Are you the kind of person who sets New Year Resolutions, of which last approximately five days until you’ve returned to the same old habits, behaviors and thoughts? New Year, New Me is a tried and true concept where people believe that by midnight, they’ll be a brand new human being. Someone no one has ever seen or met before. Completely changed for the better. But … we all know it doesn’t quite work that way — no mater how hard we all try and believe.
Maybe it’s a New Year, but not a New You — at least — not yet. The cool thing about starting over is that sure, it doesn’t happen overnight, but that you can start over whenever you want and take it day-by-day. What do some of your resolutions often include? Weight loss? Eating better or drinking more water? Getting out of debt? Saving more? Traveling? Quitting your job and doing something more meaningful? More self-care? Are you already back on your BS? Too soon? Let’s start over. New Year, New Start. Isn’t that a better picture in your head? You don’t have to be brand new yet. You get to take as long as you want to. Your progress is YOUR own. Your journey is YOUR own. No one else’s! Isn’t that cool? Your only competition is yourself. In one of my favorite self-help books, IKIGAI, the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, it tells me that those in Japan never live a day without being grateful for their work, their families, their friends, their communities, their food, their resources and their lives. The word, Ikigai, is a term that means, your reason for being. Iki means life and gai means value or worth. People in Japan live to be over 100 years old. So far, the leading record is 126 years old before death. These individuals are called centurions. Being grateful and living a life full of peace, joy, gratitude and slowing down or reflecting often is a staple for this long-lived life. There’s a quote that I’ve revolved my life around lately and it reads like this, “burnout does not come from doing too much. Instead, and more likely, burnout comes from the act of doing too little in life that we are passionate about.” Because of this quote, I’ve been able to adopt a better and active routine in taking care of my mental, physical, emotional and even energy or spiritual health. Burning out for you may look like no longer taking the time or feeling the energy to make your bed, get your exercise or skincare in. It could look like ignoring your day-to-day tasks like accomplishing laundry or dishes. Maybe you’re slacking in work because you’re not passionate about what you’re doing or because there’s no off switch to work and home. You need to be passionate about the things you’re doing in life. What are you passionate about? What brings your life joy, fulfillment and purpose? Falling short in life, whether it be spiritually, physically, mentally or emotionally, often equates to not enjoying the ride of life anymore. Our joy and the color in the world quickly depletes when we are struggling and when we don’t know where to go or who to turn to. When we lose sight of our journey, we often lose sight of the things that we love, or the things that we are passionate about. But if you’re burnt out and you’re struggling, it’s in fact because you’re not doing the things that you love and are passionate about. The New Year is the year to do more of the things that fill you with joy and give you purpose. I urge you to slow down in your life. I urge you to reflect often, and above anything else I urge you to look not only within your materialistic being, but to look also into your spiritual/energy-filled being to find things that you want to change, conquer, improve and grow on. Start actively thinking of ways that you can practice feeling joy and purpose in life again. Invest in yourself — your emotional, mental and physical health — everyday. You get to decide when and for how long — but it should be everyday and for at least a half hour. You owe that to yourself. Start setting small milestones and goals that you can and will hold yourself to reach. I promise that as soon as you start incorporating things in your day that you know fill you with joy, that sunken and dull view of the world drastically changes back to even bolder, brighter and better colors. You have no idea what’s in store in your life and health, all it takes is a little and daily effort. New Year, New You will be well on it’s way. New Beginnings is what life is all about, after all. Need a helping hand? Check out the links below for planners and self-help books. The possibilities of your growth are endless. IKIGAI, The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life: BOOK The Mountain is You: BOOK Getting Back to Happy: BOOK The Five Minute Journal: JOURNAL One Line a Day: JOURNAL The Power of Now: BOOK Infinite Possibilities: BOOK Atomic Habits: BOOK 101 Essays to Change the Way You Think: BOOK Happy + Healthy: PLANNER How to Manifest: EBOOK/GUIDE High Vibe Vision: PLANNER Blogilates (Pilates) Glow Up Session: GUIDE/CHALLENGE
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Vision boards are really cool. They’re a great way to make your ambitions feel tangible, and they allow for creating clear goals and milestones to meet to reach that ambition or dream. Vision boards are a very common way to outline your goals and bring your dreams to life. If you haven’t ever made a vision board, it’s not too late! You can create vision boards for anything! Here’s a quick guide to get you started.
