New Year, New You!

Hello wonderful readers,

Happy Monday, but more importantly, Happy New Year!!!!

I hope you all had a beautiful week celebrating the holidays and ringing in 2018! It's crazy that it is already January 1st, 2018. (I had to delete 2017 and write in 2018 since I am not used to using the 8 in the date yet!)

So now that we all are officially in 2018 and gearing up for a great year, I want to dedicate this post to goal setting and intention setting. I have been setting goals and intentions for awhile now, but I feel I always have room for improvement, so if you have any pointers, I would love to hear your advice and what works for you when you set goals and intentions. I would also love to have you share one or all of your goals and intentions for 2018 in the comment section below! I love reading your comments and your goals might help another person reading this blog set their own, so please share below.

Let's get into goal and intention setting for 2018!

I am giddy excited that this new year has begun, because 2017 was an extremely tough year for me. I will be honest with you, 2017 was possibly one of my least favorite years in my life thus far. 2017 for you might have been similar to mine, or it might have been the best year of your life. Regardless of how your year went, I am a strong believer that everyone can benefit from setting goals and intentions to make 2018 a great and better year.

Since I love keeping things nice and organized, I will make a list on how I like to set goals and intentions. I will even share some of goals for 2018 at the end of this post.

So let's get started! (cue the Black Eyes Peas song!)

1. To start, pat yourself on the back for taking the time, reading this blog post, and working on yourself to set yourself up for a successful year! This is not an easy task, but it is a necessary one to get real and honest with ourselves to create growth and achieve our dreams and desires.

2. Grab a piece of paper and your favorite pen. Yes, your favorite pen, marker, or pencil that makes your handwriting look awesome! We all have that one favorite writing utensil. Grab that one to write down your goals. Notice I said writing utensil. I believe putting pen to paper and seeing your goals in your handwriting verses typing them out makes a big difference. You are taking the time to craft these intentions, and they are specific to you, just like your handwriting.

3. Sit in a spot you feel comfortable, safe, and inspired. That might be at your kitchen table, in your living room, at your local library, or at your favorite coffee shop. Maybe even grab your favorite drink and put on some light music that will set a nice tone for you. Setting goals will take some time, so I want you nice and comfortable while doing this.

4. Now that you are nice and comfortable in your space, take some time to reflect on this past year. Yes, I said reflect on 2017. We need to look into the past year in order to set ourselves up for a good new year.
Questions to ask yourself about 2017:
What obstacles did I face last year?
What have I overcome in the past year?
What did I learn from these obstacles?
Who came into my life in this past year?
Where did I travel in 2017?
Did any major changes happen last year? Positive or not so positive?
What did I learn from these changes?
How have a grown physically, emotionally, spiritually in the past year?
How have these obstacles shaped me into who I am today?

Take some time to look into your answers and see if there are any trends or commonality showing up. We will use these answers to write our goals for this year, so keep them close by.

Some of the answers to the questions might bring up painful or joyful sensations. Allow these sensations to sit with you. Sometimes stirring up the past can serve as a powerful reminder of who we once were, and how strong we are now for achieving what we have.
But please do not dwell and reside in the past.
Remember, you are not what you struggle with, and you deserve a beautiful, bright future.

5. Now that we looked into our rear view mirror for a moment, let's come back to the present moment and ask ourselves some questions.

What are you working through right now?
What obstacles are you currently facing or going through?
What are you dreading most right now? What are you fearful about right now?
What are you looking forward to most right now?
What do you love most about your life right now?
What are you holding onto right now that is no longer serving you?
What habits can you let go of right now?
What good habits do you want to continue in the new year?
What makes you laugh right now?
What is energizing you right now?
What is stealing your energy right now?
What is sitting heavy on your heart right now?
What is your biggest motivator right now?
What do you want to change about your life?
How do you feel right now?

Take some time and reflect on this set of answers.
Is there any trends or common ground in these answers? Does the answers sit well with you, or do you want to create a large shift in your life?

Allow these present moment answers to be fuel for setting your intentions for this new year.

6. Let's have some fun and think of what we want in 2018. Dig deep and keep the answers from the above questions in mind, or close by, to serve as your reminder what occurred last year and what you want right now on January 1st, 2018.
Do not be afraid to dream big and imagine the best life you want to manifest.

