We are almost at the end of the year, and it’s time to welcome in a new year, and take inventory of the last 12 months. I love the new year because with it always seems to come this magical potential in the air that anything is imaginable the coming year. With the start of a new cycle upon us, we have a portal of possibility to start fresh, redefine our lives, and cast our vision for the life we choose to live this coming year.
Casting your Vision into the New Year
At the new year, we resolve to make changes, set intentions of how we want to live our lives, and we make a decree that this year will be different. As much as I love the idea of making resolutions and setting intentions, I often find that these declarations are lost after a few months. Often this is because the resolutions are not grounded and rooted in a resounding ‘why’.
These practical steps below will help you define your dreams, get clear on your goals and actually take action to grow toward them. I personally love creating like this in sacred space, so if you feel called, set up your sacred space or altar to support the work you’re about to do.
Take a moment to meditate, light a candle, burn some incense or herbs and get yourself grounded. Have a pen and journal ready because you’re going to brainstorm and write lots of things down.
1) What is your vision?
What do you want your next year to look like? Don’t rush this step- take time to really meditate, visualize and feel what you are being pulled toward. Feel this pull in every single cell. If your vision is not compelling enough, it won’t translate into actual action and drive to make it come to fruition.
Visualization is an incredibly powerful tool. Sit with your eyes closed and envision what you want for yourself. Is it a new job? Is it becoming fit? Is it cutting out sugar? Is it doubling your income? Is it maintaining an orderly home? Is it going on a vacation? Are you pregnant and visualizing a gentle and peaceful birth? Whatever it is, it must feel compelling and you must be pulled toward it.
2) What is the Reason?
Knowing your ‘why’ is vitally important to keep your vision and goal alive. Why do you want this vision for your year? You’ll need a pen and journal for this as you’re going to write your reasons 3-4 whys deep. Just stick with me, I’m going to walk you through a hypothetical example to better understand:
What is your vision for the new year?
To leave the company I work for to start my own business.
Why do you want to do that?
Because I’m sick of putting in hours to build someone else’s company and dreams.
Why?
Because ever since I was a kid I wanted to work for myself.
Why?
Because I watched my dad work for a company he hated his whole life and was miserable.
And why don’t you want that for yourself?
Because I want to provide a life for my children where I am happy, autonomous and can teach them how to create a life they want to live.
And so there you have the deep down truth that will propel you to keep moving forward. Building your own company “because you don’t want to work for someone else anymore” isn’t going to carry you very far. But when you’re doing it for your children, that will carry your goal and keep your vision alive.
3) What Are Your Rituals to Support Your Vision?
Now that you know your vision and your why, you need to figure out what your rituals are going to be to support it. Our rituals define us. I’m not talking about the intentions setting rituals you might do on a new moon; I’m talking about your daily rituals- the small things that we might be completely unconscious of. I was recently listening to a Tony Robbins lecture and he said if there’s an area of your life you’re not happy with, take a look at your daily rituals around it.
So let’s say your vision for the new year is to get into physical shape, you’ll need to start looking at your daily rituals or habits as soon as you wake up in the morning. And you walking bleary eyed into your kitchen, making coffee and eating a leftover bagel? You might need to start changing those morning rituals… instead upon waking you go straight to your yoga mat, or sit in meditation, or instead of coffee and a bagel you make yourself a smoothie.
Brainstorm what rituals you can change throughout your day TODAY that can start supporting your vision.
4) Review it Everyday
This is so important! So often we cast visions and set intentions and then we never think about them again. If you are serious about this vision, you need to come back to it everyday, and take daily action on bringing it about. Write your vision on your bathroom mirror. Affirmations are great! Write yourself little love notes around your home that continually encourage, remind and excite you to move toward your goal.
Of course there are forces at work behind the scene on a vibrational level, but we can’t rely solely on God or the Universe to take care of everything… “Trust in God but tie up your camel” as the saying goes. We need to take action, and build rituals that are propelling us forward in our growth and progress.
Wishing you so much love, beauty, health and wealth this coming year and into the next!