Setting Powerful Intentions for the New Year - Making Resolutions a Reality
Why set intentions rather than just resolutions…..
January 1st is my favorite day of the year. Not only does it mark a new year of life for me (it’s my birthday) but the fresh calendar year feels like a clean slate, an empty journal to fill with new adventures and memories. In the middle of the cold and dreary winter, it holds promise for new seeds to be planted.
True to my Capricorn nature, I love a strategy and a plan. Give me a straight line toward achieving a goal and I’ll get down to business. What life has been teaching me in the past few years, however, is that all that masculine “doing” energy can leave me feeling depleted if I don’t bring in a BIG dose of feminine “being” energy. I think of masculine energy as structure, discipline, steadiness and feminine energy as flow, feeling, freedom.
Life is not as linear as I once perceived and we tend to go around and around in thought loops, and behavior loops despite our efforts. If you’ve ever found that you are worried or angry about the same things or in challenging relationships over and over again then you know what I mean. This joke so accurately illustrates the dilemma… A pilot gets in an airplane and starts flying. Hours into flight, he is informed that he is going in the wrong direction. “Yes,” he says, “but I’m making good time.” We are called to take stock… is this thought or behavior onward leading? Or am I circling around at maximum velocity? When our efforts are so focused on the outcome, we may get to the destination (we get the thing we really thought we wanted) only to find that it doesn’t bring the joy and happiness we were seeking.
My special talent as an intuitive life coach is the ability to recognize and release the patterns that keep us stuck in painful beliefs and behaviors. Often, that involves finding the right balance of masculine and feminine energy and learning to dance between the two. It’s also work that I do on myself as part of a daily inventory before my morning meditation. This work highlights what’s not serving me, where I might feel stuck and what I need to let go of. Without judgement, just an open and willing curiosity, I invite the Divine to co-create with me. That often looks like a prayer for guidance, surrender or HELP!
When it comes to the new year, I’ve found starting with goals and acknowledging your heart’s desires is a great foundation. Holding that loosely in mind, I recommend journaling on your wins from the past year. This creates powerful momentum to keep expanding. Also list what from the past year you are excited to leave behind for good. This brings in the element of conscious, healthy destruction… it’s feminine energy. The feminine is all about change, flow, letting things fall away so new things can be born (think of the wisdom in a women’s monthly cycle). You can write down what you are releasing on a piece of paper and burn it responsibly if you like. My brain likes to cling and fears change so to consciously embrace the unknown feels surprisingly liberating and powerful. It brings in the feminine balance to goals (the masculine).
Next, come up with your top three intentions for 2024. These intentions are words to describe how you want to feel and what kind of experience you want to have. I think of it as the energy you are calling in for a relationship, a job, for your health. You’ll be delighted how those words spread to other areas of your life.
For example, for me, my THREE words for 2023 were peace, joy, and connection. I found that my relationships, my work, my health started to all vibrate with these intentions. What showed up was infused with these intentions and more wonderful than the straightforward goals I set. It also gave me a standard to measure the quality of my experiences. I knew it was time to let go of anything (people, substances, situations) that wasn’t consistent with my three words.
I highly recommend the daily inspirational reader The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo- poet, spiritual writer, philosopher, healing arts teacher. I’m making it my go-to morning ritual before meditation for vibrating and expanding my intentions in 2024.
I do love goals and resolutions (I’m an intuitive health coach after all.) Structure, order, and discipline are healthy masculine energy. As you hold that loosely and call in your three intentions about how you want to feel and what you want to experience, you are adding the feminine. This amplifies and expands resolutions and goals so they organize in a way that truly fulfills you. Experience is more important than form. If you get the exact thing you want but don’t leave room for the Divine to co-create with you, bringing you what is most aligned, it may not bring lasting contentment. I watched an intuitive life coaching client manifest a marriage to a man she was determined to be with. She got a ring, the wedding, and all the stuff only to realize that the relationship was completely incompatible with how she wanted to feel. We have all done it! I manifested a house that I thought would be so great for my family (it was big, it had a pine forest around it, it had all the right features) and it brought us nothing but unhappiness. And guess what? This was in my soul contract, as it was in my client’s soul contract, to have that experience for growth and evolution. There are no mistakes but it serves an important reminder. Feelings are more important than form! If manifestation is about getting what you want, than co-creation is about getting what God wants for your life… many times that surpasses your wildest dreams!