30/12/2023
✨To the power of intention, goal setting and small consistent actions✨
Two weeks ago I participated in a workshop in which we were invited to reflect on the year that just passed, and set our goals for 2024.
It was a very enriching experience. Not only for the way it was set up - a women circle that provided a safe space in which we all could share our experience and our hopes and dreams - but also for the reflections that it fostered.
Like many of us, my going into the new year often has come with a list more or less long of “resolutions”, things that I would have liked to improve for the year to come. For me, they usually involved some things health or habits related, which I had quickly thought about on New Year’s eve in order to accompany the traditional midnight toast, and that got quickly forgotten after a month into the new year, just to reappear at each beginning of cycle (Spring.. September.. back to New Year). I never dedicated a real space and time for reflections and to set intentional goals. Even less have I had periodical check in throughout the year. Looking back at 2023, made me realise that, indeed, I have progressed, but also that my progress has been somewhat unfocused. Somehow lacking energy.
2023 has been a year of many challenges for me, a lot of internal work and reflections on how my thoughts and actions impact my reality. At the end of this year, reflecting back on it and the experiences I have lived, I realise that one message keeps coming back to me: the need of intentional, focused and consistent action. When we set goals, when we reflect on the actions that might be needed to get there, and continuously check in with ourselves, we allow our attention and our energy to be focused in a more conscious, intentional way. Which in turns makes each action much more powerful (where attention goes, energy will follow).
In yoga practice this process is also reflected in the concept of vinyasa krama: krama = step; nyasa: “to place”; vi= “in a special way”. It is not enough to simply take a step; that step needs to take us in a certain direction, progressively. We start our practice where we are, and look towards a certain goal. In this way, each step becomes much more powerful, and it allows us not simply to move, but to bring us closer to where we want to go.
So.. I think I am ready to make this my main goal for 2024. Bringing more intention into my year. More conscious direction and continuous check ins. Not to beat myself up in case “the goals” are not reached, but using these goals to give me a clear direction towards which I can focus my energy and my actions. To keep me on track and focused on what I really want and dream for myself. To spot and face all that might come up during the process. And in the process, to know myself better.
I feel a bit nervous as a part of me has always been afraid and resistant to be tied down and “forced” into discipline, but I feel that another part of me really needs this. It’s time to find out 🙂
My wish for all of us for the new year is to find our own direction, the courage to move our first step, the discipline to work towards it and the appreciation for each little step.
With love,
Giulia