Find the Necessary Supplies
Find What You’re Interested In
Organize
You Get Out of it What You Put Into It
Interested in a visual? Check out Gulia Guerrieri — a manifestation and mindset coach in NYC and online. She’s one of the cutest human beings I’ve come to follow. Here’s her visual: How to Make A Vision Board Good luck and enjoy creating! Setting Intentions with Crystals
Healing crystals posses natural energy and are a great way to manifest life-changing intentions. We all need positive energy in our daily lives. This four step guide will get us closer to enhancing our goal-setting, personal resilience and energy sustainment! Your crystal will be your new best friend. Choose the Right Crystals Based on Your Resolutions Certain crystals boost our self-care efforts. Tourmaline is used for strengthening our resilience and helps change negative energy into positive energy. (Links to crystals included)
Cleanse Them Cleansing our crystals restores them to their natural state. Water will rid any negative energy stored inside of the stone. Your stone should be completely submerged under water to cleanse it, followed by patting it dry. A deep clean to the gem can be done by adding sage or lavender to the water. Be sure to protect your crystal’s energies. Protecting them is protecting yours. Set & Activate Your Intentions The best use of your gems comes from first clarifying the intentions of the gem you’re using. Once you’ve figured that out, you can activate the crystal. There are a few ways to do as such; through harmonizing, directed thoughts, loud and proud.
Keep Them Close When your gems have been activated, keep them close to you. Wear it as a necklace, a bracelet, keep it as a pocket friend, or in a bag—anywhere on your person. Keeping your stone is a crucial part in bonding the energy between you two. Keeping the crystals near you help the refocus of your self-determination and milestones. We all need positive vibes and good energy as life will inevitably head into uncertainty. Healing crystals just may be the way to obtain inner peace. It’s time you find your zen. In Ancient Chinese Philosophy, there’s a passage about a man who gets very sick. His name is Master Chariot. And Master Sacrifice asks if he’s going to be alright. Master Chariot responds, “How extraordinary of the maker of things to knot me up like this. My back is hunched out. My organs are all out of order. My chin is hidden in my navel. My shoulders are pearled. And my neck bones point to Heaven.”
That sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it? But though his yin and yang qi (good soul) was fouled, in his mind, there was nothing wrong. Nothing at all. Master Chariot hobbles over to a well of water to find his reflection. Master Sacrifice asks, “Do you dislike it?” Master Chariot exclaims, “Not at all! What is there to dislike? If, in time, he turns my left arm into a rooster, I’ll use it to crow the day. If he turns my right arm into a bow, I’ll shoot down a dove for roasting. If he turns my buttocks into wheels and my spirit into a horse, I’ll climb aboard. What better carriage? You get something when it’s time. You lose it when it’s passed. If you are content with the time and abide by the passing, there’s no room for sorrow. If you don’t loose yourself, (not take life too seriously), things will bind you. Nothing has ever beaten Heaven. So, what is there to dislike?” What is there to dislike? Stop taking yourself so seriously. Life is meant to be full of joy and memory making. Your soul is aching to thrive. It’s full of so much good, and a good soul wants a good life. Nothing has ever beaten Heaven. Heaven is not binded. So don’t allow yourself to be binded either. This concept is easier said than done. But it’s a mindset in life that will lead to an abundance of rewards and happiness. If your soul is twisted, what good will you find? What good could you possibly see? Why would you want to live a life like that? Joy is waiting for you. Your happiest memories are waiting for you. You’re deserving of so much good. Stop waiting for it. Start seeing it. Start creating it. Let life come as it does and let it fuel you. Who are you when no one is watching?
