The New Year is here and it’s a great time for self-reflection and setting new goals. This is a good time to remind ourselves that our small, daily habits truly add up to big results – and I will be sharing my first hand experience of the benefits of daily meditation and other very positive habits! Sometimes, thinking of all of the changes we may want to make feels overwhelming, so we never start at all. This is completely normal to feel this resistance, but we can make it easier on ourselves and create the life that we desire. In this article, I am going to discuss how to set new goals and create change in your life.
First, we have to make true commitments and promises to ourselves, and follow through on them. This really has to do with our priorities and staying disciplined. Unfortunately, motivation is not always going to be there, which is why it is not something that we should rely on. Motivation at its core is a feeling, and we create our feelings with our thoughts. If you cannot get into the feeling of motivation, that’s when discipline and choosing our priorities becomes important. There may be days that you have limiting beliefs playing in your head that make you think that you can’t do something, but you can overcome this. Change is hard, but isn’t it harder to stay in the exact same place without growth?
Benefits of Daily Meditation
At the start of 2021, I made a promise and commitment to myself that I would meditate daily. I use an app on my phone called “Microsoft To-Do” and before this year, I would mark my daily task/reminder for “Meditation” complete without ever actually doing it. Every time, the feeling of guilt would sink in for not doing it. This was when I decided to promise myself that I would meditate every single day in 2021, and I began to post it on my Instagram every day as a way of holding myself accountable.
I knew that I could not gain the wonderful benefits of meditation unless I stayed disciplined and committed to a daily practice. At first, I felt some resistance against making this change in my life, and there were days that I didn’t want to do it – I just wanted things to stay as they were – in my comfort zone. But, the more I showed up, the better I felt about it and the more I felt the benefits of daily meditation. After about one month, I had developed this habit and let go of any resistance to making this change in my lifestyle. The neural pathways had begun to develop in my brain, and now today, I very much look forward to my daily meditation practice.
This small but powerful daily habit did so many things for me. I am beyond grateful and proud of myself for sticking with it, and I aim to continue to share and educate others on how wonderful a consistent meditation practice can be. There is a lot of research that confirms the amazing benefits of meditation – here are just a few:
- Reduce stress
- Manage anxiety
- Lengthen attention span
- Reduce memory loss
- Improve sleep
- Control pain
- Decrease blood pressure
- Increase self-awareness
- Improved weight management
- And much more!
Goal Setting & Making Changes
Setting goals is a fantastic way to continue your personal growth journey in the new year. Ask yourself questions to really consider what your dreams are, what you’d like to accomplish, and what is fulfilling and meaningful to you! After you’ve taken the time to decide what your goals are, write them down somewhere that you will see them often. Make sure that the goals you are setting are your own, and that you are doing them out of love and excitement for yourself. Make sure you aren’t setting goals for society, your friends or family, your job, or anything that doesn’t truly align with you.
Next, outline the action items and the steps that you need to take in order to fulfill those goals. Is it a daily practice such as meditation, or is it a specific end goal that you need to work at consistently? Whatever it is, make sure you know how you can work toward that goal every single day! Then, make sure you get organized and set tasks for yourself so that you have reminders to stay disciplined and stay on track.
Remember that motivation may not always be there – and that is why you want to get really clear on the benefits that you will gain from these goals and remember why you set them in the first place. Discipline and prioritizing your goals will help you to take those steps every day. Learn how to see it from a mentality that you “get to” work towards this goal, rather than you “have to”. Visualize yourself on the journey of working towards the goal, and visualize and feel the emotions of how you will feel once you reach it! This is a great way to feel some of that motivation and to keep yourself on track. If you feel resistance, don’t judge yourself for it. Have patience and remember that change is difficult, but these goals are very possible when you take it one step at a time.
Change is Hard
Making changes is hard – you are rewiring existing neural pathways and your subconscious mind, which have gotten used to the way you are currently living and the daily tasks that you currently do. It’s important to introduce new daily habits slowly so that you don’t overwhelm yourself – you are going against your comfort zone and may feel some of that resistance at first. This is how I felt initially when I began my goal of daily meditation, but it is important to remind yourself to commit to the bigger picture, rather than making decisions based on how you are feeling in that moment!
You are entering the growth zone, and change happens by a lot of small decisions that add up along the way. Your subconscious mind wants things to stay the same, but know that it is up to you to change the neural pathways that currently exist – a phenomenon which is possible thanks to neuroplasticity. It is within your ability to create whatever change you want to. You may come up against limiting beliefs – beliefs that you can’t do it or that you shouldn’t – and this is when it’s most important to have patience with yourself and trust in your ability to rewire these beliefs, too. Your self-talk is crucial for making changes in your life and believing that you can.
Remember to always make choices out of love, not out of fear. A mindset filled with fear and scarcity does not translate to vibrant, healthy, and positive outcomes. A mindset filled with love and positivity and trust in yourself will carry you through the easy and the difficult times.
If you would like support with your goals and are looking for guidance, please get in touch to see if my life coaching services will benefit you!!