In the Flow with Healing Waters

We are approaching the end of the year and the beginning of the new year.  It’s a closing cycle that makes most of us review the past year.  What went well? What didn’t?  What do I want to change?  We review our losses and gains, making a mental tally.  It also presents an opportunity to process feelings we may have buried through the year and let go of them.  Discard the old baggage, and step into the year a “new” you.  You start making lists of things to change, lose weight, eat better, exercise more, take more vacations, etc. Unpopular opinion warning, I dislike the whole idea of New Year’s resolutions.

While all of these can be great goals for the right reasons, they can also set you up for unmet expectations, disappointment, and feelings of failure.  It sends a message that you are broken, need fixing, or simply not ok the way you are.  Hear me out, if you are listening to your body and want to eat healthier or lose weight because you have health goals, that sends a different signal to your body than doing it for appearance.  It sends a message of, “I love my body and want to nourish it properly and care for it.”  That is positive and you are more likely to stay on track.  The opposite is, “I want to be thin and look like the magazines”, which sends a message of being unworthy unless you look a certain way.  I am picking on weight loss because it is the number one new year’s resolution.  However, you can apply this logic to most resolutions. 

Too often, we want to do all the things at once.  We stay on track for about a month and revert back to old patterns.  When this happens, we feel ashamed and frustrated.  A different approach is to choose an item and work on it, mastering it over the course of several months, then add another.  Instead of having new years resolutions, small changes are implemented throughout the year.  It takes the pressure off and makes it a more doable task.  So, this new year, I encourage you to review the positive things you have accomplished, discard the old wounds and step into the year a lighter, more loving version of yourself.  Be loving to yourself, start small, and work your way throughout the year.  You will be surprised how much you can accomplish!  

Loving myself in the flow,

Lisa