Happy New Year and Welcome 2022!

You may have read my 2021 year in review, but if not, take a moment to see what last year brought and how I am taking that with me into 2022.

I am not one to set a ton of goals. I am much more intuitive in nature and find that goal setting, in the traditional sense, focuses more on how we can “improve” ourselves as if we aren’t already perfect in this moment. If you need someone to give you grace and allow you to savor the moment, here I am. IF you want to make small changes for the betterment of your life, so that you can enjoy the present moment more, then let’s talk about how to do so in a gentle and loving way. If you feel completely overwhelmed in this moment and the last thing you want to do is think about goal setting for next year, honor that and don’t worry about a “resolution”. It’s perfectly wonderful to surrender to what is and have faith that you will do what you need to when the timing is right.

In fact, if I could impart any kind of wisdom on you at all, it would be to focus on giving yourself lots of love and grace this year. Focus on following your joy and let go of “shoulds”.

Now that I have gotten that disclaimer out of the way, I wanted to share a little of what I’ve been feeling over the past few weeks. Instead of setting goals to achieve each year, I generally think of how I want to feel and come up with a word related to that feeling. In 2018, my word was radical self care. I know that is 3 words but it’s a sentiment vs an actual word. That year was pretty life changing for me. I believe 2019 was expansion and I do not remember shit from 2020 and 2021. The idea of this word is to imagine how I want to feel for that year. One of the keys to manifesting is to imagine how you want to feel vs what you want to do.

For 2022, my word is action.

Over the past 2 years, I’ve spent a lot of time in my head. A lot of us probably have since we spent much of these years inside, away from the ones we love. I am grateful for it because I have had a LOT of time to confront limiting beliefs that have haunted me for a life time. Feelings of not fitting in and of not being good enough are just a few of the wounds that I’ve had to confront and heal through therapy, journaling, and a disciplined meditation practice. I am tired, though. My brain drives me crazy because it is overactive and my indecisiveness holds me back from experiencing life. This is why I picked the word Action for 2022. I want to take action in a variety of ways.

1. I want to create more. I don’t mean I want to take more pictures, in fact, I am NOT going to do a 365. I have attempted one for several years but I find that I am so focused on taking a picture each day that I don’t give myself time to actually create. Instead, I want to be intentional about when I pick up my camera and how I use it. I did set a goal to take a monthly self portrait, something that is a part of my action plan. I want to focus on creating self portraits and other images that take more thought, more planning, and more action. 
2. I want to be more resourceful. In the past, when I need something, I buy it. I don’t take the time to see if I can use what I already have. Some examples of this are photography courses, photography gear, clothing, etc. I would like to try to master what I already have vs always wanting more. This is going to be hard for me because I love to learn, but my intention is to not buy a photography workshop in 2022, but instead, use the information I already have and take action via practicing. Side note, I do have a year subscription to creative live so I have access to the classes there. 
3. I want to take my time and I want to be in the present moment. I tend to rush through things, hurriedly moving on to the next activity without savoring the one I am in. As an enneagram 7, I am always out to consume more because I have FOMO. I want to be more selective about what I do and in doing so, be able to spend more time on the choice I make.

That’s it! It doesn’t seem like much but  I know that putting this into practice is going to be difficult for me. I am going to against my own nature to achieve these things which is the point! The trick to achieving these goals is to give myself a lot of grace and having a set point, like the portkey in Harry Potter. When I get off track, coming back to my portkey and refocusing on the things that I know are simple.

 

Tips for finding your own word.

 

1. Get to a quiet space with little interruption.
2. Take out your journal and review your year. What lessons did you learn? What was the overall theme for 2021?
3. From there, what do you want to put into practice for 2022? What’s one thing that you can master in the coming year?

 

The key to implementing change is to set yourself up for success. Make changes very minimal and easy to come back to when you stray. Don’t expect perfection, but instead, allow yourself to flow back towards your goal. Be gentle with yourself and remember, this is an act of love for yourself, not another opportunity to beat yourself over the head.

Above all else, remember that you are perfect in this moment. Both your character assets and flaws are apart of you and should be embraced. We are here to learn and grow, but doing it in any way other than loving is detrimental to our health. Be gentle and kind with yourself.