Showing Up Whole

Feeling Behind Already? How to Reset Your 2026 Intentions Using Imbolc Energy.

• Christina Fletcher • Season 5 • Episode 19

Share episode

Send us a text

Feeling behind? This is your 2026 permission slip to start again. We’re ditching the Jan 1st pressure for the ancient wisdom of Imbolc. Discover why the 'sludge' is a vital part of your reset and how to turn resolutions into rhythmic intentions.

Welcome to the first episode of 2026!
If you feel like you’ve already 'failed' your resolutions or the January sludge has kept you stuck, this episode is your permission slip to start again. 

We’re moving away from the pressure of January 1st and looking at why the season of Imbolc is actually the perfect time to breathe life into who you want to be in 2026.

So, in this episode, Christina dives into why the pressure to "hit the ground running" on January 1st often clashes with the natural world and our own internal rhythms.

Christina explores the transition from the Year of the Snake, the cosmic shift into a Numerological Year 1, and how the ancient wisdom of Imbolc offers a more conscious way to plant our intentions.

 Whether you’re navigating personal upheaval, global tensions, or just a very rainy UK winter, this episode is an invitation to stop "failing" at your resolutions and start nurturing your seeds.

In This Episode, You will hear about:

  • The "Rocky Start" to 2026: Why external factors and global tensions might be making your January feel heavier than expected.
  • Numerology & Astrology: Transitioning into a Year 1 (New Beginnings) while shedding the final layers of the Year of the Snake.
  • Ancient Wisdom vs. Modern Calendars: How to utilize the Spring Equinox and Imbolc as the true start of the year.
  • The Power of Quiet: Why craving social media silence and "trying on" new versions of yourself is a vital part of the intentional process.
  • Intentions as Tones, Not Goals: Moving away from success/failure and toward a "broad stroke" approach to your year.

Christina's special Imbolc Event takes place FOR FREE on Saturday the 31st of January at 4pm EST/9pm GMT.
Sign up HERE!

Meanwhile, if sleep is escaping you at the moment, don't forget to download her special Spiritual Sleep Solution Bundle

Christina Fletcher is a Spiritual Alignment coach, energy worker, author, speaker and host of the podcast Showing Up Whole.
She specialises in practical spirituality and integrating inner work with outer living, so you can get self development off of the hobby shelf and integrated as a powerful fuel to your life.

Through mindset, spiritual connection, intuitive guidance, manifestation, and mindfulness techniques Christina helps her clients overcome overwhelm and shame to find a place of flow, ease, and deep heart-centered connection.
Christina has been a spiritual alignment coach, healer and spiritually aware parent coach for 7 years and trained in Therapeutic Touch 8 years ago. She is also a meditation teacher and speaker.
For more information please visit her website www.spirituallyawareliving.com

Want to uncover where you need the most energy alignment?
Take her new Energy Alignment Quiz to identify which of your energetic worlds (mind, body, heart or spirit) needs aligning the most!

Or Follow her on her social media accounts:
Facebook
Instagram
or
Linkedin...

Christina:

