Resolutions that work
New Year is often a time for intentions and resolutions, many of which apparently fail by mid February. What if we approached our desires for the year ahead feeling full of love and also aware of our own potential, awakening our inner power? Would it be possible to set intentions that we really wanted to have (not that we feel guilt-tripped into having)?
Whether you are called to take control over your own nutrition, whether you are called to embrace kindness, compassion and joy to your own health, or whether you are called to tackle big GM corporations head on by joining your local activist group, then you are going to need to be at your resourceful best.
Whatever you desire to do, allow it to come from your heart, from your soul, not from a place of ‘should,’ which is often fuelled by shame, obligation or fear. If you allow yourself to be guided by your intuition, then the action you take will reveal itself to you. But as I’ve said before, if you’re running on empty, filled with stress hormones, and suffering with insomnia, menstrual cycle difficulties, digestive problems or any other dis-ease borne from stress, then your first job is to take care of you, take care of this body, your part of the earth, before you try saving the world.
Learning to do this requires moving away from imitation, from thinking someone else’s happiness belongs to you, moving away from the belief that there is one road to success. It requires you be be confident in your own worth in the world, and this is a life-long practice for most of us.
You can start to explore building your self worth by following these 3 steps. I’d love to hear if you have any extra ideas.
Where and how do you priortise your self-care? What does self-care mean to you? Take some time to reflect and journal on these points. Notice what comes up.
Practice yoga nidra and restorative yoga regularly. These are practices which create a sense of acceptance and compassion, valuable assets for our stressful, busy modern day lives.
Find beauty each day. Even if you are feeling angry, hateful, upset or depressed, can you also make space for observing the beauty of the bare trees in winter, or appreciating your home and loved ones? This isn’t about ignoring or replacing the ‘negative’ emotions, more about making more space for gratitude and appreciation.
This will be the topic of my New Year Retreat Day on Sunday 30th December at Bristol City Yoga, where we will explore hatha, restorative and yoga nidra linked with exploration into san kalpa,loosely translating as meaning whole of heart. Find out more here.