Have you set an intention for 2023 (free track)

Happy new year! 

It's January, a time resonant with new beginnings, new starts. Everything that was next year, suddenly becomes this year.  A new baby? A big birthday?  An adventure?  A new job? What's happening for you this year, what direction do you want to travel? Take a moment to reflect on that today, and in the coming days. 

If you are about to set yourself a new year’s resolution.

Stop! And just think about it for a moment.

Some people find the first day of the new year a great time to start. Historically, if that’s been you skip to the last part of the blog.  But if, in the fog of post-Christmas, you fall at the first hurdle, give yourself a bit of respite. Take a breather. It’s always harder to tackle change when you are recuperating.

Instead, on the first of the month consider January’s namesake, Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, doorways, endings. Imagine not just January the 1^st but the whole of January as a time to reflect, shift, direction, set goals and prepare to enlist the support you need to fulfil those goals.

Janus’ god power is to look into the past and the future at the same time. Through reflection we can find aspects of our lives, that perhaps just need tiny adjustments to instigate profound change.  Tumbling out of December with your eyes blinking in the dust of Christmas and catapulting yourself into a new diet, new routine at the gym is not going to reap the benefits you want.  Instead do this:

(for those of you have skipped to the last past read on)

1. Assign January, the whole month, as a time of reflection and resetting.
2. Set aside some time to look back on the last year, what worked for you what didn’t
3. Where do you want change to happen in your life, really think about it.
4. Use the track with this blog to imagine stepping through the solstice and harnessing the light to illuminate changes and adjustments need to be made. They may be tiny, and become unconscious, but setting the intention for those changes sets you on a path to incorporating them into your life.
5. You can create visuals. I have a piece of A4 card that I paste words, images onto every year. And it’s remarkable how many of them I now have in my life or which are in motion.
6. Set small conscious goals, that head towards your bigger goal. For example, I have this:

• I've got not energy today – a walk, or 10 minutes of light weights in the clothes I’m in
• Not got much time – quick routine at home
• Got some time – off to the gym with kit and swimming costume.

All of these points target my goal of getting stronger after an injury that stopped me running or playing tennis.

7.  Always remember that change is not linear, and every day can be a new beginning.