Hearing the two words “new year” are almost synonymous with things like resolutions and phrases like “new year, new me”. And if you are like me, and many others, you have found yourself not keeping a resolution in the past. This can lead to an extreme of attitudes; either an apathetic feeling of almost refusing to commit to anything new, or getting your multiple planners out and detailing to the smallest detail exactly how every one of your new goals will be reached this year.
I have learned through my journey of recovery there is another possibility. I have opened my mind to the idea of setting intentions instead of resolutions. It may seem like semantics, but it comes with a profound difference of mindset. Instead of having a rigid idea about a to-do list or in omit list, intentions allow me the flexibility to face a new year with new thought processes, or strategies, and the mindfulness to decide where and how I will use the finite resource of my energy this year.
One thing is certain, I don’t want to leave 2020 behind without looking at what I’ve learned. And what I learned can be vastly different than what you may have learned during this incredibly uncertain year. Looking honestly over the past allows me to reflect on where I want to see growth this year. And without setting some sort of intention, I could look exactly the same at the beginning of 2022 as I look now at the beginning of 2021. And I don’t want that. My intention is growth.
So what is your intention for 2021? Without setting one or some intention, we will react to our circumstances instead of shift the atmosphere in our circumstances. I have set several intentions for my year. It’s a little worksheet I fill out every January for the past five years. Mine looks like this:
This year I purpose to: Embrace hope.
Engage Be Believe Break Daily Connect Let go Learn Live Give. Grow
my fears— and learn from them. present.
there are solutions I don’t yet see. patterns of small thinking.
care for my body.
with each of my children daily.
of the past. stillness.
with eyes of wonder. grace.
in my love for myself and others.
I have placed this on my bathroom mirror to remind myself often of the course I am choosing for my life. Will I get it all perfect? Absolutely not. But I can course correct as often as I’m reminded. And I am confident, that with my intention set, I will be able to look back over this year and see a subtle growth that aligns me more with who I want to be. “No one can make me change. No one can stop me from changing. No one really knows how I must change, not even I. Not until I start. I will remember that it only takes a slight shift in direction to begin to change my life.” Jan 3 of Courage to Change.
2020 Taught me that in an unbelievably small window of time my life can change dramatically. But what I’m looking for is an inner peace that allows me to accept these changes and keep moving forward
