Here’s your ritual for leaving the old behind and stepping into the new
This ritual is simple and takes about an hour to complete from start to finish. You’re very welcome to change it along the way if you feel drawn to something different. When I invite you to draw and write, you’re just as welcome to dance, sing, or express yourself in other ways instead.
You’ll need:
A journal or notebook, paper, pen, colors, and perhaps some fabric, stones, or other beautiful materials.
First step: Take all the good with you
Begin by writing down everything you’re genuinely grateful to have experienced and created in 2025 — both the small and the big things.
Include it all.
Write words, make drawings, and doodles of what you’d like to nurture and cultivate a little more.
Notice the feelings in your body as you linger with what was good.
Second step: Let go — and learn from what was difficult
Now write down what’s been hard, terrible, challenging, or painful.
Then write or draw what you’ve learned from it — or are in the process of learning.
Make room for all feelings here, and don’t try to write or draw nicely.
Let it rip. Forget grammar, form, and aesthetics.
Draw what carries the most energy.
Write down what matters most — what you’re taking with you as learning and support — and keep it in your journal or another safe place.
Now let go of everything you don’t want to carry forward:
Tear the paper into pieces, burn it safely, or place it in paper recycling.
Notice what this does in your body, and imagine it lifting and leaving you.
Third step: Create the new
Now write, draw, or shape (perhaps as a collage or sculpture) what you long for and most deeply wish to create in 2026.
Listen carefully. This isn’t about goals, but about longing and desire.
About what wants to grow, unfold, and shine within you.
Be specific, and let your unconscious mind take over.
Listen to and feel your body, the inner images, your spontaneous impulses, and your dreams.
This might be:
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better health
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a beautiful and healing intimate relationship
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work that supports you and your life
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a clearer sense of calling
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expressing or exhibiting your art
Be honest, and allow yourself to know what you truly long for.
Create an image, a text, a collage, or a form about what you wish to create.
Explore it.
Fourth step: Plant the new in time and space
Imagine your life as a physical timeline in the space you’re in.
Take what you’ve written, drawn, or shaped about your longings and place it physically into the future — on the floor, where your future lies on the timeline.
Use words, drawings, stones, fabric, symbols, or other objects to make it concrete and clear.
Now step into the future and experience your intentions and longings as if they’ve already come true.
Engage all your senses:
What does it sound like, taste like, feel like to live there, where all of this has unfolded?
I look forward to hearing what you experience.
May we all come together to create a beautiful new year and a better world.
Love and creativity,
Karin
Art and text by Karin von Daler ©
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