Happy New Year!
2015 is here now and I bet you’re all over your New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t know about you but I NEVER seem to actually get anything done, aside from the Goodreads book challenge in 2012, ha! So, I want to share a new practice I started last year that help me be less goal oriented and more self development oriented.
A year ago my Rotaract friends and I did something different for our traditional Christmas party. We did a sort-of cleansing ritual to embrace the new year with positivity and hope.
how I miss this bunch ❤
We started by writing down on a piece of paper all the bad things or negative events that happened to us and that we would like to forget. After writing them down, everybody had one minute to reflect on them and continued to placed that piece of paper inside a jar with a candle. This was meant to symbolize the end of all those moments because they got burned down by the candle flame. Now they were long gone and we had space to welcome a new year of challenges.
Then, in a new piece of paper we had to write down new values and attitudes we wanted to adopt for the next year. Sometimes we overwhelm ourselves with specific goals that we are not able to accomplish under the time frame we selected. This practice helped me to understand that is not about what you do but who do you want to become, then all the rest will follow along.
Back when we did this, I was in a point of my life full of uncertainty, stress and confusion. I knew my life was going to changed drastically very fast, I was moving away to reunite with the love of my life, as you might know by now. I wrote down that I wanted love, vision and patience to be the key values to help me throughout this new journey. We placed that piece of paper on a Chinese sky lantern to symbolize that our wishes will come true.
look how high our wishes went!
I thought about applying this same dynamic but to the blog. The blog being the Chinese sky lantern here (or if you get one, go ahead!). Plus, wouldn’t be terrific to start this together & embrace lots more of positivity because who knows, it might be contagious! These are the guidelines:
1// Write down all the things you want to let go off and tare that piece of paper to shreds, tore it down, light it up! Do whatever you feel would be the most therapeutic for you (but don’t forger to be safe! haha)
2// Write down the new values and attitudes you want to adopt for this new year. Instead of writing that you want to loose weight or start exercising more write down will power, discipline, or consistency! The key is adopt the new values that will allow you to become the person you want to be.
3// Write these new values here, on your inspirational board or on your blog!
4// Invite people to join in, do it with your loved one or best friend, or on your blog, and spread the positivity!
So here are the things I would like to get rid of (I want to keep this here on the blog to remind me of the promises I made to my future self):
- Negative thoughts
- Fear of failure
- Lack of focus
Well, we all make mistakes, dear, so just put it behind you. We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.”- L.M. Montgomery
These are the new attitudes I want to adopt next year, in no particular order because they’are equally as important:
- Consistency
- Self-awareness
- Love
I hope you will join this tag and do it whichever way it feels better for you! I know it helped me embrace my new life and self so much easier and I accomplished more than I ever thought I could.
I’ll would also love to hear your ideas and suggestions.
Let’s start 2015 with a BANG!
From the sunny side of this,
Isabel
The sunny side of this 