Listen to Your Heart This Year

Find a quiet space in your home and sit on a cozy pillow with your legs crossed. Comfortably rest your open palms on your knees and let your fingers naturally curl up toward the sky. Gently close your eyes and softly breathe in gratitude for what remains and slowly breathe out for what has gone of the previous year.

Listen to your heart drum against your chest and feel the ample vibration of your body as you carefully release the tension. Focus on releasing the tension in your face and allow your body to follow. Slowly begin to soften the space between your eyebrows, unclench your weary jaw and gently rest your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Ease the tightness in your shoulders and relax the muscles in your back - ground your sit bones and sink into the earth - allow mother earth to take what burdens your heart and become present with the moment you are in right now - still your mind.

Breathe in deeply, feeling your ribcage expand and the energy warming your soul - breathe out slowly and release positive energy into the air around you. Quiet your mind - like clouds passing in the sky, allow your thoughts to pass, acknowledge them and then let them go. Meditation allows you to let go of what no longer serves you, it cleanses your energy and each practice, each day allows a fresh start. There is no need for a new year to have a fresh start, simply a new day. Everyday is a new opportunity and every breath is another chance to try again. When the feelings of stress or anxiety overwhelm you simply breathe - you will be okay, your journey is divinely guided and paved to unfold as it should - you are exactly where you need to be.

Meditation has deeply inspired my intentions, as it allows me to quiet my mind and listen to my heart - only when we become still do we float. My intentions have always stemmed from my heart and with each blooming year I strive to set goals that inspire greater growth in my mind, body and soul - as our being is like that of a garden and if nurtured properly it will bring abundance and prosperity. Each year is a promise to always follow what sets my soul on fire and to share it with others whose fires have burnt out, because I understand that my path does not exist without the soul of another. We must give to have and have to give - that is the joy of the heart, for what is power without love? To remind myself of the intentions I set for the new year I focus my mind on the present and release the worry of where I was and where I should be - I practice gratitude for where I am. Today promises a joy that yesterday nor tomorrow can bring.

Last year nothing that I achieved was good enough, because it was not where I wanted to be. It might have been far from where I was, but as long as it lingered in my internal rear view mirror and it was not enough. My spirit is very ambitious and strives for greatness - my greatest strength and weakness. I would subconsciously set a destination in my internal GPS and disregard the journey, comparing myself to others’ success and setting an internal timeline in which I had to achieve my goals. No achievement felt grand enough - I would repeatedly burn out like a firefly flickering in the night. I couldn’t comprehend the beauty of where I was because I continuously compared it to where I aspired to be. I allowed the future to steal my joy of the present moment.

Last year unhealthy habits strained my path - keeping me stuck in old patterns that no longer served me. Causing me to restart the goals I had set for myself over and over again like drawing circles in the sand. I set many goals that I did not achieve and dreamed many dreams that did not come into existence. I did not meet the expectations others had for me and that I had for myself, becoming too ashamed to get out of bed or show my face. I wrote and daydreamed about my goals more than I made them happen - out of fear of failure and fear of success. I lowered the standards I set for myself with flimsy excuses, promising myself tomorrow, but tomorrow never came, instead, the new year did.

However, this year I am silencing the noise of a fleeting success and listening to my heart, as it will pave the path for the most fulfilling success. My intention is to walk my journey in serenity, and cherish each stone on my path and every footprint along the way. My intention is to overcome the old habits and patterns that no longer serve me and align with who I am to become the highest version of myself. Lastly, my greatest intention for the new year is to believe in myself and start taking feasible action to achieve every goal that I set for myself - prepared to try again and again until I succeed.