Healing + Human Potential with Alyssa Nobriga

Episode: 4 Simple Steps to Reflect & Set Intentions for Your Best Year Yet
Date: December 30, 2025

Episode Overview

In this heartfelt episode, Alyssa Nobriga guides listeners through a transformative end-of-year ritual involving four reflective prompts. The aim is to help you pause, honor your growth, integrate the lessons of the past year, and set clear, compassionate intentions for the new year. Alyssa draws from her deep experience in psychotherapy and coaching to offer both practical and mindful wisdom, making reflection a nourishing and empowering experience rather than a checklist. The episode blends ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience, emphasizing self-compassion, conscious evolution, and cultivating gratitude.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Power of Year-End Reflection

• Alyssa opens by highlighting the significance of consciously closing out the year to begin the next one with clarity and intention.
  "Just before the end of the year can be a powerful time to reflect on the last 12 months and then set us up for intentions in the coming year." (01:01)
• She points out that our ego often focuses on what we haven’t achieved, leading to a sense of “never enough” that actually hinders growth.
• The ritual is designed to “zoom out” and appreciate the full landscape of the year, recognizing both accomplishments and lessons.

The 4 Reflective Prompts

Alyssa encourages listeners to pause, get comfortable, and grab a pen and paper for these self-guided journal prompts. These can be done solo, with friends, or as a family ritual.

Prompt 1: What Are 3 Things You’re Most Proud Of?

(13:18)

• Reflect on the year and identify at least three accomplishments, big or small.
• Possible examples: pursuing a dream, prioritizing health, setting boundaries, learning to love oneself more.
• Alyssa introduces the concept of the “nourishment barrier”—the tendency to continuously reach for new goals without pausing to receive the nourishment of acknowledgment.
  • "When we don't take the time...we end up creating this hungry ghost where we look for the next external goal to give us something that we aren't already receiving." (15:42)
• Taking time to celebrate wins increases energy to pursue new dreams.

Prompt 2: What 3 Lessons Did You Learn That You Never Want to Forget?

(18:29)

• Identify practices, insights, or “hard lessons” from the year.
• Alyssa stresses focusing on patterns rather than just people or situations, and the importance of true acceptance over resistance or judgment.
  • "When we judge something, we're actually stuck with it. So the intention is good, but we don't need to be in resistance to make a change." (21:49)
  • "We either evolve or we repeat." (23:44)
• She shares a personal lesson about prioritizing her own wellbeing over people-pleasing habits learned in childhood.
  • "...knowing that it comes first. Sometimes you can know these things, but there's deeper levels of integration." (26:16)
• Writing down lessons helps ground them and provides a reference throughout the coming year.

Prompt 3: What Are You Most Grateful For This Year?

(28:18)

• Cultivating gratitude is highlighted as a tool for improving mood, relationships, and mental health.
  • "Making gratitude a daily practice is a great way...to boost your mood, but also strengthen your relationships and improve your overall mental health." (28:20)
• Alyssa reflects on intentionally embracing pleasure and play, experiencing more happiness, and the importance of honoring dreams even if they haven’t fully manifested yet.
  • "If you've had a dream in your heart that you've been working on and it hasn't happened yet, it is still on its way to you. Trust the timing of it." (31:11)
• Suggests showing gratitude to significant people via end-of-year notes or voice messages for meaningful connection.

Prompt 4: What Are 3 Things You Want to Call In for the Upcoming Year?

(33:29)

• Visualize it being the end of next year and imagine it’s the “best year of your life”—what made that happen?
• Consider feelings, experiences, relationships, and goals.
• Alyssa recommends choosing a “Word for the Year” to embody (rather than strict resolutions), serving as a north star for alignment and intention.
  • "Having a quality for the next year is like a north star...reminds you how you want to feel and what you want to create in the world." (38:04)
  • She shares that her word was “trust” for several years—even if it didn’t sound “sexy,” it was deeply transformative.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Egoic Criticism:
  "That pattern of criticism is trying to help us...but when we investigate how effective it is, we actually see that it paralyzes us." (05:23)
• On Compassion:
  "Being compassionate with ourselves is actually productive." (07:48)
• On Patterns vs. People:
  "Focus on the pattern, not the person...because that pattern can play out with lots of different people." (22:21)
• On Acceptance:
  "You do not need to be in resistance or judgment in order to change something. Acceptance, not complacency, but acceptance." (22:03)
• On Reflection Rituals:
  "If you want something I've done and loved...put this piece of paper in an envelope, close it, seal it, and it becomes this time capsule that you can review at the end of each year." (42:06)
• Encouragement:
  "Remember to take notice of the people, the places and experiences that energize you...lean into what lights you up and steer clear of the things that suck your energy." (45:16)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening Reflections & Purpose of Practice: 00:00 – 07:58
• Why Self-Compassion is Productive: 07:59 – 10:14
• End-of-Year Ritual as Group or Solo Experience: 10:15 – 13:17
• Prompt 1: What Are You Proud Of? 13:18 – 17:29
• Prompt 2: Lessons You Learned: 18:29 – 28:18
• Prompt 3: What Are You Grateful For? 28:18 – 33:28
• Prompt 4: Intentions for the Next Year / Word of the Year: 33:29 – 42:05
• Closing Wisdom & Encouragement: 42:06 – end

Tone and Invitation

Alyssa’s language throughout is caring, encouraging, and gently empowering. She repeatedly invites listeners to honor themselves, to not rush or judge their process, and to share the practice with loved ones for deeper connection.

Closing Thoughts

Alyssa wraps with gratitude for her listeners, encouraging community and emphasizing that inner work changes the world, starting with oneself.

"Thank you so much for doing this work that changes the world, starting with yourself. It truly does make a difference." (47:03)

Listeners are left inspired to reflect, integrate, and step boldly—with compassion—into the new year.