Your Emotions As a Guide: A Year-End Review

In this end-of-year episode of Beautiful Work Beautiful Life, cohosts Laurel Holland and Laurel Boivin invite listeners into a deeper, more intimate look at their emotional lives. Rather than focusing on year-end accomplishments, this conversation turns inward toward the lived emotional landscape that shaped the year: grief, anger, fear, and joy.

Together, Laurel and Laurel explore why emotions are such powerful messengers, how resistance keeps us from processing what we feel, and how building emotional capacity leads to a fuller, more connected life.

You’ll be gently guided to reflect honestly on how you felt this year, what those feelings revealed, and what emotional patterns are asking for attention as you step into a new season of growth. It’s a spacious and soulful invitation to reconnect with yourself, and to design your year ahead from a place of deeper self-awareness.

In this episode:

* Why developing emotional awareness is essential to authentic living

* Four foundational emotional “quadrants”: grief, anger, fear, and joy

* The subtle but powerful role trust plays in your ability to feel joy

* How to reflect on your emotional year — the highs, lows, and everything in between

* Using your emotional inventory to guide the year ahead

Your End-of-Year Emotional Inventory:

Grief — What was lost, disappointing, or unprocessed?

Anger — What boundaries need strengthening or revisiting?

Fear — What held you back, protected you, or asked for healing?

Joy — What delighted you, inspired you, or called you forward?

Journaling prompts are suggested to further your exploration.

1. What losses or disappointments did I experience this year?

2. What sadness have I acknowledged — and what have I avoided?

3. How do I give myself space to sit with and feel my grief?

4. What “small” griefs or disappointments did I minimize or judge as “not a big deal”?

5. What am I angry about from this past year?

6. How is my anger serving me?

7. Where are boundaries needed, strengthened, or repaired?

8. What forgiveness work is calling to me — toward others or myself?

9. In what ways am I still blaming others instead of tending to my own inner work?

10. What did I feel afraid of this year, and how did that shape my choices?

11. When was fear trying to keep me safe — and when was it limiting my life?

12. Where do I feel anxiety, and what emotion might be underneath it (grief, anger, disappointment, etc.)?

13. How can I begin to build a more compassionate relationship with my fear?

14. What genuinely brought me joy or delight this year?

15. Where did I expect joy and not find it — and what does that reveal about my expectations or needs?

16. What gets in the way of me allowing or receiving joy?

17. Where do I need more trust — in myself, others, or life — to experience more joy?

Links/Books mentioned:

Theosophy: An Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos, by Rudolf Steiner, December 1, 1994

Previous Beautiful Work Beautiful Life episodes on:

Transform Your Anger Into Loving Self-Kindness, December 18, 2023

How to Welcome Grief with Sue Burhoe, November 28, 2022

The email to send questions to Laurel Boivin is [email protected] and for Laurel Holland - [email protected]

The link to our private Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/beautifulworkbeautifullife

Host/Cohost/Guest Info:

Guiding others to become effective leaders of their own lives, Laurel Holland has been on a journey of awakening and transformation throughout her life. Writing about inner work, Laurel has authored four books, including Crossroads and Love’s 8 Laws. Her books, Live Your Inner Power, the Journal, and Courageous Woman, introduce, share, and explore the eight foundational practices for creating transformation from the inside out. Through her books, programs, and innovative talks, Laurel’s great desire is to lift others up and courageously step into the life they came here to live. You can learn more about Laurel Holland at www.liveyourinnerpower.com.

Laurel Boivin is a leadership coach, speaker, and workshop facilitator. Founder of Flux+Flow Professional Coaching, Laurel works with high-performing professionals and mission-driven organizations to shift from achievement to alignment — helping them connect deeply to purpose, lead with confidence, and create environments where people thrive. You can learn more about Laurel Boivin at www.fluxflowcoaching.com.