Thursday, January 1, 2015

Inhale 2015, Exhale 2014

It is a new year again! I LOVE the feeling of newness and excitement. I just can't help but feel motivated as the year turns over and the energy refreshes me. I feel grateful by reflecting on all of the happiness, and fears, and courage, and LIFE 2014 gave me. I also feel drawn toward the freshness and promise of a new year with so many possibilities. 2015 has this wonderful blank page just waiting for the words I choose to write. It will have some unexpected turns and some surprises. I am sure I will cry some tears and I will lose my patience, but I will be given gifts that I didn't know existed and I will learn wisdom unique to my own place, time, and being.

I hear a lot of negativity about resolutions and what New Year's represents, as this day draws closer. I have a feeling that many of those comments are motivated by fear. Fear of forgetting. Fear of falling short. Fear of losing inspiration. Fear of failing again. How many people don't want to reach for a new goal because they have been there, done that? It didn't work. Fear is a powerful thing. It wants you to stay whipped. It wants to to forget about making goals and dreaming up possibilities. It wants you to feel threatened by your resolutions.

So, what about those possibilities? You have just as much a chance of success as you do failure. Your biggest hopes and your biggest fears have an equal chance of happening. Which ones do you allow to bounce around in your head? Which ones do you feel overwhelmed by? Is it exciting to set resolutions and watch as the outcome unfolds?

Here is the question: What is to lose by setting new resolutions?

The worst that could happen is...? Nothing changes. If you accomplish absolutely none of your resolutions, you would end up exactly as you are today (perhaps even a little wiser), and that's not a failure. But the cool thing is it would be hard to write a list of goals without actually conquering at least one of them. So set your resolutions. And redefine them over and over throughout the year. Goals are cool because they are never set in stone. They are flexible. You are the director and you get to set the direction... or change direction. Resolutions are only scary and threatening if you have forgotten that you are in charge. In charge of your goals and in charge of your LIFE.

The year is going to be filled with unexpected things and brand new opportunities. You are going to change. So many things are not controllable, but the choices we have in each moment are not insignificant. It is time, this first day of the year, to get prepared for the choices we will make and chart the course we would like to take. Don't react to the waves as they come but rather set your sails proactively, in wisdom. The course of your life is driven by your intention.

So, what resolutions do you have for 2015? Are you dreaming of personal changes, career changes, school, family, relationships, discipline? I hope that you have big dreams and are inspired to life fully this year! Please share your thoughts and start the conversation below or send me an email at defytheaverage@gmail.com.

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