Happy New Year 2025: Embrace New Beginnings and Discover Your Path to Fulfillment

Setting Intentions for the New Year

Setting intentions for the New Year is a powerful way to navigate 2025 with clarity and purpose. Unlike resolutions, which often focus on specific outcomes, intentions emphasize your desired way of being and the feelings you wish to cultivate. Start by reflecting on what truly matters to you. How do you want to feel? What qualities do you want to embody?

Write down these intentions and keep them visible, perhaps on your desk or as a daily reminder on your phone. This constant presence keeps your focus aligned with your core values.

Additionally, share your intentions with a supportive friend or group. This accountability can enhance your commitment and provide encouragement throughout the year. Remember, intentions are flexible and can evolve as you grow. Regularly revisit and adjust them to ensure they remain relevant. By setting thoughtful intentions, you create a guiding light for your journey, helping you navigate the year with intention and authenticity.

Finding Direction for 2025

Finding direction as you step into New Year 2025 involves aligning your personal ambitions with actionable goals. Begin by envisioning what you truly desire for the year ahead. Is it a sense of peace and balance, or perhaps a breakthrough in your career? Clarifying these aspirations helps in setting a focused path.

Once you've identified your goals, break them down into smaller, manageable steps. This approach makes daunting objectives more achievable and keeps you motivated throughout the year. Additionally, consider seeking guidance from a mentor or engaging with supportive communities that share your vision.

Regularly revisit your plan, adjusting it as needed to stay on course. Remember, it's not about perfection but progress. Embrace the journey with an open heart, and trust that each step, no matter how small, brings you closer to fulfillment. Let 2025 be the year you steer your life towards meaningful and enriching experiences.

Cultivating a Positive Mindset

Cultivating a positive mindset is vital as you navigate the opportunities of New Year 2025. It begins with nurturing gratitude and focusing on the present moment. Start each day by acknowledging three things you're thankful for. This practice shifts your focus from what's lacking to the abundance already in your life, fostering a more optimistic outlook.

Engage in activities that bring you joy and reduce stress. Whether it's spending time with loved ones, practicing mindfulness, or exploring a new hobby, these actions reinforce positivity and resilience. Also, surround yourself with individuals who uplift and inspire you. Their energy can enhance your own and keep you motivated.

When challenges arise, view them as opportunities for growth rather than setbacks. Embrace change with an open mind, and let it guide you toward new possibilities. By fostering a positive mindset, you're better equipped to achieve your goals and create a fulfilling life in 2025.

Building a Supportive Community

Building a supportive community is essential for fostering personal growth and fulfillment in 2025. Start by identifying people who share similar values and aspirations, whether they're friends, family, or colleagues. These connections provide a network of encouragement and accountability, essential for staying motivated on your path.

Participate in local clubs, workshops, or online groups that align with your interests. Engaging with these communities not only broadens your social circle but also exposes you to diverse perspectives and experiences, enriching your journey.

Be proactive in nurturing these relationships. Offer genuine support and celebrate each other's successes. This reciprocity strengthens bonds and creates an environment where everyone feels valued and empowered.

Additionally, consider organizing regular meetups or virtual gatherings to foster deeper connections and ongoing support. By surrounding yourself with a caring community, you build a foundation of trust and encouragement, helping you face challenges and achieve your dreams with confidence and resilience.

You Are Loved

Yes. You. Are.

Love Through Fear

Being afraid does not make you less than or weak. It’s part of life. How you respond to it is on you. What is so beautiful to know is that love can be part of the journey even when you are fearful.

I'll Be Me

Let them judge you. Set boundaries. Walk away. Stay true to YOU!

Grounded In Well-Being

No. We are not obligated to sacrifice, surrender, discount, dismiss, or put our well-being on hold for any reason.

Happy 2024!

Wishing you good health and that all your dreams come true.

You In The New Year

As we approach the new year, perhaps we can pause and hold space for ourselves. To reflect on how we think, speak, and act towards ourselves and each other.

Differences And Learning

You can build walls of fear to hold out what you don’t understand or agree with. Or your can open the window to your soul, the door to you heart and listen, let in, and learn.

Love Light

What is truly causing you discomfort about your situation? What is holding you back from speaking up or acting? It’s not uncommon to feel not enough or to make unbalanced comparisons or to resent or to be jealous. That pattern of thought and feeling is low-frequency. It’s negative and you know it. You know it by how you feel as you go down that rabbit hole. However, in those moments, you can switch on the highest of frequencies - LOVE. You can bring light to how you are feeling. You can be compassionate with yourself and nurture your well-being. There are endless things you can do from looking in the mirror and telling yourself, “I love you.” to meditation to taking a walk to calling that friend who always makes you laugh to dancing in your space to diving into your work or a hobby. Shine your love light on your insecurities. 

Patience With Pain

This may seem counterintuitive. When we hurt, we just want it to end. This is not a suggestion for simplicity or easiness. Pain is a natural experience of life just as love is. Sit with it, but no need to be stuck in it. Lean into it, learn from it, and then leave it. Allow yourself to feel it. Allow yourself to mourn. Allow yourself to heal. Pain becomes what you make it. It can become an excruciating lesson or it can become debilitating suffering. The choice is always yours.

Don’t ask yourself, “How long will this pain last?” but instead, gently ask yourself, “What do I need in this moment to heal?” 

Setting Intentions

Limiting beliefs yield a limited life. Your fear of failure/judgment tricks you into believing you can’t, you shouldn’t, you’re not enough, you’re not worthy. So, you settle for less than, for comfortable, for safe. There is no growth, but rather, the illusion of progress. Why? Because, “It’s better than nothing.” However, being consciously aware of abundance, endless possibilities, and infinite love can shift your mind’s mantra to, “I am worthy of my magnificence!”

