I can’t remember the last time I set New Year’s Resolutions. If you’re reading this, you already know resolutions aren’t particularly effective or lasting. Over the last decade, I have experimented with a word of the year and three words—sometimes chosen by me, more often emergent and arising from deep within, always aspirational.
Setting this type of ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ intention is one of the things we did in the Make The Shift to 2021 gathering, a group gathering held for those in my network to transition into the new year clear, inspired, energised, uplifted. Lessons learned, insights and observations were shared, along with some deeper truths, challenges and aspirations. Among the themes that emerged were the importance of connection and the realisation of inner strength and resilience. We are so much stronger and more powerful than we know.
“Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution we can make to our fellow men. ... One person with indigenous inner strength exercises a great calming effect on panic among people around him. This is what our society needs—not new ideas and inventions; important as these are, and not geniuses and supermen, but persons who can "be", that is, persons who have a center of strength within themselves.”
― Rollo May, Man's Search for Himself
Whatever happens in life, it is who and how we are being that matters most. So I hope you'll take some time to set 'being' intentions for the year ahead to bring more of your inner strength and best self forward.
Here's a short reflective process that might help.
Looking back
What did you learn in 2020 about: yourself, others, and the world?
What surprised you the most?
What are you most proud of?
What are you most grateful for?
Looking forward
What do you want your life, your family, your community, your country, and our world to look like and feel like a decade from now?
What 3-6 personal and professional things can you focus on in the next few years to meaningfully move in that direction?
Who do you need to be and become to have made significant progress by this time next year? (If you have a contemplative practice, this may be a question worth taking into deep, inner stillness and/or nature, so the answer can emerge.)
Can you synthesise your answer to the previous question into one to three adjectives or a short, memorable phrase? Or if you are more visual or kinaesthetic, perhaps an image or a fully embodied feeling tone will work better for you. (Whatever the form, this is your being intention.)
Getting present and into action
What do you need to let go of to live into your highest aspirations?
How will you remind yourself daily of your being intention?
In whatever way is meaningful for you, make a commitment to living into your being intention a little more every day.
Remember, “we are the ones we have been waiting for”. Let's do ourselves proud this year.