I’m a big fan of New Years, I’m a big fan of anything that promotes self reflection and intentionality when it comes to contemplating who we want to be in the future. Of course any holiday, tradition, practice, or ritual is at risk of becoming stale, boring, played out, or cliche if we approach it mindlessly, going through the motions without connecting to its deeper purpose or personal relevance. The key is to engage with these moments authentically, infusing them with meaning and creativity that resonate with where we are in our lives. You don’t need to make some grand commitment to change a big part of your life either (although you can if you’d like and I’d support that too!)

If you want some practical steps on how to do this, I’d encourage you to start small

1. Get to a quiet place either at home or out in nature and be quiet and still for a while

2. Maybe put on an instrumental song with no lyrics that you enjoy.

3. Close your eyes

4. In that stillness, see if a word emerges from your mind that you want to embody in 2025.

It could be a virtue like hope, courage, love, or patience. It could be a thing you want to prioritize like: family, health, friends, or fun. It could be oh so many things. But let that word emerge into your psyche.

I was able to do this moments before the clock hit 12:00 on January 1st and came up with the word: Belief.

The reason I want to embody this word is because my practice has grown in recent months. I have decided to expand my work as a therapist and take on some recent graduates as new associates who will be working under my supervision. This is no small task as I’m now going from a 1 man show to a 4 person business. I’m trying to do for my 3 new associates what others helped me: build a successful private practice. So in keeping with my word of belief 2025, I want to have belief that this is the next right step for me. The belief that I can be a quality supervisor, a wise business owner, and the belief that I can create a healthy team culture.

In expanding my practice, Matt Bishop Therapy will simply no longer do. So after a few months of deliberating, I settled on the name: Sonder Therapy Group. If you want to read more about the name, you can click here.More important than the name, are the people. I hired each of them because they impressed me with one quality in particular: They walk the walk. Their work as therapists is an extension of who they are as individuals. They value introspection, self reflection, humility, and growth. They don’t consider themselves finished products and instead lead with vulnerability, having a therapeutic posture of walking alongside clients on their own journeys. I firmly believe this quality each of them possess is the soil from which all gifted clinicians grow their clinical skills. In saying all of this, it brings me back to my word for 2025: belief. I believe in these new clinicians. I believe in their abilities, their gifts, their intelligence, and their ethics. I believe they will be real game changers in the lives of their future clients. I believe they already are excellent clinicians, and I believe in their ability to hone their skills under my supervision.So if you want to bring a bit of intention into the new year. I’d encourage you to find a quiet place, let a word emerge, and keep that word with you as you navigate your days in the coming weeks and notice the times in your life when you’re being invited into embodying it. Happy New Years everyone.

“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands; and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary, serious, and great things.”

Rainer Maria Rilke

New Years Will Be As Meaningful As You Want To Make It