How do you act when you don’t have an audience? What songs are you listening to? You know, the ones that resonate with your soul so much, it was like the artist wrote it just for you. Who are you when you’re tucking yourself into bed, in your oversized t-shirt that has holes in it that you refuse to throw away? Who are you when you complete your nightly routine that you’ve stayed on top of for three years now? Who are you when no one is there and what dreams are you pining after? What things do you have yet to achieve, and why do you want it so badly? Who are you when all of your walls are down and you haven’t a care in the world? Who are you at your most vulnerable? What are the things that make your heart ache? What kinds of things do you see that touch you and move you? Who are you in your greatest mistakes, and how did you learn from them? When the world has gone quiet and the lights are out, what does that conversation sound like? The ones you have with yourself where honesty meets you at two am? Who are you when no one is watching and do you like who you’ve become? Do you like who you’re becoming? When no one is watching, I hope it’s you that is the most kind to yourself. I hope you’ve learned that authenticity and the real you is what the world needs most. I hope the songs you listen to tell a story about someone who has overcome so much and come out on the other side. Behind closed doors and on a face and without makeup or undone hair, I hope you look at your reflection and see someone beautiful looking back. I hope the dreams that have yet to become reality light a fire under you because you’re on your way to achieving it; not something lost along the way of ‘what ifs.’ I hope you realize vulnerability is not weakness. I hope when you think of love, you are at the top of your own list followed by everyone else who deserves and is worthy of your best. I hope you aren’t caught up in the kinds of relationships where you pine after love of wolves draped in sheep wool, only to deceive you. I hope you learn to forgive yourself knowing you are only human and still learning. I hope you surround yourself with the kind of people who love even the sharp parts of yourself that you’re still learning to. I hope in your quietest moments, you find peace within yourself for all you are. BUT, on top of my hope for you—what are you hoping for yourself? What are your goals for yourself? What are you doing to make those hopes a reality? Where have you started? Where do you want to start? You’re worthy of so much, and the world is waiting for you. What does that mean to you, and how do you want to embrace it? You have to envision it, no matter how hard life fights you. You have to see yourself, out of the messiness, out of the dark. You have to envision it—you in Paris, or Rome, Germany or Prague, or wherever the hell your hearts wants to go. Wherever you’re meant to go, with your best friend or your lover, feeling like the world is opening up for you. You have to envision it—the small apartment in your favorite city or the cabin in the country, the place you share with someone who’s your biggest fan. The person who will sit with you and sip coffee, reminiscing about all of the small and nameless things you get to experience, and share together. You have to envision it—the mornings you wake up where there is no heaviness in your chest, no lump in your throat. The mornings where it feels unreal to be alive. You have to envision it—your survival, your hope. The version of yourself that you won’t give up on. You have to envision your future, your life. You have to start putting yourself first, you have to make yourself the main character.
You have to live the best version of life that you can. You have to focus on yourself. You have to fall in love with who you are. You have to get excited about where you’re headed, about what’s next. You have to accumulate so many more goals than you can accomplish. You have to be filled with dreams, hopes, ambitions, passions. You have to learn to be spontaneous and let your feet take you where they take you. You have to learn to take new risks, to step out of your comfort zone. You have to be happy about the things you’re chasing because without those things your soul wouldn’t be fed. You can’t let anyone hold you back, you can’t care about what they think. Your life should be filled with so much adventure and so much peace. Your life should be filled with light, growth, faith, hope. You cannot allow any one single being to stand in the way of what is so undoubtedly, undeniably, unmistakably yours. You have to hold onto whatever it is that fills you with courage, with life; because the worlds needs you here. It needs you. |
AuthorHelping you recognize that your dreams are attainable and real. |