I don't believe in New Year Resolutions. Statistically speaking, chances are good you don't either.
Most people abandon New Year Resolutions by January 19th, which just happens to be the day after my birthday. How depressing it would be to give up on something the day after my special day.
So I'm not going to do that.
Resolution is "something that is resolved" and also "the act of solving or determining." (Thanks, Merriam-Webster.)
People like the idea of New Year Resolutions because they sound final, determined, already done.
That's exactly why I don't like them. If the thing is done, then I have little motivation to do it today. It is already done, see?
Intention, on the other hand, is "what one intends to do or bring about." It is also "the object for which a prayer, mass, or pious act is offered."
Ah, here we are. A ritual. A mindset. A practice. This I can do.
I am not setting any New Year Resolutions this year. But I am setting my intentions for 2022.
Be kind to myself.
Be kind to others.
Honor my talents.
Embrace JOY.
If I set a resolution to lose weight this year, I am likely to eat too much cake on my birthday, and wake up January 19th feeling like I have failed my resolution.
If I set an intention to lose weight this year, I can eat all the cake I want on my birthday, and get up on January 19th ready for a 5K to burn off all that buttercream goodness.
Even better, if I set an intention to simply be kinder to myself, I can skip the anxiety and self-judgement about eating cake entirely. I can wake up the next day grateful for another year around the sun, and ready to celebrate this body I was given by doing what it loves to do . . . run.
I have already started setting my daily intentions. I wrote them in my journal this morning. It is my intention to write them every morning. They are my daily reminder, just as my morning yoga practice is my way of thanking my body for its strength and flexibility, and these words are my celebration of the gifts my soul has been blessed with.
You're playing word games, Autumn.
I am. That's the point, isn't it? The words we use to speak to ourselves, about ourselves, matter. They echo in our brains, they are inscribed on our hearts.
Life lived with kindness, with truth, and with joy. That is my intention. What's yours?
