I Trust The Next Chapter Because I Know The Author

The power of surrender, action plans, intention-setting and co-authorship

I trust the next chapter because I know the author.

While I haven’t found a reliable source for whom to attribute this statement, there is something intrinsically beautiful about the way this quote has been harnessed across the interwebs by a multitude of people.

A reminder and recognition that we are each the author of our own lives.

Or, if you’re like me and you’re on a spiritual path, you might prefer this: we are each a co-author of this one magical life. Whether you call your co-author God, Allah, the Universe, your Angels, your personal Spirit Guides, the Creator, your Higher Self, ‘Sky Dad’ or something else—doesn’t matter to me.

The magnificent differences in how we each write our own narrative for this life is precisely what keeps me utterly fascinated by human beings.

For example, my wise and creatively generous friend

Chris Guillebeau

is someone who exemplifies being the author of his own life. Around this time each year, he conducts a methodical and deeply reflective annual review. He sets ambitious personal and professional goals for the year ahead, and reviews whether he achieved the ones he set the previous year. He is excellent at tracking his progress with clear action plans (that he sticks to better than anyone else I know), streak trackers, and clarity of intentions. He writes about it eloquently each year too. I love reading about his process, his reflections, and every year I look forward to seeing what he’s going to do next. Welcome to

Substack

, Chris!

Co-Authoring My Life

For the last six years, I’ve also used this quiet, end-of-year, wintery void to reflect on what unfolded through the seasons, and cast a spell for my hopes and dreams in the next cycle.

“Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists adopt the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting.”
— Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark

One of my favourite aspects of moving to the northern hemisphere is how this time aligns with the start of winter—the season of rest and renewal. Growing up in Australia, where the December solstice marks the start of summer, this is often a highly active and social time of year in the southern hemisphere—not as conducive to the kind of inner retreat that I’ve come to love so much since migrating north.

My process involves going within and listening, deep chats with friends, spending time in nature, reading and listening to provocative minds, a self-guided manifestation protocol with somatic meditations and reflective journaling (more on that later), a range of embodiment practices (this year, it’s been daily yoga and breathwork) and then… at some point, usually when I am both still and full in my heart… I’ll hear a few words drop in to my consciousness. When this happens, I just know. I feel it in every cell. And I commit to use them as a mantra to guide the way I make decisions in the year ahead.

2018—Follow My Heart

2019—Follow My Bliss

2020—Freedom and Flow

2021—Deeper into Wholeness

2022—Prioritize Pleasure

2023—Let Love Lead

One day, I’ll write about how each mantra has opened a portal to possibilities (and lessons) that I never could’ve planned. How each has been a bridge to the next. How these promises to self have influenced my experience of life and shaped who I am becoming. But that’s not the point of this letter.

I give credit for the power of this annual ritual to the memory structure each mantra creates in my brain and how these words felt in my body the moment they first ‘dropped in’. This creates simplicity and becomes a touchstone for embodying the essence of my mantra in my daily life choices. When life throws inevitable curve-balls, or I get to July and I can't remember the goals I set for January 1st—my mantra is still there, helping me to stay the course and remain true to myself, the feelings and aliveness I desired for the year.

For me, new year resolutions and action plans rarely work. The times I’ve tried this, I’d forget about it by mid-February. I’ve learned to embrace that my multi-passionate nature just doesn’t jive with this level of detail. What can I say? There’s just something about the rigidity of annual planning that brings out the rebellious side in me! For those Manifestors or Manifesting Generators out there, can you relate? (Find your design here).

Maybe you resonate more with Chris’ style, you’re an action planner. You have talents and determination that I admire a lot. Please don’t let this letter stop you from continuing on your path and making bold moves! I love to witness people making deliberate progress towards their carefully crafted hopes and dreams. The world needs people like you.

If you resonate more with my style, you’re likely exploring the path of surrender. And while surrender is not yet a skill that I’ve mastered (not even close), I’ve found the most significant progress and expansion in my life since 2017, when I let go of the action plans and stepped into co-authorship with my Spirit Guides. I’m now firmly in the camp of let the plan appear, just create the space, listen deeply and expect magic! (If Chris is reading this right now, he’s likely shaking his head at how nebulous this ritual seems to him!)

While Chris and I each approach this annual ritual in vastly different ways, the intention is the same—casting hopes and dreams for the next chapter in our personal progress.

The Path of Surrender

Many potent words have been written about the path of surrender, so I won’t attempt to recreate them here. Instead, I will just skip to the benefits I’ve experienced as I’ve danced at along edges of this path myself.

Here’s the magnificent magic I receive by planting a simple annual intention and then allowing my mantra to guide me in the micro-choices, the daily decisions that shape a year: I surrender to being shown the best and most aligned way forward. And it has never failed to guide me to exactly where I needed to be in the character arc of my life story.

Embracing the unknown and the uncertainty of how a chapter will unfold has allowed me to embrace my intuition and mix it with my higher-than-average tolerance for risk, love of spontaneous adventures, with a daily reminder to dwell in a sense of curiosity and wonder. I’ve discovered more ease, because there’s no striving and no set plan to cling to (which also means I rarely feel like I’ve failed, no matter what twists and turns any given year takes). I’ve encountered sheer magical joy that makes my heart expand outside my body, that could never have been planned ahead of time. I’ve learned the nuanced difference between pleasure and enjoyment. Everything I’ve needed to weather a storm has appeared, sometimes before I even knew I needed it. I’ve learned to pay close attention to what’s being mirrored to me through unplanned experiences, which has always led to grand breakthroughs in self-discovery.

I trust the next chapter because I know the co-authors. ‘Trust’ is the sister to ‘Surrender’. And together, they open portals to new possibilities that simply can’t be anticipated or pre-planned.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska