The new year means different things to different people. As children, we were asked what our resolution for the next year would be. It usually involved giving up chocolate, walking the dog more often, or keeping our rooms tidy. All of which went out of the window within a few days.
Despite the fact that most new year’s resolutions are actually broken within the month of January, many people of all ages find renewed motivation at this time of year, thanks to the act of goal setting.
The prospect of 365 fresh days ahead gives us a new starting point and a different focus for the future.
If last year didn’t quite go to plan, then the new year is a powerful time of year to release past anxieties, break bad habits, and make a new plan for a happier and healthier year ahead.
- Did you feel you made poor decisions last year?
- Did your relationships breakdown?
- Perhaps you didn’t focus as much on your goals as you intended?
- Did you lose your direction along the way?
- Or, perhaps you are harbouring an old habit that you want to break free from?
Choosing to let go
If you are living or reliving an old version of you, then you are not allowing yourself the freedom to fully change. Hanging onto negativity into the new year, and beyond, will only mean that you are not living to your full potential.
Letting go of negative feelings and emotions from the past isn’t always easy. It is a choice though, and one that only you can make.
If you want to follow a different path next year, first release anything that will burden your journey.
Releasing, requires you to acknowledge and accept the reality of situations or emotions that keep cropping up. See them for what they are and for any part you played. This involves the often painful task of stripping away your perceptions.
With an open mind see every experience, good and bad, as a lesson. This way you can start the process of letting go, knowing that all situations have something to offer you, even if it hasn’t been clear at the time.
Use the cusp of the new year, as a a significant milestone in the calendar, to release yourself from reliving emotions of pain, grief, disappointment, frustration and regret, over and over again.
Allow yourself to move on with your life this year, opening new, fresh chapters and giving space for new beginnings.
Set one meaningful resolution this year: Introduce a five minute morning ritual
Most new year resolutions, as with many other goals, are not fulfilled because they are unrealistic. To stand a chance of achieving what you set out to do, make any goals you set meaningful and within reach.
Technically, every day is a chance to let go of the past and start afresh and a morning ritual is a great way to start every day.
It is a chance to let go of anxieties from the day before, or any that are still lurking from the distant past. It’s an opportunity to set intentions and goals for the day ahead, or longer term.
A morning ritual also helps to get the good energies flowing through your body from when you wake, and grounds you in living this day to the fullest.
Some people choose to practice yoga or spend dedicated time in quiet meditation, as part of a morning ritual. Others choose to start the day with a short prayer.
Whatever works for you is personal, but starting the day in this positive way, means that you can micro-manage your new goal, of releasing and opening new positive pathways.
- Giving thanks for what you do have, rather than focusing on what you are lacking is a good way to begin.
- Followed by anything that involves clearing negative energies, such as body tapping, or self-massage.
- Practicing a few yoga mudras, with some visualisation on how you want today to go, can be a good next step
- And always end your practice with Namaste.
This routine can be done simply standing on a firm surface or yoga mat. So there are no excuses to not find five minutes to start the day in the right way.
By making your resolution to introduce a morning routine, there isn’t the same temptation to over promise and under deliver, leaving feelings of failure.
Introduce the practical, manageable, realistic goal of a morning ritual and the rest will follow as day by day you start to peel away the layers and live more positively.
