I’m not really one for setting resolutions with the new year but I do believe in setting goals and intentions.
What’s the difference? It’s probably mostly semantics but I feel that when most people set resolutions they, for example, go from being a couch potato to aiming to be in the gym every day or consistently every week. When they don’t stick to this, they give up. The odd person accomplishes this but most of us do not and would not. It’s like setting yourself up to fail. This does not help us grow and develop.
Goals are easier to set in increments as opposed to one big shebang one time per year.
These are usually practical, attainable things. They help us stay focused on where we wish to grow.
Intentions on the other hand (at least for me) are something you can set for periods of time but are not as specific. They are more like the things you want to feel or give. They leave the door open for a variety of possibilities so that the universe can conspire in your favor to bring to your life what you need aligned with what you want to feel. As cliche as it sounds, it then becomes more about listening to your heart, not your head, and creating the space.
Last New Year’s Eve I got home after being out with some friends and I wrote out my intentions for 2016. I had completely forgotten what I had written until one day I was cleaning up my clipboard on Word. I opened it to see what it was. I want to share it with you because when I read it again I was absolutely floored by what was there and how it has transpired in my life over the past year. It has most certainly helped me on my path of personal growth and development. Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote:
“For 2016 I wish for more comradery and good, relaxed times with friends. I wish for further peace and calm. Natural highs and excitement that come from healthy endeavours like interesting new courses or trips or business expansions or bonding with friends/new loves or simply the joy of watching kitties or puppies. Dear divine make this year the year where I am able to settle into myself and my life and allow the richness that comes from connectedness to pour forth. Help me accept love and give equally as much of it. Help me deepen this peace within so that it may emanate out from me and help others feel more at peace too. Use me for your greatest good and allow me to know when I need to set a healthy boundary and say no so that I am free to say yes where it is your will. Make this the year where I leave the past behind and walk confidently into the new without any baggage knowing that I am free to follow your lead. Make this the year where my focus is loving me and my relationship with you above all else. Taking care of myself and my needs is my number one priority along with treating myself with tender loving care, the utmost respect, feeding myself healthy foods, exercising my body and my mind, taking breaks when I need to and just quietly listening to what I need and fully respecting that. Make this the year that I allow myself to receive all the abundance that life has to offer me. Make this the year that I remember to put love, joy, peace and gratitude first.”
It has definitely been a process of unveiling over the course of the year because I can be stubborn so I had to learn some challenging lessons to get out of my own way. There were also a few tests I had to pass to convince myself that I was really going to sustain these changes. This didn’t all transpire in the ways I thought it would (as I find is often the case) but it was very much in the ways I needed and I am so very grateful to have come across this again to be reminded about how important is to know where you are headed but also to set your ego aside and allow the divine to do its’ work in your life. It is so much easier and freer this way. You might end up surprised when you incorporate this little ritual into your life at how much more you will grow. I encourage you take the time for you this New Year’s to decide what your intention will be for 2017. I will surely be doing it again.
Dr. Kim Gowetor
Naturopath Sherwood Park
Naturopath Calgary
780-328-9088
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