New Year’s Day is one of my favorite days of the year. The other is about six months later on my birthday. Both provide opportunities to look back and dream forward, like check-ins for living the best life I can at this time.

In decades past, I would labor over long lists of detailed goals and diligently track them. As I moved deeper into my forties, I began to experiment with different ways to think about the upcoming year, in particular, Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map, which served me well for a long time.

In 2018, I had an overarching theme of “Release” with the intent of making space for the new. It’s a fascinating process to comb through your physical belongings and feel the pull that has nothing to do with the possession itself, but with a story that’s braided with emotions and memories. The resulting energy that is freed is exponential as things and relationships that no longer align are let go.

This learning in ongoing. In fact, my theme for this year is “Ease” as I continue to sort through and shed old layers of self that no longer serve. To me, this word suggests simplicity and support as well as alignment – the kind of feeling where you know you’re vibrating at your true frequency, a feeling of glowing, attuned essence and deep knowing.

My theme of “Ease” is wide-ranging from nutrition to exercise, home, work, and relationships. It’s aimed at making room for the new, while making new habits uncomplicated, portable and sustainable.

I’ve come to learn that achieving anything we set out to do is less about discipline and willpower and more about making the habit foolproof.

For years, I would wake each morning and engage in an internal debate as to whether I should exercise. Most days I did my work out, but pushing myself out of bed was not the most harmonious way to start the day. Today, exercise in the morning is my default, not a decision to make when I wake. I have associated the feeling of a completed workout with how I want to begin my day. On the days when I’d rather stay in bed, I think about how I’ll feel the rest of the day and I inevitably get up to put on my waiting workout clothes.

We’re faced with hundreds of decisions each day. How do we make the things that make us feel best our default? That’s the type of “Ease” I’m looking to create this coming year.

How about you?

Journal Reflections: How have you signaled the end of a year and welcomed a new one? How have your New Year’s practices changed over time? What feels right to welcome in 2019?

A Clean Slate