23 Heartful Lessons I Have Learned in 2023

Happy Boxing Day tribe! I hope you have had a Christmas where you have been heartfully present whether it is with yourself or with family, friends or loved ones. For the final letter of 2023, I wanted to do something a bit deeper and share my greatest lessons and mantras from this year. I have been gradually gathering these in my Notes app on my phone throughout the year thinking by end of year I share them with you all. I hope you find some spark of inspiration and wisdom from these to take into your 2024!So, grab a cup of coffee, tea or hot cocoa and let's immerse into these lessons together. 

1. Now is what matters

We only have now - presence is everything. If you lose this moment you are in, you cannot get it back. We spend too much time thinking about the past or the future - be in the now. This is where life is happening. The more present - the more heartful we are. 2. You attract how you feel about yourselfWe are mirrors. How we are within we attract toward ourselves externally. If you want love, love yourself first. If you want abundance, be abundant within yourself. Simple.3. Healing is a journey not a destinationWhether it is healing your gut or mind or anything else - there will always be a journey involved that one must be ready to embark on. Healing is not a destination, it is a journey. There is no shortcuts, so whoever promises you a magic pill or a quick fix - that is energy you must avoid. Healing is a practice and part of our life journey.4. Patience is a true virtue we must masterThe more patient we are energetically the more Universe provides. The moment we get impatient, it becomes this tense, controlling energy and whatever you desire or manifest slows its way to you. When you root yourself in patience and calm, centred energy of trust that what is meant for you will not miss you - you become a magnet for manifesting.5. Your gut is your center for you to be well.Having suffered from gut issues most of my adult years, this year I finally cracked the code and found solutions to heal it. When your gut is not well, it will reflect so much how your body holistically is feeling and how you move through the world. Once you heal your gut, you change the game. Your Solar Plexus fires up and taking action becomes so much more easier. Gut is the center of action and confidence - make time to optimise your gut health. It will change your life.6. Sleep is nonnegotiable.When you don't sleep well, you cannot live well. Make sleep your number one priority.7. When you truly move on and embody a higher version of yourself, the past comes back to test if you've changedYup, when ghosts from the past come back lurking - it is a test how much you have grown. Those moments are gold cause you actually see how far you have come as you got no interest often to have anything to do with what visits from the past. So when that ex comes back in after long time no talk - take it as a sign that you have elevated your essence. 9. Saying no or goodbye is love, too.Sometimes love looks like that. We must love ourselves first and sometimes that means to say no or goodbye to something or someone that no longer serves you. You can still love someone or something and love is to let it go.10. Energy does not lie. Energy links to your intuition. Believe it.If you feel something is off, trust it. If you feel drained after something, trust it. Once you feel energised and heartful, trust it. Energy will tell you what is for you and what is not.11. If it disturbs your peace, it is too expensive.AMEN. Nothing is meant to take your peace. Of course we have moments when peace is disturbed, but if it is taken repeatedly - that is a sign there is bigger misalignment. Peace is our greatest asset, and in my opinion, the truest sign of success. Life is too short to be in spaces where you cannot be at peace.12. When there is flow, follow it. When anything feels forced, let it be.This has been a huge one for me. Honestly, when an interaction or something you are doing gets tense and forced, that means you are stuck in your head. Let it go and come back to it. Follow your intuition instead and flow from that and wherever you felt stuck before, it will be resolved just by letting it be for a while. 13. Do it for you, no one else.I wrote the book HEARTFUL for me. No one else. That is how I got the book done. The moment you start creating something and thinking of others, you lose the heart of creativity and authentic expression. If I would have thought about my possible readers when writing, I would have lost the course of the book quickly. When you do something purely for yourself and how you feel is right for you, the energy of the creation will be exactly how it must be and it will come out to the world exactly as meant to. Trust yourself - create it for you.14. Your body communicates with you all the time. Listen to it.Having regular headaches? Tension in the body? Gut problems? Falling ill all the time? Your body is trying to tell you something. Also when you're body feels good and energised that is communication and signposting, too. Stop and listen to your body and inquire what it is telling you and what changes must occur for you to feel better. For me, my body got repeatedly exhausted in my previous job the last 2.5 years, which was her way trying to tell me I was in a wrong place that did not align with me. Last month the stress got into my chest which was a wakeup call to stop and sign off sick. A month later I resigned because while off sick and slowing down I managed to listen to my body and what was needed to be done. Listen to your body, dear souls. It always signals you what needs attention. 