Meaningful Rituals for a New Beginning
Our Daughter Practicing Tree Pose in a Tree
“Your practice does not matter how long its been or why you were away. Its just happy to have you back. Its celebrating your return! The timeframe itself does not matter.”
-Taryne Raine
I love a fresh start. Whether it is a new day or a new year, it’s time to begin again! Lately, I see so much “Blah Blah” about how New Year’s resolutions don’t work. Buzz Kill!
In my experience, they may not be perfect, but New Year’s resolutions do provide us a chance to reflect on where we are in life and re-establish where we want to go.
Personally, I would much rather take some quiet time to point myself in the right direction vs. wandering aimlessly through another 365 days!
The process of setting resolutions helps us to identify what is not working and create greater alignment in the direction of our dreams, passions, and new possibilities.
My most practiced NY resolution is with my “on again, off again” dance partner, sugar!
My ultimate goal is to not eat sugar except fruit and when there is something very special. I have cut sugar out for months at a time, but it always sneaks its little sweet way back into my life. Until inevitably, I wake up one day, and realize that sugar has more control over me than I do. This is when I know it is time to begin again. I have done this all before - the first four days are hard, but after then, I arrive to the place where I hardly crave it.
Sometimes I wonder, “Why do I have to go through those four grueling days again?”
Because there is gold in the practice!
Every time I practice parting ways with my kryptonite, it gets easier, and my commitment sticks a little longer. Over time and with practice, I can say that I have greatly changed my relationship with sugar.
This growth in relationship IS the practice and the goal of setting yearly resolutions.
When we practice tree pose or meditation, it is the same as breaking the habit of sugar. In the beginning, we tend to wobble and lose our balance. Then, we get back up, tucking our foot in, grounding through the standing leg, and finding our focus again. Each time we do this, we get better! It’s in the loss of balance that we learn the balance.
It’s in the wobble that our brain figures out how to balance.
In meditation, we get distracted, our mind wanders, and we practice bringing it back into focus again and again. It's the practice of bringing your mind back that makes the difference in your life.
Patrick and I have a meditation practice of sitting every morning. Sometimes when life gets crazy, we drop it.
As we can see over the years of commitment and falling out of it, the true test is how fast we bring ourselves back to the practice. Each time you restart, you make the muscle stronger. So a failure or breakdown is not really the problem, rather it only becomes a problem if you don’t return to your commitment.
As we step into this new year, I will have grace for myself as a human being that falls down and gets back up. I commit deeper to my practice of coming back to my practice again and again.
Coming back to the practice IS the practice.
The coming back is what makes the pattern stick. The coming back is what changes our brains and creates new patterns to live by.
New Year’s rituals and reflections:
In conjunction with New Year's intentions, here are some of my favorite rituals to make the New Year feel fresh, and remind us that we get to start again each day.
Create space for something new: Clear the clutter somewhere, a drawer, your closet, your desk or your whole house.
Slim the focus: Gaze over your calendar from 2022. What are the activities that supported the life you desire? What are the things that were a waste of your time? With this knowledge go gracefully into the New Year, and use your precious time more wisely!
Cultivate focus: Take two sheets of paper. On the first, write the ways of being that you would like to let go of. On the other sheet. write the ways of being you would like to cultivate in this new year. Burn the “let go of” sheet of paper and artistically create a reminder of what you will cultivate in yourself this year!
Start something: Take a new course, personal coaching, sign up for a retreat. Take action on something that will keep you accountable to yourself and will give you support in reaching your goals.
Rework your weekly schedule: Make your schedule more sustainable! Start by putting in the must haves (work, Dr appointments, etc). Second, put in the things that you are committed to for YOU (meditation,exercise and a time when you turn off each day). Creating a calendar that is sustainable must start with you getting what you need. And only if you have time to care for you can you take on more.
Visualize what you want: Make a vision board, or a mind movie of the life you desire to create.
Practice it: Start a morning ritual of mediation and writing. If you already have a morning ritual, enhance it with a candle, a mantra or adding a gratitude practice.
