A Joyous New Year?
One thing we all have in common is that we want the New Year to be happy, healthy and filled with exciting new opportunities. Creating the type of life that bubbles with enthusiasm requires more than short-lived resolutions and goals. Becoming more joyful requires listening to our inner lives, being at peace with God, and placing effort into the relationship we have with ourselves.
Today's column offers ten valuable tips that can help you have a more creative and fulfilling relationship with yourself and life in this New Year: Become observant and be a witness to yourself. Observe your breathing, the way you hold yourself, the actions you take when alone or with others. The more watchful you become, the more conscious you become. It is only when we are conscious that we are then able to become free to make new choices.
Treat yourself with respect and make careful deliberate decisions that feel right to the core truth of who you are.
Listen to your intuitive heart and really hear what this divine part of yourself has to say. Then honor your wisdom and take action in the direction of your truth.
Stay focused on what's most important to you by putting personal priorities on the front burner.
Ask yourself what you can do each day to invest in improving the quality of your relationship with yourself.
Make time for yourself, noticing what you need and giving it to yourself.
Make yourself happy and more filled with joy by choosing actions that feel good to you-both in the present moment and in the long-term. Actions that feel good only short-term, but cause guilt, grief or regret long-term may provide a moment of comfort, but will not serve to increase the overall level of joy available to you in this life.
Talk to yourself. Open up and clearly articulate the thoughts that typically run through your mind. Some people find it helpful to see them in writing such as in a journal; where others find it beneficial to talk it out with another loved one or even in front of a mirror. Voicing the negativity that tends to spin in your mind can help you notice what is robbing your energy and joy. Oftentimes, just the action of bringing harassing thoughts out into the open helps disempower them. This may leave you free to use your energy to embrace positive ideas that will assist in any resolution that is needed for discovering thoughts that affirm the beauty of self and life.
Taste and savor your food. Bringing greater consciousness to your eating brings you into greater connection to your body, to the planet and to the universe at large. Conscious eating is powerful because it expands awareness of our right to true enjoyment and our right to belong to this world.
Become conscious of what is in your closets, drawers, and storage spaces. Letting go of excess clutter and redundant clothes, tools, and objects can raise energy levels to new heights. Clearing space is a sign you are ready to open up to new potentials!
No matter where you are in this New Year, you have the ability to make changes in your life and make constructive choices when opportunities arise. Best wishes to you! John T. Catrett, III