It’s 2024 and if you’re anything like me, your life is so jam packed you’re already booked out with work, family, and social life until at least March! This is precisely why I want to encourage you to be intentional about slowing down as the new year gets underway.
Let’s savor the start.
Let’s ooze into it with delicious intention for pleasure, relaxation, peace, joy, and comfort.
I bet that even at this point life for you last year is a blur. On New Year’s Eve I texted my best friend a brief list of my lowlights and highlights of the year and asked, “Did all of that happen just this year???”. The answer was, “yes!”. Our lives in this very frenzied, stressful, late-stage capitalism is one of hecticness and rushing everywhere all the time. We are chocked full of busyness. But here's the gag: Busyness keeps us disconnected from our bodies. Busyness keeps us disconnected from each other. There is no way to invite in or embody pleasure when we are disconnected.
Busyness is the antithesis of pleasure.
So, before the new year takes off with you and your pleasure, lean into slowing down and connecting within. I’ve been intentional about engaging in some practices to help me connect to myself more deeply and lovingly. For over a year now, I’ve been going to acupuncture and most recently, I started going to a meditation studio. What both of these practices do is allow me dedicated time to connect to me without judgment or expectation and with love, compassion, and gentleness. One thing all Black women need in mass supply is gentleness. Savoring a slow start to the new year is a bold way for you to provide yourself with that gentleness.
Resolutions but better
What are some ways you can embrace slow and meaningful connection with yourself?
I highly recommend meditation as a great place to start. I believe in the power of meditation so deeply that I created a Guided Erotic Meditation especially with this in mind. It’s a wonderful way to help you reconnect with your body with pleasure in mind on your own terms, in your own individual way. Download it here.
While I can’t stress meditation enough, what’s most important is finding something that allows you to connect with your body. Here are some questions to ask yourself to begin to connect to your body:
What do you do for joyful movement?
Do you know how to move your body sensually?
What kind of engagement does your body crave right now?
What discomforts and hurts does your body need to release right now?
I will be the first to tell you that as a high-achieving Black woman, it is so easy to live from the neck up and forget about your body all together. You’re rewarded for ignoring your physical needs and discomforts by almost everyone around you. You have to be intentional, deliberate, and consistent with allowing yourself to connect and communicate with your body. Changing this fundamental relationship is the first step in embodying pleasure and gaining access to your erotic self. So many of my clients struggle to connect with their bodies and, subsequently, struggle to experience their full erotic power. If any of this resonates with you, I’ve designed a digital course, Learning to Love What You See, to help you change your relationship with your body.
No matter the method, find a way to be intentionally gentle, compassionate, and connected to yourself this new year. Create a routine and practice for maintaining connection to yourself and your body. Connection is fundamental to pleasure. When we are looking to make new habits or change our behavior long-term, having accountability and community matters! I’ve created an online community for like-minded high-achieving Black women who are seeking meaningful connection and support in their healing journey. Check out my Pleasure Pursuit Collective today to learn more!
Drop a comment below to let me know what you’re doing to savor the start to the new year.