Letting go of the old year & setting intentions for the new

Welcoming New Energy, New Movement, New Truth

Some years are about momentum.

Others are about discernment.

The past year has been the latter for many of us - a quieter year that asked for patience, honesty, and the courage to pause long enough to notice what truly matters. Not everything needed fixing. Some things simply needed to be understood, integrated, and released.

This first blog post of the year is written from that place: clarity earned through attention. A warm pause before movement begins again.

Why the New Year Still Matters

Although calendar years are a human construct, they carry a rhythm most of us feel - whether we consciously name it or not. The turning of a year invites reflection and re-orientation. Not because the date itself holds magic, but because we do.

We respond to thresholds.

To pauses.

To moments that invite meaning.

A recent full moon offered one such pause. Across many traditions, the full moon is associated not with beginnings, but with completion - an invitation to release, integrate, and close cycles before moving forward. I don’t treat this as belief or dogma, but as a useful metaphor. A reminder that clarity often comes before action.

I like to work with ideas this way: not as truths we must adopt, but as tools we can use - to learn, evolve, and create with intention. Whether we’re navigating a passing mood, a leadership decision, or a project worth completing, the question remains surprisingly powerful:

What time is it, really?

The Snake: Refinement and Release

In Chinese astrology, the year now closing has been associated with the Snake.

The Snake isn’t loud energy. It doesn’t rush or prove. It refines. It sheds. It releases what no longer fits - not because it’s wrong, but because it’s complete.

This past year has quietly asked many of us:

• What no longer aligns?

• What has run its course?

• What am I still carrying out of habit rather than necessity?

Letting go is rarely dramatic.

Often, it’s simply honest.

It’s also worth remembering that the Chinese New Year doesn’t conclude until later in February. Transitions aren’t abrupt. There is overlap. Integration. Space to complete one chapter before fully stepping into the next.

That feels true to lived experience.

Cycles Ending, Cycles Beginning

There’s a similar rhythm reflected in numerology.

We’re completing a 9-year cycle - associated with endings and integration - and stepping into a 1-year, which carries the energy of initiation and new beginnings. The seeds planted now often shape what unfolds over the next nine years.

This isn’t something to believe in.

It’s something to work with.

As humans and leaders, we constantly move through cycles - effort and rest, vision and execution, expansion and contraction. Naming a cycle doesn’t limit us; it helps us place our energy more wisely.

In simple terms: something is finishing, and something genuinely new is ready to begin.

Not as a continuation.

As a reset.

The Horse: Momentum With Heart

The year ahead is associated with the Horse - an energy of momentum, vitality, and forward motion. Where the Snake refines, the Horse moves. Where discernment ends, direction begins.

Horse energy isn’t about rushing.

It’s about aligned movement.

It favors clarity of direction, values-based action, and progress that feels coherent rather than forced. The Horse doesn’t ask us to do more for the sake of doing. It asks us to move with what feels true.

Here’s the grounded truth beneath the symbolism:

Momentum works best when it isn’t burdened by what was never meant to be carried forward.

That’s why closing a year well matters - not symbolically, but practically and emotionally.

Release and Embrace

This moment - between years, between cycles, between refinement and movement - is a powerful threshold.

It invites a few honest questions:

• What am I ready to release?

• What skin no longer fits who I am becoming?

• What wants to move now, if I stop holding myself back?

I return to these questions every year, not as ritual, but as a leadership and life practice. Releasing what no longer serves creates space. Space allows choice. Choice creates momentum.

And aligned momentum feels surprisingly light.

A Final Note on Timing & Intention

Between now and the new moon on February 17, we’re in a natural in-between space.

This period quietly bridges two energies:

the closing wisdom of the Year of the Snake - with its invitation to shed, refine, and release -

and the beginning of the Year of the Horse, which calls for movement, vitality, and forward direction.

Across many traditions, the new moon marks a beginning point - not through force, but through intention. It’s a moment that lends itself to going inward before moving outward. To choosing direction before acceleration.

If there’s one invitation I’d offer right now, it’s this:

use this window gently.

Not to rush decisions.

Not to perfect plans.

But to listen.

To notice what feels complete.

And to sense what wants to move next.

What we release now creates space.

What we intend now shapes momentum.

Six Questions for This Transitionary Moment

Sit with these slowly. You don’t need polished answers - only honest ones.

1. What feels finished for me as this cycle closes, even if it didn’t end neatly?

2. What am I ready to stop carrying into the next chapter?

3. What has this past year taught me about myself, my energy, or my priorities?

4. If I allowed the next year to move with more ease, what would I do differently?

5. What kind of momentum do I genuinely want to create this year - not more of, but truer?

6. What intention feels both grounding and quietly energizing as I step forward?

You don’t need to answer everything at once.

Let the questions work on you.

This is how transitions become intentional -

not dramatic, not forced, but deeply aligned.

With intention,

~Maja

CoachMaja.com