Traditionally, as the year winds down people start making resolutions for the new year. I am going to suggest a slightly different approach. Often those New Year’s resolutions are about changing your body shape, changing your job, being “better” at, you fill in the blank, etc. The focus is on seeing things that are wrong in your life and how you might fix them. What if you looked back at this past year and focused on all of those things that went well? What if you decided to use those as your jumping off place for the new year? What if you built upon your successes, even the tiny ones?
I do not make resolutions at the beginning of the year. Somehow to me, resolutions seems to be framed in judgments. Instead, I set intentions. I review the previous year and then think about what I would like to occur in the new year. I want to build on my successes and expand my possibilities. The next step is to consider what are do-able chunks, for me. This is often where people get stuck. They look at how quickly they can get to their goal. They get a start, get overwhelmed, and then stop. This place of stopping is also usually associated with lots of self-judgment because you have not achieved your resolution.
You have a greater chance of staying with your intention when you create do-able chunks for yourself, that make sense to you. As you move through your process ask yourself this question. “Will this step move me in the direction of my desired outcome?” If the answer is yes, then take that step. If the answer is no, then do some brainstorming and come up with another step to take that aligns with your intention.
You will likely take steps that don’t actually move you forward and that’s ok. It only means you have learned a piece of information about what doesn’t work. It isn’t a failure, it is simply something that didn’t turn out as you had expected.
This year let your imagination flourish. Let your mind flow freely and allow yourself to think about what you want your life to look like this year. Let yourself explore many possibilities. What went well for you this past year? What would a spectacular new year look like for you? I am excited to start the new year and look forward to hearing your intentions.
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