My 2017 mindful resolutions.

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over the years my goals have taken many forms.

Creating last year’s Mindful Summer Bucket List was life altering.

Feelings of summertime frenzy vanished as it allowed us to focus on savoring experiences over checking list-items off.

We lived Summer ’16 with a sense of urgency (as always), yet unlike other years without a feeling of panic/time moving too swiftly.

With the gift of this hindsight, we could see how our previous summer lists verged on being too much.

In the same way (insert name of fave guilty pleasure food here) is amazing the first few bites but after mass consumption feels gross overwhelming.

Previous years each list item was a tasty-bite on its own, but by summer’s end in place of satiety we felt sickly overstuffed.

Being mindful in our plans altered that & it occurred to me this same mindful-notion could be applied to my resolutions for the next 360+ days.

resol

I examined what I’d been unsuccessful in shifting.

And I paused to consider the why.

I didn’t berate myself for failing to accomplish resolutions in years past.  Instead I mindfully considered how Id approached achieving goals/creating new habits and challenged myself to consider why my approach hadn’t worked.

I  scrutinized past successes and attempted to understand why these loops had been easily created.

habit loops

I considered goals versus intentions.

Just as I now set intentions for my daily practice—this year I mindfully set an intention for the next 365 days.

I reminded myself it took 4 years of naming ‘return to yoga’ as a goal before it finally came to fruition.

In addition, each of those years where nothing happened, I’d felt as though I’d let myself down.

For me 2017 is about setting consistent, mindful intentions not hammering out narrow, specific goals.

rsz_image-113

I revisited the power of losing focus.

I’m a firm believer in day dreaming. I advocate scheduling free time to get bored. I’ve found recently, in an effort to be more mindful, Ive become too focused on the present & work too hard to be in the now.

In addition, during times I slip into mindless living, Ive grown too quick to snap myself back to attention.

The creation of mindful resolutions reminded me of the growth potential in getting pulled off-track. It reminded me there exists no ‘track’ and no need for judgement when wandering happens.

In 2017 I will be kind when I take my eyes off the prize and gently nudge to refocus on where I want to be.

I acknowledged letting go as a victory.

I used to view letting go of goals as an indication I’d given up on my dreams and, by extension, on myself. Through creating a list of mindful resolutions it dawned on me this isn’t true. Perhaps my previous goals were steeped in romanticized notions of who I was/who I may be capable of being?  Maybe they were fantastic goals which simply no longer served me?

Redefining letting go not as quitting, but as a victory and a choice has been freeing. It’s allowed me to fully see my now and honestly assess who  I am, who I aspire to become, and identify how I might get there.

shedding good habits is ok!

You may have noticed I neither shared this post prior to New Year’s nor have I listed specifics about my mindful resolutions.

There’s a method to my madness.  

I believe any day is the perfect one to declare yourself ready to start anew.

My resolutions don’t matter–I believe in the power of changing how we resolve from goal-driven to a more mindful approach.

And you?

  • Did you set resolutions for this brand new year?
  • Are your resolutions of the goal-focused or mindful sort?

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Comments

  1. Considering I’ve already broken three of my 4 2017 resolutions I should probably try this, Carla.

    • I’m the same!!!
      I think my biggest problem is I never go back and look at the year before to see what I achieved and what I didn’t and find my “why” as you say above.
      Probably because it depresses me too much LOL

  2. I couldn’t agree more that ANY day is a good day to set intentions, goals, resolutions, whatever. It does not matter when you start but if you start. My personal goals seem to shift and change along with the year and I’m so ok with that. I have a feeling 2017 is going to be amazing!!!

  3. You know, this is the first year that I really haven’t set any personal goals. I have a vision board (piece of paper) hanging up at my desk with my biz goals but personal–not so much. I’ll get there when the feeling hits.

  4. I am all about priorities rather than goals. I say priorities over intentions because right now, especially, I want to build a life, rather than direct the one that I already have. 😀

  5. Right there with you on letting go. I’m trying to cut my hours at work, trying to take care of ME. But they are fighting me on this. Medical people are so mean to each other.

    Right now, this is my goal.

    I wasn’t going to set goals. But I’m setting this one. I’m making me, my health the priority. I won’t be good at anything if I’m not feeling good.

  6. I love the idea of letting go of goals because they weren’t or aren’t really a good fit, but also not giving up on an intention just because it takes a while to come to fruition. Perseverance is a word that resonates for me, and it’s a good reminder to consider when to persevere and when to move on.

  7. Sometimes you can get caught up in setting goals that really reflect others expectations vs. your own desires. Over the past couple of years I’ve gotten better about setting goals that matter to me, and in turn, I’ve had a better chance of reaching them. I’ve also let go of plenty of goals that in the end just didn’t fit me…and I’m more than ok with that!

  8. My post today was on looking back and learning from 2016 and (because I know I never keep NY resolutions) I chose to have a word for the year again. I find it gives me something to return to regularly – re-group and refocus and to move forward with intention. I love that you’re doing this in little steps too rather than rushing into it Carla.

  10. Carla, I always love what you write but wow, every single reflection mirrors one of my own as I transitioned to 2017.

    I just kept saying, “exactly.” These gems in particular: intention over goals, and letting go of a goal w/out giving up a dream.

    Excellent observations, thank you for sharing.

  11. Carla,
    I’ve had to embrace day dreaming because that’s part of who I am…since I was a kid. It’s not productive in the strict sense of productive, but it does clear the way for getting things done without (with less) distraction. Thanks for the post!

  12. I like the notion “letting go” rather than quitting. I really do think it’s important to re-visit our successes and recognize what’s been accomplished. Especially the ones that weren’t particularly a goal in the first place and they sort of evolved organically.

  13. “Maybe they were fantastic goals which simply no longer served me?” That is fantastic Carla! Also is it a goal or a neglectful pet? Some idea around for years but do nothing to nurture it. I say let it go.

  14. 2016 was the first year I ever set concrete goals. And I failed to achieve most of them. And yet I had one of the most joyful fulfilling years ever. Some of my goals were not aligned with my priorities.

  16. Such wise words! We need to allow ourselves to not always be successful at everything in order to allow ourselves to try new things. Perhaps we can substitute the word success with mindfulness.

  17. As always, you make so much sense, Carla. I appreciate your honesty in sharing how you arrive at certain thoughts/conclusions. And I love your statement about scheduling free time to be bored–amen to that! I’ve taken the one-word approach to my focus for the new year (kindness), but agree that any day’s a good day to change direction/priority/set intentions.

  21. this an interesting article! Also i have got to realize that doing what makes you feel better is good in order to live a stress free life.

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