A Conscious Alternative to New Year's Resolutions

This time of year is filled with joy and anticipation for many people, while others feel bewildered in this economy and world that seems full of negative events. Many folks sit down to write New Year's Resolutions, but then before January isn't even over, they are already realizing that the resolutions aren't do-able. So they give up and go through still another year without making any of those resolutions work.
Soul Collage(trademark) by Anne Copeland

I think one of the reasons they don't work is that they are generally couched in giving up something, or acknowledging that something that you are doing isn't working right.  For example, "I want to lose weight, or will lose 50 pounds by February 1."

So what IS a good alternative?  First of all, I do several things, and they DO work. The first one is a simple assignment. Pick a word that overall relates to your life and what you want for the following year. For example, last year my word was "Abundance."  It was not all about money, but abundance in every area of my life.  And did I have abundance?  You bet I did!  Absolutely. An abundance of new friends, an abundance of new creative experiences (like taking a cloth dyeing class and developing that skill really well, and trying numerous other creative avenues I have never tried (yes, it was an abundance of experiences), an abundance of adventures in my life and on and on.  This is so basically simple.

A friend of mine, Annemarie Rawlinson, http://www.anart.net/  each year paints flat rocks with words that are meaningful to select from. Then around the holiday season, she offers each of her friends the selection to choose from. The rocks are "painted" with simple Sharpie pens that come in different colors - generally the word, which might be outlined in black and painted inside with a different color and this charming little simple flower.  The white or perhaps light gray area around the word and under the flower is a natural coloring that is in the rock. There is more of this marking on the back side. Isn't this a great idea to help you remember what is the key theme of your life in the New Year?

The second thing I do is to write my goals/affirmations for the coming year.  Now a goal would be something like "I will find a new job that is exciting and meaningful in the New Year."  Nothing wrong with that, but I combine this with my affirmations: "Many exciting and meaningful opportunities open up for me in the New Year."  Write it as if it is already the real deal, for in reality it is!  All that you can dream, all that you can imagine for yourself, is within you right now.

Now, having finished this list (and there is no limitation on how many goals/affirmations you can have), we are ready to move onto the next stage.  This next stage is important because it again gives you something to look at and remind yourself every single day about the things you have set out as important.  This is the Visioning part, where you get yourself a pretty poster board in the color of your choice, and get some good magazines with great photos that appeal to you (make them ones that have photography or art subjects so that you have a very good variety as this will be important as you begin. You will also need some scissors and a good glue stick. And of course have your goals/affirmations handy.  Now look at a goal, and then look through the magazines until you find a picture or pictures that seem to express that goal for you. Do this for all of your goals/affirmations until you have filled your page with images.  You don't need to use any words, though if there are any in your pictures that are appropriate, good for you.  You will put this up somewhere where you will look at it every single day and it will help you remember what you have set forth, and you will find that you are making progress toward your goals quicker than you can imagine.

Some additional things you can do. Copy each of your cards onto a small card like an index card or smaller card that you can carry around in your pocket, purse, or wallet. Make it a point to reread these every single day, rain or shine. Review them to see which ones you have achieved or are making progress in, and write a list of the ones you have accomplished. Stop and reflect on these and be sure to acknowledge yourself and spend some time in gratitude.

If you have never tried this approach before give it a go. I have a piece of writing by Goethe to share with you that I also keep up on my wall all the time, and it is so true - every word.  This is titled:

Until One is Committed

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy,
The chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative (& creation),
There is one elementary truth—the ignorance
Of which kills countless ideas & splendid plans:
That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves, too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that
Would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents
& meetings & material assistance,
which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can,
Begin it.  Boldness has genius, power
And magic in it.  Begin it now. - Goethe

I wish you all the very best life has to offer for the New Year and all the years to follow. No matter who you are or where you are from or what you believe, you can make THIS your very best year ever!  Peace, light and many blessings, Annie always

Planting a Dream Seed

I daily receive lots of free inspirational newsletters, quotations, and other positive and motivational messages. In my mind, we cannot fill our minds and souls with too much good, surrounded as we are by so many negative messages about life as it is viewed. One of the wonderful things I receive is inspirational email from www.gogratitude.com.  Today they sent me something I think is a fantastic idea as we are coming into the New Year, and it is a good time to start thinking about the seeds we want to cast for our dreams and goals. The site is: www.BloomingHumans.com. I posted this photo of a quilt I made to enter in a challenge in 2006. It was my depiction of the story of "The Little Match Girl" by Hans Christian Andersen.

