New Year’s Eve—a time to celebrate the end of one year and embrace new goals and intentions for the coming year, or, as we like to call them, RESOLUTIONS. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of Resolution is, “a promise to yourself to do or to not do something.”
How many of you set your intentions and New Year’s Resolutions for 2022 and have already given up on them? No need to worry. You are not alone. Does it make sense to anyone else, especially here in the Northeast, to start committing to health goals and intentions in the dead of winter?
I do understand the logic that it is the beginning of a new year and it does seemingly make sense that you would set your goals and intentions for the year. I would like to offer you this new idea to consider: on Friday, April 1, 2022, there was a New Moon in Aries. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac. Aries season is one of the most fertile times of the year to plant seeds: a focus on fresh starts, creative opportunities, and new beginnings. Now is the time to recommit to your health goals and intentions for 2022; a time to ignite your courage to compete and fight for your dreams.
As one of four seasons, spring symbolizes new beginnings. The Earth's axis begins to tilt toward the sun, days start to get longer, snow begins to melt as the weather gets warmer, plants begin to grow and flowers begin to bloom, and animals awaken from hibernation. Now is the time to recommit to your health goals and intentions. Now is the time to review your goals and intentions from the beginning of this year and see if you are still aligned with them. If you never started them, rethink them and revise them. Eliminate what no longer serves you, establish new intentions, and commit for the remainder of the year or even until next spring.
Think of your resolutions, goals, and intentions as seeds. Plant the seeds and take inventory of what you need to accomplish them. What is it that you need to do to get to where you want?
Here are a few of my top suggestions to help get you started:
• Grab a notebook and start journaling. This is a good practice to help you express your thoughts and feelings. There is a practice called Morning Pages, a practice of handwriting 750 words every morning, soon after waking. The idea is to start while your brain is too bleary to censor itself, so you can write more freely. https://750words.com/
• Create a vision board for yourself and hang it in a place that is highly visible. On New Year’s Eve 2014, I taped 12 pieces of paper together and hung them on the wall in my room where I could see them every morning when I woke up. Grab a few different colored dry erase markers and write messages of inspiration, a quote that resonates with you, or an affirmation to yourself. A daily reminder that you are beautiful, you are loved, you are worthy.
• Plan your days. Break your day up into Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. This schedule will vary depending on your responsibilities. The idea is to set yourself up for success. Blocking time to move your body, eat well, get a good night's sleep, and take care of yourself mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
• Find an accountability partner or two or three. Surround yourself with people who support you and your goals. Share your goals and intentions with one another and hold each other accountable with weekly scheduled check-ins.
• Reading, audio or physical books, or listening to podcasts that are in line with your health goals and intentions. This includes following accounts on social media that will feed your fire and not dim your light.
• Lastly, eat your largest meals earlier in the day and lighter toward the end of the day. Set some time aside at the end of each day to sit silently with yourself with no tv, computer, or phone screens. Make sure that your surroundings are comfortable, no tv in the room, no mirror facing the bed, cozy pajamas, bed sheets, pillows, and comforters.
Here’s to new beginnings and recommitting to yourself this year! Remember to be kind
and compassionate to yourself. If you begin to waiver you can always begin again.