Questions to ask yourself about 2018:What do you want most in this new year?
How can you add more of what you love in the new year?
How can you be less stressed and more positive in this new year?
How can you add more laughter into your life in the new year?
Who needs to be by your side this year to accomplish your goals?
What do you need to dedicate more time to in the new year?
What do you need to spend less time on in this new year?
What books do you need to read this year?
What and who do you need to let go of this year to create more space to be the best version of you?
Where do you want to travel in 2018?
What is something new you want to try this year?
What new memories or traditions do you want make in the new year?
What are your dreams and how can you accomplish them this year?
Most importantly, WHO do you want to be in 2018?

Are there any trends in the answers above? How are you feeling now that you are asking yourself what you want in this new year?
My hope is that you are feeling excited and optimistic about this new year. View this year as a clean slate. What was is no longer and your possibilities are endless. It is never too late to live the life you want to live. 

Please note I did not ask one question about your weight or the number you want to see on the scale. I know goal and intention setting can involve physical achievements or becoming healthier in certain departments, and I respect that if that is something you are working toward to be the best version of yourself. I would ask that you try and accomplish these goals and aspirations in the healthiest way possible. Please be patient with yourself and remember to love and respect your body in every stage it is in.
I would like to remind you of this - The number on the scale does not define your self worth.

You are perfect the way you are.
You are beautiful exactly how you are right here, right now. 

Please re-read the statement above as many times as you need to to understand and know it in your heart.

7. So we have now reflected on the past, present, and future, and asked yourself some tough questions, It's time to set our goals and intentions for 2018. We have looked into the deepest parts of our being and put everything on the table; so write your goals, right now!

Allow them to flow freely out of you.
Do not worry about the wording or if it sounds "cliche".
Put the pen to paper and write from your heart.
Get specific. Write down exactly what you want and how you will accomplish it.
You know what you want for this year and do not be afraid to write it down.
If categorizing your goals would help you write them, please feel free to do so.
Know you do not have to share your goals with anyone if you do not want. Or you can share them with the world if you so desire. It is completely up to you.
Know your goals and intentions for 2018 can and will change.
This document is going to live and change with you.
What you want now can and will change as you continue to grow and excel.
8. Now that you have all of these beautiful intentions for 2018, put them somewhere you can see them daily. This might be in your bathroom, kitchen, car, or office desk. Allow them to be visible for you to see and remind yourself what you want and will achieve this year.
Frame them so they are kept nice and clean if that interests you.

Some of my goals and intentions for 2018:-I will spend more time with my husband, Riley, our family and friends. We will laugh more and create new lifelong memories.
-I will love more deeply and tell my loved ones exactly what and why I love them.
No words will go unsaid.
-I will be episode free.
-I will learn my triggers and what sets me off for not feeling well.
-I will pray daily and seek a deeper understanding with my religion.-I will support my husband more authentically as he takes on new challenges and positively influences the lives of others.
-I will minimize my closet by 50% or more of its items. As I minimize my closet, I will continue to minimize the other rooms in my home to create less stress and more time for what I truly love.
-I will travel outside of Wisconsin in the new year.
-I will continue to write a blog post weekly on Mondays. I will write and share what is weighing on my heart and soul.
-I will continue to deepen my yoga practice. Not just my physical Asana practice, but my meditation practice and the other limbs in yoga.
-I will learn to say no when I do not feel the experience or task is honoring my dreams and desires.
-I will surround myself with others who lift me up and share the same morals I do.
-I will walk my beautiful, rescued pup Riley as much as possible.
-I will teach more yoga classes, but more importantly, I will connect more deeply with my students and learn their needs and how to better serve them. I will learn more from my students than they will learn from me.
-I will be a better listener. Instead of listening to respond, I will listen to understand and empathize with the speaker.
-I will spend less time on social media and more time reading. When I do use social media, I will use it to share my story and connect more deeply with others.
-I will connect with others that are traveling through their journey with Multiple Sclerosis and empathize with them and be there for them.
-I will be active daily and move my body in ways that feel good and bring me joy physically and emotionally.
-I will continue to ask myself the hard questions and look for areas of improvement and growth.

I am going to stop there since my list of goals could go on for pages. I did want to share a few of them with you to help inspire and give you some examples to help you when writing your own goals and intentions.

I hope this post has inspired you to set your goals and intentions to make 2018 great. 
Don't forget to share your goals and intentions below if you so wish. I would love to hear them and watch you accomplish each, and every one of them.

Thank you all so much for reading. I cannot wait for all of the new blog content to come in 2018!
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Make a different, light the way, and share your story today.

Namasté.