I used to ask my Grandma to read this story to me over and over again, along with the story, "The Red Shoes," also by Hans Christian Andersen. These were my two favorite stories, though on the surface, both seemed very negative in their messages. Both of these stories were made into films.

I have never seen the film, "The Little Match Girl," but I have watched "The Red Shoes, a British feature film about a ballet dancer, written, directed and produced by the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, known collectively as The Archers. The movie employs a story within a story device. A young ballerina  joins an established ballet company and becomes the lead dancer in a new ballet called The Red Shoes, based on the fairy tale. The film stars Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring and features Robert Helpmann, Leonide Massine and Ludmilla Tcherina, renowned dancers from the ballet world, as well as Esmond Knight and Albert Basserman. It has original music by Brian Easdale and cinematography by Jack Cardiff, and is well regarded for its creative use of Technicolor and also some of the cinematic techniques that were truly unique for the time (1948).  There is a scene, a ballet, that takes place in a deserted street. The entire scene is very staged, though at the same time, it feels believable.  The ballerina is dancing around a newspaper that is blowing around in the street, and suddenly, it becomes a man, who continues to dance with her.

The Red Shoes is about obsession and the way it can ruin a life.  So what kind of positive message can a film or story like this have for us?  In this particular story, I think the real message is that we DO need to be dedicated and somewhat driven if we have a dream we want to achieve, but at the same time, we must find a sense of balance in our lives. I will not spoil the movie for you lest you decide to see it based on this writing.

As for "The Little Match Girl," this story I will tell you since it is doubtful that we might find or watch the film. This little girl in 19th century England, is seen on Christmas Eve, out in the street trying to sell a handful of long matches. It is cold, she has not had anything to eat and she has no warm coat.  She cannot return home until she sells her matches.  People are coming and going all around her, doing their last minute shopping for food and other things as they might need for the holiday.  She stands there, but no one comes to buy her matches.  She grows so cold that she lights one out of sheer desperation, and in that few seconds the match is lit, she sees a most beautiful image, a pretty home with a Christmas tree and presents, and good food on the table.  Soon the match goes out though, and once more she is left in her miserable condition.  Then eventually, she decides to light another match, and again, once more she sees into the Christmas scene, and feels drawn inside it.  This continues through the night and finally, she lights ALL of the remaining matches, and at once, she is drawn inside the scene, and sees herself enjoying the good food, the presents, and the warmth and beauty of the night.  In the morning, her body is found; she has died of exposure.  Seems pretty dismal, but for me, the lighting of that match represents the lighting of our imagination, and how powerful it can be.

As we come into this New Year, I think that many of us may be having struggles - with jobs, or perhaps trying to keep our homes, or having lost them and wondering where we will go next and what we will do next.  It would be easy to just settle into negative thinking, but I truly believe that while we might not be able to control our circumstances outwardly, we CAN choose how we will perceive it.  The very worst things that have happened to me in my own lifetime have turned out to be some of my greatest blessings.  They have enabled me to share my knowledge from my own experience with others who have been suffering, and to have true compassion for others that comes only from having been through some of the things ourselves.  I have often thought that the best gift we can give to others is to teach them that no matter what happens, we can find a way to effect change. I planted MY seed on www.BloomingHumans.com and you can too. See if you can find my little square and what I have to say about the picture of "The Little Match Girl." Who will you choose to be today?  Both of these fiber arts pieces were made by me.