilities.
The question—What would be my 3 wishes for you?— wasn’t an easy one. Because it isn’t one of those generic, one-size-fits-all responses, such as “be happy, stay healthy, stay positive” or “let your dreams come true” or “may this be the best year yet”. So, what, if any, could be the chosen three? Not hopes and prayers around our probable circumstances, but wishes that power you to grow stronger and resilient, and maybe, evolve as a better human being and professional.
So, here are my shortlisted three, for 2023
01
A year of self-awareness
Events, gossip, posts, politics, threads, appraisals, comments, inspiration, news, updates, hacks, tips - the outside world keeps up its steady carpet bombing of our daily lives, right from the time we wake up (and check our phones) to taking much of this chatter and clutter to bed.
While the awareness of the world around us expands exponentially, our own internal awareness shrinks. The awareness of one’s own beliefs, values, motivations, narratives and actions. The awareness of what makes you - truly you. And your place in the world, not mediated by media or influenced by likes, hearts, hates, and cancels.
Self-awareness helps you make more thoughtful and informed choices, and decisions of what you want to achieve, what does growth and success look like. For you.
Living an examined life is an ongoing reflective process to help you live more meaningful and fulfilling life. Tools and frameworks like the F-ECR are one of the many that help you reflect, as does meditation - and it may be easier that you think. I will use this space to share many more with you.
02
Finding your own narrative of growth
As a mentor, advisor, manager, leader - and now as a coach, I encounter the growth questions and concerns repeatedly. As an employee, and a founder, I have grappled with it too. Seasoned CXOs couch in it in different words. Fresh faced grads, mid-career, mid-level managers voice the same, articulated differently. The feeling: I am not sure what growth means, but it doesn’t feel like this!
So, what does growth mean to you?
Not based on the promotion your classmate just flaunted on LinkedIn, or a car a co-worker bought. Or the new house, or likes, or meeting invites and so on. Our minds are comparison machines and often, we forget what truly gives meaning and joy to us and how to grow in that direction. Trust me, I’ve been there too.
As a coach, I often see the shock, awe and amazement that people discover, when they begin to uncover their own unique narratives and individual stories around growth. Awareness is the first step and hence, it’s also my first wish for you. I shall be sharing more reflections, exercises, explorations around the growth narrative in the upcoming letters.
03
Making impermanence our friend
Impermanence evokes fear: images of decay, sadness, of things passing away. And yet impermanence is also the reason why the old year gives way to a fresh start, and 365 days of possibilities. Why spring follows winter, and why we cherish the sunsets and sunrises. Why we plan for months and years to catch the short window into Japan’s sakura season. Impermanence can be hauntingly beautiful.
Impermanence is the bedrock of Buddhist philosophy. A reminder to cherish the here and now, for this moment in time will never come again! So enjoy it, relish every bit of it. For one day, everything we love and hold dear will be gone - so savour the presence of people you love, the phone call with parents, the conversations with friends. And remember everything we hate, detest, our sources of suffering, misery and pain will be gone too. The upside of impermanence.
The book of Ichigo Ichie is a good place to start, if you’re an early explorer of this idea. Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now is a timeless classic. There are powerful meditations on exploring impermanence, and some brilliant talks and discourses - I’ll save it for you, for later.
“If we consider the extraordinary nature of every moment,
we realise each encounter is a once in a lifetime occasion”
Li Naosuke (1858)
Step up, step forward
Repeating from an earlier post - things often don’t go as per plan. 2023 will be no different - assuming, it’ll throw a mix of predicaments, challenges and trials in your path. Unlike the academic world, life doesn’t come with exams which have a date, time, assessment pattern or syllabus. Assume, and you won’t be surprised. And you wouldn’t need to be woken up in 2024.
Let me wrap up (or unwrap) with these three wishes. You could also think of these as your companions or guides to navigate 2023:
May this be the year of expanding your self awareness.
May you discover and uncover your very own narrative of growth.
May you make impermanence your friend.
Stay curious, stay resilient!
First image - Esha and my love of mugs and cups brought us to this one. Shot on an iPhone on a sunny end-of-the-2022 day / Second image - Sakura in Miyajima Island, Japan - from our 2019 trip - chasing the cherry blossoms in Japan, savouring impermanence…
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That is very interesting. I often find myself in the latter bucket. Would love more to hear how it’s different for different people in your experience. Perhaps a future post!
Well said Jay! Curious if you were specifically thinking of it as finding your narrative vs. defining your narrative?