Welcome back to Showing Up Whole, the place where we discuss alignment in mind, body, heart, and spirit in every aspect of our lives. And today, here, I am finally back. It's a new year, new energy is flowing in, kind of, as well as a lot of turmoil. So today we are discussing how to find inner alignment, how to actually create newness for yourself, even if things feel a little rocky at times. Hi everyone and welcome back. It's been an interesting start of the year, hasn't it? My goodness. I I have to admit, I think it's rather mysterious and interesting how I haven't actually been able to record a podcast for 2026 yet. I've had a few interviews with people that I've been kind of waiting. Um they're they're they're going to be coming. Uh, but at the same time, I've been waiting to and wanting to do a first 2026 episode. I have been uh probably playing it in my head over the last few weeks, but with the consistent rain that we've had here in the UK, it has been downright impossible to record. Every single time I went to go do it, I risked having the entire recording pitter-pattered away with all of the different raindrops on my roof or the wind colliding around. It's been interesting. It's been a rocky start to the year. Let's be totally honest. If it had if we're not looking at the energetic platform of things as we numerologically move into a year of one, we are releasing the year of the snake in a few weeks. We have been shedding layers while we embrace this new beginnings. And there is a sense of new beginning. And at the same time, we are in the midst of releasing the old. Okay, so so there's that, cosmically, collectively, energetically. There is the global tensions that of course are there. We we're not gonna pretend they are not. It is about actually being honest about it and actually asking what our own roles are in that and if that affects us, how that affects us, and who we want to be in this current landscape. All right. And then, of course, there's personal upheavals that seem to always run alongside these collective times of upheaval. Okay. We've kind of gotten used to this, right? I mean, how how often do we come in and talk about these different elements and talk about the times that we're living in? I think probably it's where I started this podcast off all the time, uh long time ago. That's why we started this was how do we show up whole in tumultuous times? And yet, you know, I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last month. And I think it's important that even if we are used to certain stories of tumultuous times and chaotic times and nervous system regulation, and how do we ground and regulate and keep centered in the storm and all of these things we've actually heard and talked about a lot. I think it's actually really important that we do embrace the new energy and take stock of everything that is and who we are and who we want to be. And in that taking stock, we then ground back into ourselves and allow newness in. So that's what I want to talk about a little bit today. What does that actually look like? How do we actually create new out of what seems to be the same old? And that is where we come to the season of Imblick. This is, don't you love it when ancient structures, ancient concepts, things that have been around for generations after generations and generations, and actually been around so long that people have forgotten about them, actually do give us clarity on what time we're in. Okay, let's weave all this together. So let me tell you about my January. My January, apart from the rain and the mud and let's call it sludge, uh, even as we hit January 1st. Um, and you know, I I had the create a new New Year, um, an intentional new year workshops. I offered that three times. So the first week of January was very um quite active for me. And what I love about the workshop is that it does actually make me dive into my intentions and what my desired feelings are. And of course, I created my own words and all of this. It was wonderful, it was powerful, it resonated, it felt juicy, and then all of a sudden, as soon as I finished offering, all of a sudden, all I did was I craved quiet. My social medias went down to pretty much nothing. Um, I barely talked to my audience at all. I realized that this is actually my normal pace, that I have the festive season, I have the New Year's like vibration and vibrancy and excitement. And then all of a sudden, January asks me to go quiet. And so rather than judge myself and be like, you gotta be consistent and you gotta do this and you gotta do that. And I I have now reached the the age and the experience that I can say, actually, no, I will not do all of the things that you're quote unquote supposed to do. And instead, I will listen to what I'm being called to do. I lad myself quiet. Oh, sure. I was I was writing. Um, I was meeting with clients, of course. I was meeting with my community, of course. I was doing, you know, applications for different events that are happening over this year. But my approach to even applications, to even my writing, was one of openness. It was guided by the feeling of who I want to be. And it felt like trying on different clothes, being, is this my style for 2026? I would look at Instagram and, you know, explore it of like, oh, I should maybe make these kind of things. And all of a sudden I realized, is this what I want to wear? Is this who I want to be for 2026? And I'm not gonna say that I have answers to these questions yet, but that is what January for me is about. It's about setting the intention of who I want to be first week of January or New Year's, feeling like the little whispers of the new energy. And then allowing that to weave into my life and giving myself permission to question things, giving