At the beginning of each year, many people make lists of New Year’s resolutions with the intention to improve, change, let go, reduce, increase, quit, and so on.
Comes February and those resolutions feel too hard to accomplish, have lost their appeal and are usually abandoned. This behavior creates a cycle of guilt, frustration, and disappointment around resolutions that follows us year after year.
For that reason, I’ve stopped making resolutions and instead I pick a theme or word for the year. The theme represents the essence of what you want to bring into your life and serves as your personal reminder of what you want to embrace in this new year.
There is no specific way to set a theme. Sometimes you ‘know’ your theme, other times it’s about identifying what you want to add or increase in your life (creativity, abundance, confidence, movement) or what you want to remove or decrease (stress, emotional eating, addiction).
You need to pick a theme that speaks to you and will enhance your life and your experiencing of it. Once chosen, set the intention to lean into it all year long.
Ready to set your Theme for the New Year?
When it comes to choosing a theme for the upcoming year, these tips will help you in the process:
- Find yourself a quiet place where you will not be disturbed, bring yourself to a relaxed state and enjoy spending this time with yourself. Take a few deep breaths; see yourself connecting with your heart and opening up to your inner self.
- In this meditative space, reflect on what is most important to you, on how you want to live your life. Think about where you are now, and where you’d like to be at the end of this New Year. It may help to go over the various area of your life and ask yourself, “How do I want to feel? What do I want more of in this area? What do I want less of? What do I want to be different?”
- Be open to listening to your inner voice and don’t get distracted or censored by your ego. Write what comes up in your journal.
- Now, you are ready to choose the theme for the upcoming year. It can be a word or a phrase. Maybe the theme comes easily to you, or maybe you are not so sure.
- If you’re struggling to choose a theme, it can be helpful to look at your list and identify the change or shift that will make the most impact in your life were you to focus on it during the year. Then write a word or phrase that captures that essence.
- Make sure you feel connected to your theme. Do you feel happy, good, and excited about it? Then you are connected. When you feel connected to your theme, you are aligned with its essence and you become magnetic to all things related to that essence. If you don’t feel connected, then you may need to review your theme and change it until it feels ‘right’.
Examples of possible themes
Abundance, love, happiness, radiant health, open to opportunities, building connections, embracing fulfilling relationships, success, freedom, space, learning new things, stepping into your powerful self, nurturing a relationship with your inner self, embracing your truth, following your passion, living life more fully, etc.
How to use your theme word
The beauty of choosing a theme is that it simplifies your intentions and helps you be more focused, making it easier for you to connect with it and therefore keep it present in your mind.
Once you’ve chosen your theme, here is what to do next:
- Create a mini vision board where you write your theme and put a picture or a few that represent it. Keep it simple.
- Keep your theme present in your mind by looking at your mini vision board every day.
- Feel aligned with the essence of your theme. This alignment will attract to you ways in which you can bring the theme into your life, inspiring you to take action in ways that feel good, easy and effortless.
- Make sure you take any inspired action that comes your way. Life is always saying “Yes!” to you. So, when something related to your desires comes into your life, don’t push it away, don’t dismiss it, say “Yes!” to it. Be willing to take action and open yourself to receiving.
Setting yourself up for success
Ask yourself what kind of support you need to help keep your theme in your line of sight. Make sure you have someone to support you on your journey and remind you of what’s most important to you.
Enlist someone to keep you accountable, motivated and inspired. It might be your partner, a friend, a family member, a neighbor, or a colleague to name a few options.
Invite them to choose a theme. In this way, you can support and motivate each other to keep moving forward and remain focused.
You can share this blog post with them so they can learn how to choose their theme for the year.
The reality is that when we work alone, we’re more likely to veer off course, make excuses, lower our vibrations, and forget what we promised. Can you relate?
In order to make sure that this year is the year of transformation, find someone that will support you in achieving success.
If you are wondering if there is the right support for you out there, know that there’s always the right support. You need only look for it and then ask for help.
As always I am here to assist you in any way I can to create and enjoy a magnificent life. All you need to do is to contact me.
Happy New Year and New You!