Monday, January 2, 2012

A Year Without Resolutions?


January 2. Time for New Year’s Resolutions, right? Maybe not. The past few years I have made very simple resolutions. One year it was to have more fun; one year to dance more; one year to become more active. As I contemplated goals and resolutions for 2012, I thought I might try something different this year, inspired by two blogs I love.

On Zen Habits, Leo writes about giving up goals. This idea makes me uneasy. Isn’t conventional wisdom that unless you have a goal, you will not achieve it? Leo claims you can achieve just as much, maybe more, without goals.

In that spirit, I thought rather than making goals for 2012, I could use a process I found on another blog I love, The Fluent Self. Havi has a practice of saying hello to each month. I used some of her prompts to say hello to the last few months of 2011, and found it so helpful, I’m doing it for 2012 too. I like it because it’s a way of having intentions about a month (or year) while staying open to what comes.

Here are some prompts to consider if you want to say hello to 2012.

How I would like to describe 2012

How I would like to remember 2012

What I am looking forward to

What I am feeling anxious about

What I would like to give 2012

What I would like to receive

And because I can't quite give up resolutions, I have still made one very simple one, which is to focus on staying in the moment more.

How do you approach a new year?

3 comments:

Jennifer R. Hubbard said...

For the past few years, my only resolution has been to slow down, do less, not try to do everything all the time. :-)

carol brill said...

great ideas Julie. A simple tool I love is to write my area of focus on an index card or sticky note...and then look at it 10 or 20 times a day. For instance, instaed of a lofty goal, you write the word, FUN. Looking at the card raises awareness and helps you change or attract that in your life

Julie Owsik Ackerman said...

Jennifer, I love the simple idea of slowing down and doing less. I can always use that reminder. And thanks, Carol, for the FUN index card idea. Maybe mine should say NOW.