The time has come again; it comes every year, as we all know it: New years. It’s a time to celebrate, whether that means going out with friends, staying home with family, or counting down the clock wherever you are, until it hits that space in time that we call a new year. Many of us have this ritual instilled in us to create a resolution, and what a beautiful thing it is to vow to ourselves that we will continue to do this or stop doing XYZ. However, we do not always reach the goal we set forth to accomplish, feeling guilty or forgetting about our resolutions altogether. So instead of resolving, we can do something much simpler and more powerful, which will help us understand where we are, who we are, and where we’re going – that is on our path.
Starting fresh for a new year is always a good idea, but what if we lived by a role instead of a resolution?
All the world’s a stage,
William Shakespeare
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts
We are always playing roles, whether or not we see it. What do I mean by roles? I mean, for example, we play the role of the mother, the father, the daughter, the perfectionist, the artist, the writer, the victim, the guru, the student, and the teacher, there are multiple roles we play, and act, perhaps even carry out for the rest of our lives. Why not make a choice this year in the roles we want to let go of and also welcome in?
This year in 2023, or if you’re reading this beyond this year, it suits any day really, that’s why I like this exercise and it can be used it anytime and revised.
- Write every role we have taken part in, the examples I have given can be used if it aligns but tries to reflect on what we have played in the past and even now.
- How does the role look on us? Meaning, does it fit just snugly? Does it make us uncomfortable in a way where we know it’s “growing pains” or is it because we’re forcing something that does not fit us where we want to go or who we want to become?
- What roles do we want to let go of that don’t feel good on us, why do we want to let go of them and how can we let go of them?
- The final part is a flourishing union between letting go and welcoming in for the near year: so, what roles would we like to introduce into our lives that we can with pace, act accordingly?
These 4 simple, but influential steps will pave the way to inner success and freedom.
It’s a refreshing and sacred way to set powerful intentions to declutter our minds, improve our mental health and ease our anxieties. Once we set the seeds into our mind’s garden and we can water it every day, or at least once every few days, we will watch ourselves blossom into these roles, we will find it was with us all along, we didn’t need to do anything but shift how we think, our emotions empower our actions. Emotion is the mind’s mirror. Accept the role and then act as if you had chosen it as a play to act in. It does not mean not being who we are; it means integrating the qualities and values of the roles we want to play in.
I hope this new year brings you all peace, harmony, a feeling of belonging, compassion, and understanding.
Thank you for reading
Neena xx
