Becoming Mindful About Your New Year's Resolution
Finding Joy in the Journey
A Mindful Path to Healing and Growth.
It's that time of year again when we begin to make our New Year's resolutions. Rather, it's for a healthier body, finally, no longer texting or thinking of your ex or perhaps throwing away that ugly skirt your best friend keeps side-eyeing you about. Whatever the reason, we all make a conscious decision to improve ourselves. The real question is, are we choosing these resolutions from the ego, or are we conversing with all we are?
According to Discover Happy Habits, "Of those that made a resolution in 2020, 35% kept all their resolutions, 49% kept some of their resolutions, and only 16% failed at keeping any of their resolutions". If you look at these results, we are, for the lack of words, "trying.” I suppose those participation trophies count.
Change is excellent, and we should always strive to grow. However, I challenge all of us to grow constantly...gradually so that we can carry that energy all year around (and not just the first three months of the year).
Here are some mindful tips when picking your New Year's resolution for 2022.
Here are some mindful tips when picking your New Year's resolution for 2022.
Self-Analysis
Write It Down!
Make A Self Commitment
Create A Mindful Grounded Plan And Resolution (Goal)
Invite Positive Energy Into Your Resolution
Practice Makes A Mindful New Year's Resolution
Self-Analysis
Have a conversation with yourself.
Taking a moment to interact intimately with yourself allows for a mindful conversation about what you want to see from within.
Pisces Perceptive: I've Been there before, telling myself I will run a marathon and even convincing myself I will fit into my high school jeans. I've also told myself I would become a millionaire in three months. These ideas sound wonderful and a bit grandiose. However, if I take a step back and analyze my thoughts and actions, I realize I was missing some steps in reaching these goals.
Write It Down!
WRITE. IT. DOWN.
Pisces Perspective: Although my head is a wonderful place to be in, it is essential to come out of myself; this way I can do the following:
Visualize on paper my hopes, dreams, and desires
Create movement within the physical realm
Remove the first thought from my head to allow solutions to manifest.
Writing your thoughts in a journal, on a piece of paper, in a notebook, or the notes section on your phone allows you to not only see but get all the thoughts out of your head. Also, there's something about writing it down that makes it more real.
Make A Self Commitment
Okay my fellow zodiac signs this is the most important piece of making any mindful decision.
"YOU HAVE TO WANT TO DO IT."
Not your mother, sister (ex whom you keep in contact with), or favorite cousin can decide for you.
You must believe you can achieve what you have thought about and written down. This will allow you to keep the power in your hands while creating a boundary within yourself.
This process builds self-efficacy and autonomy. (I'll discuss self-efficacy and autonomy in a later blog post.)
Self-Efficacy: A person's belief in their ability to succeed in a particular situation.
Autonomy: state of independence and self-determination in an individual, a group, or a society.
You might be thinking this tip should be last; however, from my experience, I found that if you don't believe you can do it, then everything you do is basically just feeding the ego junk food.
DOPAMINE = JUNK FOOD
Yes, I associated junk food with dopamine. Now, the two can be significant (we all love junk food); however, dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter that our body produces and our nervous system uses to convey pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation.
Why do you think that chocolate cake makes you feel so good after a stressful day?
Like junk food, dopamine makes you feel good; however, you must be mindful that you must always create a balance within yourself.
If you are mentally creating pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation, I assume you must also make the same physically...
Create A Mindful Grounded Plan And Resolution (Goal Setting)
You have decided you are committed to your new year's solution. Wonderful, now it's time to create your own "how to" plan to achieve your goals. This can be simple or as detailed as you need. It all comes down to how you process and motivate yourself. Make it fun, exciting and bring a little play into your plan.
This Plan should include the following:
Your goal
Steps needed to achieve your goal
What may cause setbacks and potential solutions for them
A timeframe you would like to accomplish your goals
A letter to yourself
An Affirmation that will help motivate you
To learn the art of creating your own grounded plan click the link below. The art of creating a grounded plan
Pisces Perspective: I am an introvert with an INFJ-T personality type, so I process things internally and do not like outside opinions or thoughts before I can collect my own and draw a conclusion. This gets me into trouble sometimes because I have so many perspectives. However, I'm always mindful that I must seek out people I trust to share my plans and goals because they may give me a down-to-earth perspective. (Where is a Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn when you need them?)
Invite Positive Energy Into Your Resolution
Pisces Perspective: I'm secretive by nature. Sadly, I've found that by not sharing, life can be a bit lonely.
You deserve to invite positive people and experiences to support your commitment to your New Year's resolution. Now, I'm not talking about those passive-aggressive energies that say one thing and mean another. NO!
You want to invite the following;
People whose eyes light up when you speak and act on your New Year's Resolution
People that encourage you to try new things and support your journey
Experience that aids you along in a positive way to achieve your resolution
Environments that reflect your evolving lifestyle
Positive Self Talk
Laughter
Protect your energy from the following;
People who project their fears onto you
People who can not support the new version of you
Old thinking patterns
Environments that are not aligned with your resolution
Negative Self Talk
Practice Makes A Mindful New Year's Resolution
Nothing is ever perfect. If that were the case, we wouldn't have statistics. You will make mistakes, hit roadblocks, and be tested. The ideal of perfection may limit your efforts. However, my fellow, signs you are capable of thinking, creating, and achieving a mindful New Year's resolution that will become part of who you are evolving to be. Grow your practice by experiencing each level of growth within your New Year's resolution.
“It’s never too late to become who you want to be. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.”
Now that you have mindful tips, I encourage all zodiac signs to pick the resolution that can become part of your evolution as you enjoy your time here on Earth. Life is meant to be experienced, and you deserve to experience all you are.
Happy New Year's
Sincerely,
Charnay Ellesse Brandon
A Healing Soul 🤍