15. We are not meant to live to work, but work to live.We are meant to work so we can live more the life we desire, not live in a way that everything surrounds work. If this resonates and you have found yourself having weeks that all you remember is working. It is time to change. There is so much more to life than work, and at the end of our lives, work actually matters very little. You will not think about your work tasks on your death bed. If you think about yourself on your death bed, who do you want there? What will you reminisce? What have you wanted to have done by then? Those things matter and must come first. 16. Perfection kills more dreams than anything else. Just do it. The more I have managed to let go of this illusion of perfection, the more I have made dreams come true and made things happen. It is this illusion that stops us from actioning on our dreams. The more you can let go of this and do things imperfectly, the more you enjoy the ride and more dreams will come true. You can always improve as you go! It is better to have something out there imperfect than it being stuck on your drive for no one to connect with. 17. Feel the fear and do it anyway is the way to fulfillment.The moment where I have felt fear but did it anyway are amongst the most memorable moments I have had this year. Like when I was asked to sing at my book launch party and I had no plan, no song, but I felt the fear and went for it anyway. Fear and facing it is often where we find true fulfillment and our potential.18. Listening and our full presence is the greatest gift we can give.I am so freaking annoyed if I am with friends and I talk to them and they look at their phones at the same time. Put devices away and be fully present and listen. Listen to listen. Don't listen to respond. Just listen and fully immerse yourself what the other has to say and be surprised how connected you can be just by listening to someone with full presence. Listening like this will change your relationships.19. Sometimes it is just about someone being in the rut with you that is what we need.This links to the previous one. We can have a tendency to fix things for people when they lean on us, but actually, often it is about just listening and being in the rut together. Nothing needs to be done, just being in it together heals and strengthen's resilience and connectedness.20. Nature heals and gives you peace.After my week in Lapland this month, the healing power of nature is effervescently present for me at the moment. Go outside every day. Breathe outdoor air. Touch or hug a tree. Touch the grass. Listen to the flow of water. Play in snow. Feel the ground beneath you. Connect through the four seasons and elements. Nature and Mother Earth are medicine that is free and the more we tap into it, the more peace and healing we find.21. Sometimes heart wants to leap into the unknown, and as you leap, answers and solutions start to appear.I write in my book that heartful living is courageous living because often the heart desires to leap into the unknown when you don't have the answers. All you can do is trust and surrender on the journey and the discomfort of the unknown. This links to number 12. When you keep connecting with yourself and keeping yourself calm and centred, answers will find you. Again, flow with it and answers come, the moment you get tense and forced, answers will stop. Trust your heart - it called you in this unknown for a reason. 22. Miracles are real and they happen when you are on your heartful path.Ever since I resigned, I have kept receiving and witnessing miracles in my life. That is because I reconnected with my truth. My relationships started shifting because I was feeling much more like myself and my trust in something higher strengthened. When you are heartfully connected like this, you witness miracles. Things figure itself out as long as you keep honoring your heart's calling and the intuitive hits and noticing the signs around you. They're everywhere but you must listen to your heart first. It all starts with an inquiry: "What does your heart has to stay? What is your heart calling you to do?"23. Goals and dreams are mountains climbed. Start with a single step.Any goal, we start at the bottom of the mountain. We have the vision. We see the mountain top. Once you see it, you can do it. Then you just got to start with a single step. Then another, and another. Any goal or dream can be broken down to a small step.There you go. 23 heartful lessons from 2023.I hope these lessons will inspire you toward 2024 and making it a year where your wellbeing is optimised and you feel more heartful.Which one is your favorite?Email me [email protected] - I'd love to hear from you. :)This is the last letter of 2023 - Have a fabulous New Year and I will meet you with more letters on the other side in 2024.Heartfully,Essi

Oracle Message for You

The Full Moon in Cancer happens tomorrow which is all about unraveling and letting emotions off your system you may have suppressed. Cancer feels deeply, so this is your invitation to do so. Things can surface that you might not want to see nor feel.Stars cannot be seen without the dark. If you feel you are in a space where darkness of winter lurks in, surrender to it. The dark reveals the things of light. The dark reveals truth. You are exactly where you need to be right now. And whatever this current time reveals to you, it is there for you to see it and connect with. Don't push it on the side, be in it. Be with it. Even if it feels chaotic and unnerving. The chaos need to happen for order to come in.  We need both for harmony to occur. It is better to feel it now and start new year feeling the release of it.Number 2 can be of meaning to you or a sign. Maybe something will happen on 2nd of January of this nature. Animal signs of a snake, bear, buffalo or goat can also be for you, if that resonates.

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