Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

On the last Sunday of a recent year, I scrounged up all my old magazines, scissors, and a glue stick and headed over to my friend Reece’s healing center for a women’s life mapping workshop. For many past New Years, I had collaged together visions of my next year’s intentions and goals and was excited to do so again this year. However, when I arrived at the gathering I was told that we would be not be planning for the future with our collage but rather reflecting on the past year. Although this was disappointing – it’s much more exhilarating to dream and plan than to reflect and process – I faced the collage challenge head-on. In the end, my map of the prior year included, amongst many beautiful and fun memories, some difficult images of heartbreak, financial stress, health problems, and dreams dashed.

It’s nearing the end of 2019 and it’s the time of year where everyone is thinking about the year ahead. Making New Year’s resolutions are an old tradition, however many of us struggle to keep them for 365 days! Here are our top tips for making New Year's resolutions that turn out to be successful, and how to make them stick. Make specific goals If you set big goals that are vague, they won’t last because they’re just too big! To achieve your goals, they have to be specific, and measurable. Break your big goals down to something more specific, which will be easier to stick to and track.

This is where meditation can be a great asset. Just taking time to pause and separate yourself from your own mind. Observe your thoughts as they come and go without attachment or judgement. Get curious, watch yourself think. It can also be extremely helpful to have a coach to help tease from your the deep, dank thoughts and beliefs that haven’t shone themselves to you in some time. When you start to clearly see your thoughts that drive your feelings that create your actions, you empower yourself to make the decision whether or not you actually want to change. Maybe, when push comes to shove, you actually don’t? But trying to change from the action level alone without this behind-the-scenes sleuthing will be most likely frustrating, and perhaps even futile. Instead, look into the big WHY you’re doing or not doing something. It may take a bit of reverse engineering.