A Resolution for 2023
New Years is my favorite holiday because I love a clean slate, a time to reflect and set intentions toward something new. I used to draw up big detailed plans for changes to instigate in different areas of my life… and sometimes the days of brainstorming and planning lasted longer than the actual resolutions!
This year I spent a lot of the rainy holiday break making collages. :)
Hope and motivation are beautiful qualities, and making efforts in service of greater wellbeing is one most meaningful parts of life!
And yet an intense focus on being different, being better—especially when it is sourced in "not enough," rather than springing from self-love—can lead us to judge ourselves more harshly, being ashamed of ourselves for our humanity. In the push for a total renovation, we can discount the small but important steps that we’re taking. In the struggle for change, it's easy to forget to give ourselves a smile simply for being who we are and for our courage in navigating our lives up to this moment.
What if our resolution for 2023 was to get to know ourselves more intimately— with the aim of fully inhabiting who we really are?
What if the big new change was not to force ourselves and everything around us to be different, but to embrace this moment as it is, to embrace ourselves as we are?
This is the essence of mindfulness: being willing to live in the present moment with eyes wide open, accepting what is without needing to change anything at all.
Simple as it may seem, this is revolutionary.
As a way of entering the day in peace, I start each day in meditation. As Jon Kabat-Zinn wrote, “Meditation is the only intentional, systematic human activity which at bottom is about not trying to improve yourself or get anywhere else, but simply to realize where you already are.”
Here’s a less-than-two-minute meditation to help bring you home to your present-moment experience:
If you'd like to cultivate the spacious acceptance of yourself and learn to live more fully in the present moment, join me for “Wake Up to Your Life” on January 21, with Quest for Eternal Sunshine, where I'll offer an introduction to mindfulness and meditation, and share easy ways to weave more mindfulness into the fabric of our lives..
I’m also taking an a couple of new clients for individual mindfulness coaching (via phone, Zoom, or outdoors in the Monterey, CA area), so if you’re wanting support in bringing mindfulness and wellbeing to the center of your life, let’s chat!
I'm wishing you ease of entry into this new year
🌊 Katie
My wish for you and me