myself permission to look at habits and look at how I function, uh, giving permission to the order of my days, how my days unfold. I give myself permission to kind of break apart the structures of things, so then I can easily weave my intentions through, or even more so, invite them to come up. Now, some people have come up to me and be like, already this year. You know, I said the intention that I wanted to do this. My intention was to be far more present this year, or my intention was to not be on social media this year, or my intention was to um eat healthier this year, and I've already failed. And I hear this all the time. I've already failed. No, you haven't. Rather, you're just keeping your pattern still. The reason why you set the intention was because you didn't want, you know, you didn't want to do that anymore because it's a habit and you found that habit, habitual pattern. Well, guess what? That habitual pattern didn't get the memo, and that's okay. You're learning. And January is here to like start breaking it up into little pieces. So we have this time. And I know that I'm currently speaking about this on the 28th. See how I've been kind of intending this to happen a little bit earlier on in the year, but still, we trust, we allow the flow. That's all right. Chinese New Year doesn't actually start until mid-February. All right. Actually, spring equinox isn't until March. Did you know that actually New Year's never used to be the first of the year of the calendar year? In fact, New Year was celebrated in spring because the ancient people understood that you had the dead of winter, and in the dead of winter there was no life really springing up. That life force wasn't there. Everything was suspended, which gave it time to soak in intention. So within that, oh, and what I love about the spaciousness of this, because that's what it comes down to, right? Is this marvelous spaciousness of saying it's okay. It's not about succeeding or failing. Rather, it's about approaching it with openness. It's going, oh, I know what seeds I'm planting. I know what's going into the ground. I know I have to wait until life force actually infuses it and actually begins, and then I can help encourage it to spring to life. And then you watch as it builds momentum and you build the habit and you build the patterns and you build up momentum and you build that energy, and life force joins you because you're attracting the same energy you put out, and slowly it springs to life. A sprout shoots out of the ground. So when you spread this out, when you allow this to actually become not a one and done decision that you then set as a goal, and then you can fail, but instead you set the intention as a tone, as a broad stroke across your year. Suddenly it becomes this guiding map for your year that you follow along with. So, you know, you make it around New Year's, then you kind of feel into it, then you have Imblick. Now, Imblick is February the 1st. We celebrate the day of St. Bridget on um January 31st. And by the way, I am having a free event that's happening on January 31st to help you align to this energy of this life flow that comes in, because that's what Imblick's all are all about. So you can find that in the show um in the show notes down below. It's free event, 4 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. British time. And we're gonna be really, really leaning into this. So you have imblick, and imblick is the quickening energy. It's that spark of life that even if everything's buried under this snow, we do know that there's life there. Then you lean into the fact that even after that, it's not like, well, you're gonna fail if you don't do it. Then that's not what this is. Rather, this is a compassionate unfolding that you and the universe are creating this intention together. There's life force bringing it in. Then you have spring equinox, and spring equinox brings it even further, and suddenly you start understanding this is who I am when I'm actually in this intention. Okay, then of course you move in to um the the bell tane and things really springing to life. And then, of course, you have the solstice, and then this continues throughout the year. But what I want you to hear in all of this is that when we slow things down and give ourselves compassion to actually lean into what we're wanting and intending and what how we want to be, if we give ourselves permission to actually try things on and actually see how things fit, then we do get to identify ourselves with that new energy. You know, as energetic beings, and you've if you've been listening to this podcast at all, you know we talk about law of attraction and manifestation and things and how manifestation is um based on the energy you resonate with. So whatever you're resonating with, however you're feeling, you send that out, that becomes a sign to the universe, and the sign always says, more of this, please. So that's not just an emotional state. Yes, we start off with emotional states, but when you actually are living the basic energy of your day-to-day life, and nothing changes in that, it is very difficult to actually shift things to actually be resonating with something else. If you wake up in the morning, you have your coffee, you have your usual run of the usual daily routine. That daily routine builds and builds and builds, and as it kind of builds, then suddenly uh it's just it's just the record player that keeps going around. It's a it's that record on loop. So that's what's being resonated out to the universe. It resonates back. So that's why changing patterns is so complicated sometimes. When we set a new intention, we're saying, I think I might change the song a little bit. And so when we're changing the song a little bit, suddenly then we