Why I rename “New Year’s Resolution”

and call it New Year's Intention instead....

2024 is here. I am so grateful for what 2023 brought me. Challenges and wins! Because I work in the wellness industry, my feed and my ears are bombarded with advice on how to set / not set "New Year's resolutions"

I love hearing people's advice and valuable experiences, but I am quite surprised sometimes by the way people chose to deliver their message. "Do this! - TRUST ME - it's the only way!" "Set your intention NOW" or "Don't bother with intentions, they won't last and you'll just end up disappointed".

Very strong statements are made, and there is one aspect that I am truly missing... The acknowledgement of the fact that we are all different! That we all have different backgrounds, families, cultures, experiences, work & money situations, traumas ++. The fact that we are all different kinds of people. It's easy for us to look at someone we look up to and think that their advice must be valuable to us because they are highly credited and inspire a lot of people.

New Year's Resolutions/ Intentions may well be a "programmed story", but I personally quite like the idea of turning a new page and reflecting on the one just been.

When reflecting on a New Year's Intention, my suggestion to you is to take a journey inwards to the wisdom of your Self, and ask yourself questions like:

How do I want to spend January?

Did I get enough reflection time in December to be able to start pushing towards a goal?

Do I need to spend this month reflecting more so that I can be sure of my values before taking action?

Am I happy with my current life circumstances (work, spirituality, relationships - with myself + others, family, etc. ?).

If yes, maybe you can learn to flow with gratitude! If no, what small steps can you start to make to change it? (P.S. I would always look at my gratitude list before making changes).

Why do I want what I want? How am I going to achieve it? Am I spending time with the right people? Do I need certain tools to support me? Do my mentors / the people I look up to share the same values as me, or am I following someone blindly?

Reflections are so powerful!

Think about where you were this time a year ago… and look at where you are now. What are your reflections?

Maybe you'll discover that there has been a huge growth process in certain aspects of your life - How exciting! While maybe other aspects of your life have stood completely still or even stagnated - Do you know what? I think that's ok, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. Growth is not linear, and maybe we discover along the way that we actually don't want to grow certain things any further in our life. Or maybe the time and priority just wasn't right. Perhaps some things served you well at one point, but you no longer feel it aligns. Why water a seed or plant that you don't wish to see grow? Wouldn't it be better to focus on the things you DO want to grow? And everything can't happen at the same time.

If you read this thinking "Actually, I wish I did see more growth in.. X Y", well, on a positive note, maybe now is a good time to re-arrange your schedule according to your priorities?

Back to the word "New Year's Intention" !

A few years ago I decided to rename my chosen word for this intention-setting.

Resolution, to me, sounded like something needed to be resolved / fixed. As if something was already broken. An intention, however, sounds like a purpose to bring forth something that is already there. Reminder: yoga teaches us that we don't really lack anything to be whole. Everything that we need is already within us, but we do need to learn HOW to access and control our inner power, and how to peel off the layers of conditioning and illusion in order to get to our inner Self. Personally, I find this through my consistent yoga practice.

Instead of thinking "New Year, New Me" could you invite yourself to become more connected to the YOU that is already there, deep within? Could you invite yourself to listen more deeply and more often to the inner wisdom - more than you listen to everyone else's knowledge around you?

This is not implying that you can't make changes to your circumstances, or that you can't seek external knowledge. Seeking outside help and information is good! I'm just inviting you to listen even deeper to the inner self, your heart and your soul. Yoga, through consistent practice, gives us access to our inner power so we can create "outer change". We can change our habits, our food diet, how we spend our time, how we respond to things, etc. if it helps us to live a life in better harmony with our values.

“Yoga helps us access our inner power, so that we can create outer change”

It starts with us, but it doesn't end with us

Another observation I make is that New Year's Intentions can often seem very "me, me, me" in a world that's screaming for help. The fact is, we have to start with ourselves in order to change anything in this world. Let's remember that our yoga practice isn't a journey to please the ego. The encouragement is to do the self-study (Svadhyaya) so that we can also be a better service for our community and the people around us. As you find peace with yourself (with your struggles and imperfections) you will be better equipped to encourage peaceful circumstances around you. But essentially, it starts with yourself and how you choose to show up for yourself.

I wish you a blessed 2024! I hope it's filled with love, peace and self-reflection.

I hope you learn to dance with your shadows this year, and make friends with them. Don't be afraid to "fail". Don't become attached to the outcome. Our shadows and challenges are full of wisdom, and when we learn to communicate with them they can really unveil our inner power.