Reflection + Intention: The NEW “New Years Resolutions”

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions. What are they—they’re ideas we get all excited about in January, then we do them hardcore for a month, then fall off the wagon, then feel guilty about it (if we even remember that we set them...). Amiright?

What if we did it differently. What if we replaced “New Year’s Resolutions” with Reflection & Intentions. The following is an exercise that in part I adapted from Kate Northrup. Carve out some time to try it out.

REFLECTION

Set aside an hour or so this week. Find a quiet space—maybe a coffee shop or maybe your kitchen table. Grab your calendar (or calendars if you’re me...) and a cup of tea or coffee.

Begin by closing your eyes, and focus on your breath. Get present with yourself and check in with your body. This is an exercise of noticing.

When you feel present and ready, start to look back through your 2019 calendar one week or month at a time. Look at the activities or events you have written down. Stop after each one and notice in your body:

What makes me expand?

What makes me contract?

For example, I looked back and saw a weekend in June that was filled with a friend’s Bachelorette party that included a bike winery tour in Hood River. You bet that made me expand—I smiled just looking at the words on the page. The next week I had four days of working at a job I didn’t enjoy—I contract just thinking about that.

INTENTION

After your reflection time, take out a blank sheet of paper. Or you might choose what my husband and I do, and tape a huge piece of butcher paper to the kitchen wall. There’s a G column, a Mandi column, and a shared one in the center.

Make a list of Intentions for the year. Some of them might look like goals. Some might look like tasks. Some are dreams. None are resolutions, and none have to be set in stone.

In 2019 our list included things like “get a dog, start a business, pistol squat, build garden beds, plan for retirement, go to Paris,” etc. A lot of them got crossed off. Our 10-year anniversary was on the list—that was going to happen no matter what, so it was a sure bet to get crossed off! Having it visible throughout the year gave us a sense of accountability to remember our dreams, a quick glance reminded us of some boring to-do’s, and the Sharpie looped into it made it gratifying to cross things off.

Try it out. If you do, please share in the comments below what some of your Intentions are! I’d love to hear. ✨