have to get used to spinning a little differently. And then, of course, that builds momentum. This takes time, and it's important to give yourself permission to put steps in place, but also to trust the process of resonating differently. Now with all of that, because what are with all of that, what we're what we really need to remember is that if we're talking about change, if we're talking about change, we have to talk about nervous system regulation. Because guess what? The one thing that's impossible to do if you're in a triggered state, it's create change. You can't manifest anything from a triggered nervous system. You can't even change the energy of what you're resonating with from a triggered nervous system. You can't even really make that new year's resolution click in place or that new year's intention shift and become part of you from a triggered nervous system. Because when your nervous system is triggered, it is resonating with the fact that something's going to change. And that is scary. When your nervous system is triggered from outside reality and from things that are happening in the news or things that are happening on your street, when you are in any sense of survival mode, and you know, I call it the spiky cat, right? It's like when you're in that flared-out space of that jumped cat and your fur's out all over the place and your claws are out. When you're in that state, your whole self is simply focused on making sure you get through the day, making sure that you survive. You lose, and when you're you're triggered, when you're when you're triggered, when you're in that survival state, you lose all peripheral vision. You can't see what's outside and you can't see solutions, and you can't see change. You only see directly what's in front of you. So, and even then, it's not gonna be a clear perspective because you're only scanning for danger. So when you scan for danger, you're in that survival spiky cat space, and then you drop in an intention, your whole system's gonna say, no, we need the sameness, we need the patterns, we need the practices, we need what we know, because when we have that, then we know we're safe and we know we can control this. So this is actually um all part of a steady flow in this. I know it sounds like maybe I'm running around the gamut a little bit, but I do want to point out, you know, we're talking about new year, we're talking about new energy, we're talking about being tired of the same patterns, the same records playing. We're talking about this season where you've been gathering all of this information, even if you might not realize it, you have been gathering. And then as you've been gathering, you're making decisions, new intentions. Maybe you've changed your mind about some things you thought you'd want to do. Imblicks around the corner. It's this weekend. Suddenly things are gonna crack open a little bit more and you'll get a little clearer. Then you'll have all of February and part of March to actually get clearer still. You're gonna find this unfolding, but you're not gonna fully be able to take part in this if your nervous system's triggered. Because you are going to be that spiky cat clinging to the sofa or to the curtains, not wanting to let go for fear. Okay. I want to dive into a little bit of steps to take to get out of that, to make sure that you're taking part in this. Uh, just give me one second. I'm just gonna grab a drink of water, and I'll be right back. I know how there's nothing worse than your mind chattering away, feeling like it's out of control. It seems like the more you try to get it quiet, the louder it manages to get. It's even worse when you're trying to sleep. It's like the most stressful thoughts kick up a fuss just before you climb into bed. Energy alignment affects every aspect of yourself. Your spiritual connection actually can affect your sleep. And if your head is chattering, chances are you are in need of an energetic shift, especially if you want a restful night. I have the perfect remedy for you, and best of all, right now, it's free. The Spiritual Sleep Solution Bundle shares powerful steps for energy. Energy alignment with you to get you aligned to sleep. From the physical practice of clearing your energy from the day and a meditation along with an energy healing to soothe you off to slumber, this bundle has you covered. No more restless sleeps, no more tossing and turning. Rather, simply spiritually connected slumber. You also get a PDF guide to a few ways to clear energy from your home and some tips to support your bedtime. All for free. Download it now at spirituallyaware living.com aligned to sleep or at the link in the show notes below. And sweet dreams. Okay. So we're talking about really stepping into newness. We're talking about knowing that you want change, that you want to seize the year. You want to be stepping into a new version of yourself and your life. You're tired of everything being the same and everything being on a loop and feeling like you set the intention, set the goal. You know, I had a client call me today and she just went, oh, I'm so tired of the same struggle over and over and over again. And we talked about how we have to find the new energy to call in, but we have to feel safe in that new energy. Because our struggles and the fact that they keep showing up, it's because we're resonating with them still. You can't get away with it. So we're talking about how it's a new year, you set the intention, and it's time for you to fully step into them and work with the universe in this season of Imblick. But we got to regulate first. So what does that look like? Well, I want you to, first of all, take regulating your nervous system really seriously. This sounds like such a basic step, but it's really not. You