Instead of New Year's resolutions, try THIS
For most people, life experience has already convinced them that New Year's resolutions don't work...
But there's something that DOES.
There's a program that came out in the early 2000's called "Couch to 5k". Now, I'm not here to talk about that program or exercise, but there's something very powerful we can learn from people's experience with it. As the name implies, it could take almost anyone who was living a "couch" lifestyle and have them spend 30 minutes a day and be running a 5k in 9 weeks or less.
I had a friend go through the program. When she started out, she said she was 40 pounds overweight, and not only did she get to 5k, over the next several months, she sparked a whole lifestyle change, became fit, and underwent an amazing physical transformation.
As we head into the New Year, I've been thinking a lot about resolutions. Why is it that one person just decides one day that they want to run a 5k and reinvent their self-image, and another person maybe hears the same thing and says, "I could never do that."
If you look at your life, I'm sure you can come up with all kinds of examples of people who just decide one day, enough is enough! And they go and get fit or start meditating or eating healthy or maybe they decide they're going to start a business or find love or any number of things. And I'm sure you can come up with all kinds of examples of people who WANT to do those same things but don't seem to have any success or seeming ease accomplishing them the way others do.
You can almost feel a difference in these two types of people. One person wakes up to a new possibility and decides it's going to happen. The other person dreams about a new possibility but doesn't feel like they're the kind of person for whom that's possible.
On some level, we all KNOW that everything is possible. We KNOW we live in a universe of infinite possibility and abundance and that we can become any version of ourselves that we'd like. We KNOW we can create any experience of reality that we can imagine, and yet... we don't always FEEL like anything is possible - for us.
If you're the first type of person who can just decide to get off the couch and start running marathons, New Year's is a great time to take a close look at your life and what you're doing and what you have and what you want to create in the New Year. You get clear on your vision, you decide, and you go do it.
But if you're the second type of person, you probably don't even pause to make resolutions every year because experience has shown you that they don't work.
Most adults don't make New Year's resolutions.
I heard that recently and it kind of made me sad. Most people have grown cynical and resigned to whatever their "couch" happens to be.
If you're the first type of person, you're probably excited about the New Year and are already planning out a year of magic, adventure, and abundance.
But I've been thinking about the second type of person. I could do a bunch of "ra ra" motivation stuff and inspire you and coax you to embrace the magic and possibility of life, but as you and every gym that sells annual memberships in January know, motivation and inspiration wear off around January 5th!
So what's really needed in the world right now isn't ra ra motivation, it's getting more people to move from the cynicism of type 2 to embracing the ability to simply DECIDE experienced by type 1.
So back to my friend on the couch who described herself as being 40 pounds overweight. What was her secret? What did she have that the type 2 person was lacking?
Self love.
That's it. That's what so many people are missing. That's the magic ingredient to easily and successfully creating what you want in life. As you increase your love and acceptance of yourself, all that cynicism evaporates. You become confident and powerful and free, and eventually you realize that YOU CAN JUST DECIDE. You can decide to lose weight, get fit, get healthy, start a business, reconnect with that family member (you know the one!), become more generous, start a project, take that trip... whatever you want! There really are no limits. You just have to decide to get up and start a new adventure.
So instead of making a bunch of resolutions this year, what if we all change things up a bit? Instead of saying, "I'm going to lose 20 pounds" and going through that cycle again, what if you love yourself so deeply that your body begins to transform by itself? What if you love yourself so powerfully that you start craving good food and exercise?
Instead of crossing your fingers and "resolving" to be more abundant or start a business or master the Law of Attraction, what if you spend time every day deeply feeling and knowing that "I am worthy." What if you felt that so profoundly that you automatically reconnected with the Universal Flow of Abundance that's around you right now?
And instead of vowing to find love or rekindle relationships, what if you just sink so completely into that aspect of your True Nature that knows, "I am safe, I am perfect, and I am complete" that you simply become forgiveness, acceptance, and love, and allow your relationships to transform around you?
Whether you're a type 1 or a type 2 person, you probably already know that life can be magical. There is an Infinite Intelligence inside you and all around you that can lead you into a life of alignment, abundance, and miracles, but if you want to access it, you have to dive into self-love.
Let THAT be our intention heading into 2021.
Go so deeply into self-love this year that you can't help but create what you want in life. Go so deeply into self-acceptance that your body, mind, bank account, and relationships all spontaneously transform.
Let's do that and create an amazing New Year together.