Be

Courageously and lovingly tap into your authenticity and allow yourself to be exactly who you are.

A Love In Progress

Shift your mindset. See all that you do and all that you are as a love experience. Too often, we limit what we can do and who we can be, because we label it as work. It may sound like word play, but think about you “feel” when you are forever referring to learning, healing, adventuring, or changing as work.

Perhaps when it comes to your well-being, it’s less about putting in the work and more about putting in the love.

The Lounge Podcast - Ep.3 How Are You?

Episode 3 is here!!!

The coronavirus is real and so will be the tough times that lie ahead. However, this is also an opportunity for you to go within. Will you?

Daily Moment of Awareness [10.14.2019]

Moments of awareness shared with you

Maybe it’s not work. Maybe it’s not grueling. Maybe it’s not exhausting.

Maybe….it’s necessary.

When you consider making change in your life, do you cast a negative shadow on the experience? Like, before you even take a step? Think about how you characterize what you need to do or what you are trying to achieve. The more you paint it in a negative light, the more mental blocks you create to get in the way. As if you needed any more excuses.

When you reflect on areas of your life that you believe to be unhealthy or in need of a healthy dose of change, it is helpful to think and speak about the change in a grounding and benefiting way. Ask for the effort and energy needed to move forward. Allow lessons along the way. Be patient with yourself. Say, “Thank you.” for the opportunity.

You affect the process of change by your attitude about change. See it as necessary and welcome it as part of your growth.

Daily Moment of Awareness [10.10.2019]

Moments of awareness shared with you

Today was a day filled with gifts.

It began with breathing in a beautiful morning and deepening my awareness in meditation. Then a 9+ mile run through a blissful autumn scene. Followed by a calming, restorative float session. And culminating with reiki and a full body massage.

My mind was clear. My heart was open. My soul was shining. My body was rejuvenated. My whole being was filled with gratitude.

It is good for your spirit to love and care for yourself.

Daily Moment of Awareness [10.1.2019]

Moments of awareness shared with you

I have been enjoying a pretty steady ritual of daily morning meditation, followed by reading, then a run, then some social media work and then….well, whatever I need to do in the moments following.

Today was completely lopsided for me. I was up super late and basically, so my sleep schedule was totally messed up. I actually laid in bed until about 5p. Though I was feeling conflicted about some stuff, unmotivated, and annoyed that I allowed the day to go by, something happened.

I told myself it was ok to deviate from the plan. I recognized I could still accomplish what I do in the mornings, in the evening too. In that moment, I felt ok about not feeling ok. But I also become mindful that making healthy choices to boost my energy, clear my mind, and nurture my well-being are available to me in every moment - not just the morning time.

So, I sat up. I scheduled some social media posts. I leaned into my mediative practice. I read. I got a quick run in. I showered. And I even ran out for some quick fall knick-knack shopping.

Even when things feel off, you can still make choices to align yourself with well-being.

Fear Is Not A Validation

People hear what you say. People see what you do. But people do not experience your life experiences as you do.

Furthermore, we often dial down or even hide our truth. The deep, core experience dancing in our souls and warming our hearts. For as real as it feels to us, we still try to make sense of it. We question it and doubt it. There are so many reasons why we do this and it all points back to fear.

How much do you reveal in your moment to moment? 

We tell people what we think they will accept. We show people what we think they will accept. We surrender to fear. We tell ourselves we have difficult choices to make, but what that really mean is we have tradeoffs to make. The tradeoff is our authenticity for someone else's acceptance. Why? Because we allow fear to be a validation for how we choose to live.

Fear is NOT a validation.

words on image: Michael Barata / image: Jez Timms

How You Frame It

Your inner dialogue greatly influences your mood, your behavior, and your outlook about life.

If you are forever re-running something painful from your past in your head, don’t be surprised when the emotions associated with that experience are what you feel. If you doubt yourself or harshly judge yourself, don’t be surprised when you feel “less than.” If you are always giving into fear and telling yourself, “I just couldn’t do that.” don’t be surprised when you don’t make progress.

If you are going through a challenge, how you think and talk about it, matters. A lot! How you frame it is how your whole being responds to it. If you refer to your life (experiences) in a negative and/or defeating way, you will attract more negativity and defeat and feel negative and defeated.

It’s not magic. It’s not being naive. It’s not ignoring the work. It’s all about taking a healthy approach to your life in every moment. Everything you could ever feel or give begins within YOU.

If you’re hurting, acknowledge the hurt, and tell yourself you are healing. If you’re lost, acknowledge being lost, and tell yourself you’re learning. Of course, reinforcing this healthy mindset with healthy behaviors in healthy environments will also help.

words on image: Michael Barat / image: Pixabay

Comfort Is Quicksand

Think about those mornings when every inch of your bed just hugs you? The sheets and blankets have created the perfect temperature, that you almost feel one with them. Your pillow is a soft cloud for your heavy mind.

What else is going here? That’s right. Your comfort is holding you back from beginning your day. Exercising. Meditating. Eating a heathy breakfast. Spending some meaningful time with someone - or even with yourself.

Comfort denies new experience. Comfort ignores creativity. Comfort stunts growth. Comfort delays learning. Comfort teams up with fear to stop you from: exploring, going further, looking more intently, being curious and courageous, and yes, they stop you from living divinely and loving deeply.

Comfort is best experienced as a flowing reminder that you are living. However, it can also be a stagnant stop.

words + words on image: Michael Barata / image: Lisa Fotios