know, the other day I was um a few things had happened. Life had been kind of busy. Um, and I'm not in the space of busy. I'm talking about how in January I like my flow. All of a sudden something started to speed up. And I could feel myself, a couple of things had happened, and I hadn't really been on top of it when it happened. And all of a sudden, I found myself, my voice sounded a little bit higher in my head. I was breathing a little bit more shallow. My thoughts were racing, and I couldn't actually do anything with deep intention. I just couldn't drop into an action. And I realized I kind of had that deer and headlights look about me, where I was like watching and kind of flipping here and there from all things. And I went, ah, my nervous system's triggered. Something's up, and I don't know what it is. I'm sensing something. So rather than be like, what am I sensing? What am I sensing? Where's the danger? Where's the danger? Instead, I allowed it to shift for me being, okay, so cancel it all. Ground, go lie down, rest, tell myself I'm safe, breathe deep. Allow myself to connect to the universe in a state of knowing that I'm not in this alone. You know, one of the things about nervous system regulation we often forget is that we think it's all us, that we have to, it's like regulate my nervous system, regulate my nervous system. Everything's gonna go bad if I don't regulate my nervous system. What happens with spiritual awareness if you actually go help? For some reason, I'm feeling out of alignment and I'm feeling triggered, and I'm feeling in survival, help. So you ground, you anchor into the earth because the earth has got you. You put your feet on the floor and you imagine roots deep, deep down into its core. You connect to the sky above, and you receive the love that's flowing to you from the universe, and you know that you aren't in this alone. You anchor in. And as you anchor in, then you start adding some nervous system regulation tools. My new favorite one is I love to just you just look behind you, and then you allow your eyes to go all the way behind you even further, so you're always looking far back. And as you do that, you you do that on the other side as well. You're showing your mind and showing your brain, look, no one's behind me, we're safe. You hum. Humming regulates your nervous system, and you allow life to slow down and settle down. And from that, with the reminder that you aren't in this alone, you allow the universe to fill you up. And from that space of filling up, you remind yourself of the intentions that you set for the year. Who are you wanting to be? I want you to notice that I'm asking you that first before you start bringing in the stories of the world around you and how that influences you, or even your challenges. Because who you want to be becomes like a suit of clothes that you put on. And you're designing that piece of clothing right now in this month of January, and you're allowed to try on lots of different ones. You don't need to have decided on it right now. But it's important to give yourself the space and compassion to lean in. And you're not going to be able to find the resonance of her that you want to be if you're in that spiky cat mode. So calm the spiky cat. Then, from that calm, grounded place, connected to all of yourself, to your source, to your angels, to your team. Then you invite in the version of you you're feeling called to be. What are your values? Who do you want to embody? How do you want to feel? How do you stretch into her? How do you how do you want to be able to deal with people? What kind of conversations do you want to have? How are you the peacemaker? How are you the healer? How are you the light worker? How are you the incredible mother, credible wife, incredible loving neighbor, incredible caring coworker? How are you the magical person that you came to be? Because every single person is a unique spark of light that is here with purpose and here with great power. So how do you step into her and how does she show up? It's a tall order, perhaps, but I want you to lean into it because this is how we change a world as well as our lives. Because we can't get where we want to go from functioning the same record over and over again. And yet we can't change the records with a quick one-step action. Rather, it takes time, it stretches, it moves forward. You learn, you grow, you lean in, you learn a different song, and you stretch. So you have to give yourself the time to regulate ground, ask yourself the important questions, and from there, lovingly, with great, great, great compassion, stretch into a space of newness. This is what we have to do, and is what we're being called to do. So regulate first, then lean in. And this year is a powerful year, and I can't wait to see what light shines forth because we can do it. Now, like I said, free event happening this Saturday, 4 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. British time. Um, it's called the Quickening. We are calling forth the quickening energy that brings life to all of this. And so we are working alongside the universe to do it. Make sure you sign up. Um, if you have any questions about anything you know that you can easily email me, Christine at spirituallyware living.com. Um, come on by the website as well. There's a few things happening. And, you know, I'm always happy to connect either over on social media, although I'm not gonna be there as much. Come on over to Substack People. I think that's where I'm gonna be spending most of my time. And, but also keep listening, subscribe here, and let's create a bit more of a movement of this hopeful energy because you are not into it, in it alone. Sending all my love and light, everybody. And yeah, be in touch.

unknown:

Bye now.