Just before the ball drops on December 31 and the new year begins, take the time to evaluate what truly matters in your life.

Are there aspects of your life that you feel has been neglected by you?

Is there anything you would like to improve?

Are there new things that you would like to explore?

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the practice of New Years’ resolution and you all created new lists. List of goals that you promised to yourself to follow through, just to find yourself after a few months slipping from your schedule and eventually going back to your old patterns and behaviors. We all know about the new diet plan to lose weight, the new gym membership to stay fit, money management to get out of debt and save money, and so on.

The New year provides us a clean slate, a hope that is allowing us to erase all our mistakes, behaviors, patterns. It provides us the hope of seeing a better version of ourselves, to us the successful, accomplished person that we always wanted to be and eventually be happier. We are starting very motivated trying to tackle almost every life area in our life. Most of the changes are drastic and forcing us to change a lot in a short time, and in my opinion, this is the main core issue.

We are setting too many goals, too many changes in our lifestyle that eventually triggers our Ego to protect us from ourselves and he is taking the reins and leading us back to the old known ground.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I do believe that we need goals to improve ourselves and grow. The trick is to have the main goal as a direction, but the speed should be moderated with small changes.

Allowing us to accommodate the change, having this new routine be part of our life till we don’t feel that it’s new. When we feel the “new” is part of us, then we can go ahead and implement another change in our life, adding another new behavior.

This progress, although can be slower than the traditional one, allows us to run long-distance and eventually to achieve our goals and dreams.

So, if you want to have a healthier diet and to lose weight, don’t change it all. Don’t eat only veggies, drink lots of water, exercise every day, eat only 8 hours out of 24. You can keep up with this so much, till your body and your Ego will try to protect you from this drastic change.

Try instead to reduce processed food and add more veggies. Keep your meals balanced. Go walk three times a week and drink water. Once you are accustomed to this new routine you can cut more of the food and add a new sport to your life. Start small and build yourself up. This way you are not under stress, it’s manageable, allowing you to accomplish small goals and eventually achieve your new years’ resolution.

Consider this New year’s resolution list to invest in yourself mentally and spiritually. Many people are skipping this part and focus only on the physical aspects of their life. What matters is our internal psychic that should be nourished to see ourselves flourish and grow. Invest in yourself by asking the right questions and doing things that you never did.

Here are some ideas to explore:

• Try to do soul searching and find who you are on the soul level, so you will understand yourself better.
• Surrender something you need to let go of in your life- bad behavior such as anger or an unhealthy relationship.
• Show your loved ones that you adore and appreciate them. You can express it in different ways; writing, saying, doing, and caring.
• Have a date with yourself, absorb the silence, and disconnect from social media. Read a book, write a journal, think and plan your future, cook something new, go for a walk, treat yourself to massage, and so on.
• Serve others more- try to volunteer, help a friend or a family member. The giving act is very empowering.
• Deepen your spiritual connection- do Yoga, meditation, walk in nature.
• Pray- to God/universe/ angels/Divine -the name is up to you but believe that there is something bigger than you.
• Spiritual rituals- light candles, clean energy, use crystals.
  Read books – there is so much to explore and learn.
• Join a spiritual group that is safe and can lift you. It can be an institutional religious group or even an online spiritual Facebook group.
• Listen to your favorite music.
• Take energy healing sessions- one on one or take a course.
• Learn something new all the time- it will keep your brain active and learning.
  Search your purpose, and once found, follow it.
• Learn to be happy- it’s a skill!

Happy New Year, and I hope all your wishes will come true!