Intention Setting: A New Approach to the New Year's Resolution
January 1st marks the first day of the calendar year. It signifies the day where we hit the ground running with a list of New Year's Resolutions to ensure we have the best and most successful year yet. Most of us spring into the New Year as if the slate has been wiped clean with newfound excitement and commitment only to disappoint ourselves within a matter of weeks once we fall off track.
What the above model fails to honor is our humanistic need to live harmoniously with the seasons. That, as humans, we are meant to conserve our energy during the months of shorter hours so that we may be more energetic and spring to life when the sun caresses our skin for longer periods of time. Winter is traditionally considered a time of hibernation while Spring is the transition into blossoming, creation and renewal. As the New Year begins at the beginning of winter - the beginning of hibernation season - the model of “Resolutions” does not properly serve our highest interest; one that honors our energetic output for the season. Other models, such as astrology, suggest that the New Year begins on March 20th, the Spring Equinox - which literally marks the first day of Spring. Hibernation ends and blossoming begins. It is in my opinion, that we are to look to nature for guidance on how to live harmoniously - for when we honor the seasons, we ultimately support our highest potential. Rest is required so that you may not only embrace but act in alignment with the wells of inspiration within you.
So if it is not Resolutions, what then is the most supportive approach to you having the most magical year? It all starts and ends with how you wish to feel. When your actions are not only driven by those “feel good” feelings but in alignment with those feelings, your year takes on a whole new image and shape.
This year, instead of creating rigorous goals for yourself, start by setting an overall Intention for the year - what is the feeling you most wish to feel throughout the entire year? For example, my 2019 Intention is “I Live My Most Inspired Life”. I chose this particular intention because I want to feel inspired every single day and furthermore, I want my actions to support this feeling so that when I look back on 2019, I feel accomplished and fully know that I made the very best of my year.
From there, begin to create goals that embody this intention. Some possible categories for intention-oriented goals are:
Self
Relationships
Career | Finance
Pleasure | Pursuit
Looking for a worksheet to better walk you through this? Find one that I created here!
One thing often overlooked is how much our daily decisions impact the way we feel and the steps we take toward or away from our goals. As you move through 2019, check in with your intention-oriented goals. Are your daily decisions moving you closer or farther away from your yearly intention? Perhaps it’s about cultivating the habit of pausing before every decision, no matter how small, and asking if this is in alignment with your yearly intention. If yes, then by all means, go for it! If no, it makes it that much easier to walk away from it. In the end, it’s not whether or not you lose those 15lbs, land that dream job or find “the one” that makes or breaks a year - it’s the feelings you associate with your year that makes the year more spectacular than the next.
May your 2019 be a year filled with joy, love and abundance. May your 2019 surprise you in all of the best ways possible. May your 2019 be intention-filled and limitless. Cheers, sweet souls!