Resolutions

If you are like most people, you have already started the year breaking your New Year's resolutions. Congratulations! You now have an entire year to accomplish your dreams. I have learned to keep an open mind when setting myself up for the year, because I want to set the stage for blessings to surprise me, not just go with my rigid and limited idea of what I "should" be doing. This calls for intention, more than a 2012 to-do list. What theme would I like to encompass my year? I dubbed 1997 the year of JOY, in which I felt happier than I have ever felt. Regardless of what was happening, joy absolutely permeated my existence. In 1998, I vowed to feel LOVE everywhere, all around me - the love that was already present everywhere. I absolutely fell in love with myself, my world, and what do you know, by April I was in my first ever long term love relationship!


For me, a resolution is a decision to commit to a view. It's different than goal-setting. I enjoy goal-setting, but it is a different art. Sometimes I will decide “I am going to practice yoga for 30 days and see what happens” or “my goal is to touch my chest to my thighs”. One of the most common mistakes with goals is that we set our sights too far ahead and get discouraged because we do not see the results. That's why I believe in short-term goals. All goals begin in the present moment. Starting in this moment, in this body, as it is RIGHT NOW. In truth, the primary reason to have a goal is to be able to have the experience along the way. Which brings us back to resolutions....

One New Year's Eve, the year before I became a yoga instructor,  I was in my yoga class and the teacher gave each of us a handout of a quote to choose. The one I chose was very poignant to me, because it was a quote I used to hold in my heart as a young actress and it goes:

This was very prophetic , and has unfolded in the most fulfilling and surprising ways. Words and intentions have power, so take your time and center into not only what you would like to create, but the lens you would like to look at it through. Some dreams are so large, they take longer than a year, however they happen in an instant.


The practice of yoga is a process... the destination is the journey, right? Since January 11th is my birthday, I don't try to accomplish a lot at the beginning of the year. Instead, I ease into it, taking stock over the first 10 days, to set up my shot for the year as best I can. Winter is the time of ruminating and inner work that the hibernation period offers. It is at this time that I create a vision for myself.Take some time this week to watch for the signs, and align yourself with your highest good.


Happy New Year!


Oh, by the way...this year, my theme popped into my head quite early and unexpectedly: 2012 the year of following my impulses and trusting my instincts. POW!