Key Themes for 2025
Think of this year as the last strokes of a painting you’ve been working on for the past eight years.
The canvas is rich with colors, layers, and textures—some deliberate, others added by surprise or mistake. A 9 Universal Year is the moment you step back, look at the work as a whole, and decide what needs to be completed to bring it to its fullest expression.
Are there areas that need refining, like a corner where the colors feel muddy or unfinished? Are there details you’re ready to highlight or parts you’re willing to paint over entirely? Completing this painting isn’t about erasing the past or creating perfection—it’s about honoring what’s there while making space for a new blank canvas when the time comes.
This process might look like:
Wrapping up a creative project that’s run its course so you can prepare for new inspiration.
Bringing closure to unresolved emotional wounds through therapy, reflection, or heartfelt conversations.
Gently releasing commitments or relationships that no longer resonate, allowing you to redirect your energy toward what truly matters.
Remember, the final strokes don’t mean the journey is over—they’re simply the bridge to your next piece.
Tackle that Junk Drawer
We all have a catch-all space filled with odds and ends we’re not quite ready to let go of. Old receipts, dried-up pens, batteries that might still work, rubber bands, and a lone screw from who-knows-where.
Our emotional lives are no different. We all have a space where we tuck away unresolved feelings, outdated beliefs, and mental clutter. At the time, it might feel easier to shove it away for later rather than deal with it, but eventually, the drawer gets hard to close.
A 9 Year is a chance to open that drawer, sift through what’s inside, and decide what stays and what goes. Maybe it’s an old grudge that’s been sitting there for years, taking up precious space. Perhaps it’s a fear that’s no longer relevant but still whispers in the background. Biases often hide here too - in the unconscious, inherited, and unexamined. These aren’t just personal quirks; systemic and unconscious biases can perpetuate harm, limit empathy, and uphold inequality.
Decluttering doesn’t mean tossing. It means thoughtfully sorting through what you’ve stored:
What still serves a purpose?
What no longer aligns with the person you’re becoming?
What can you transform, release, or repurpose?
Where might you be holding onto beliefs or assumptions that hurt others?
Now, this process isn’t always cathartic, but it is clarifying. And that’s the first step to gaining a sense of ease and spaciousness, a renewed ability to focus, and the freedom to create a life where every piece has meaning and intention.
Lights, Camera, Actions…Not Intentions
9 is the number of the humanitarian. But being of service isn’t just about planting seeds, basking in the joy of watching something grow, or harvesting—it’s about rolling up your sleeves and doing the work no one sees (or honestly wants to do) like turning the compost, pulling weeds, and pruning what’s overgrown.
This is the year to figure out how you can show up not just in action, but in intention. To work on humility and being attuned to how our actions impact others. This might mean:
Confronting your own biases or assumptions before speaking out. Are your words and actions truly helpful, or are they rooted in your own need to feel good?
Stepping back from being the first one to help and assuming that if you don’t do it, no one will.
Remembering that connection doesn’t always have to be marathon hangs or weekly in-person lunches. A 5-minute call, popping a letter in the mail, or dropping off a meal are just as impactful.
Listen, I’m not saying anything you don’t already know. But a 9 year is here to remind us that nurturing unseen efforts, like expanding our window of tolerance, taking accountability, and deeply paying attention to those around us, can create the conditions needed for meaningful growth.
As 2025 winds down, you may begin to sense the quiet stirrings of a new cycle on the horizon. The energy of 2026, a Universal Year 1, will usher in bold beginnings and a fresh sense of purpose. Your work this year—reflecting, releasing, and serving—isn’t just about endings. It’s about preparing for what’s to come. Every action lays the foundation for growth in the year ahead.
Endings, after all, are truly bridges to new possibilities. They are not failures, but marvels of human ingenuity and resilience. We’re all going to find ourselves in varying chasms of uncertainty. The 9 year is just a reminder that we can look up - even in the depths of fear, anger, and grief - to witness the beauty and significance of other moments as we move forward.