New Year Intentions

I really look forward to New Year’s Day. Every year about now I start to focus my attention on the day in preparation for a new year. It isn’t just about a fresh beginning, although that’s part of it. But truthfully, it’s about the actual day itself because my husband and I started a tradition years ago that we find nothing short of magical.

Feng Shui is all about intention. Someone can implement a change in their space to help it support their current life. Additionally, Feng Shui can also help someone support what they want to create in the future. And that’s what my husband and I do. Every New Year’s Day morning, we sit down and create our future. First, we look at the goals we wrote down last year and assess what we did with them. Then we make a list of new ones for next year. We make goals for ourselves individually as well as goals as a couple. We consider the financial parts of our life together, spiritual aspects, physical changes for the house, exercise plans, career steps, and recreation/travel ideas. Sometimes we’re collaborating on these topics and sometimes we’re putting our own plans together.

One of the most interesting parts of this ritual is reading what we wanted to accomplish a year ago. There’s no rule that says we can’t refer to our list throughout the year, but it seems like we don’t. So when we look at them again on New Year’s Day, we’re often surprised at how many of our goals were reached even though we had consciously forgotten about them. This is a good confirmation for the power of the written word. Writing an intention on a piece of paper, even if not referenced regularly, can still bring about change. Some of the items on last year’s list never got done. We may move them onto this year’s list or decide they weren’t all that important. Some other accomplishments may have happened that never made it to the list----a bonus, I say.

The years when we were into all the house projects around here, we would each write a letter to the house asking for guidance. One year we each got the same answer about whether to build on a sunroom—a definite “no” from the house. We opted for a deck and have never looked back on that decision. Even without specific remodeling projects, I find it helpful to check in with our home. It’s amazing what door gets open when you begin a clean page in the journal with “Dear Home.....” We’ve gotten some great ideas and insights from having done this letter-writing exercise.

We also throw the I-Ching coins for each of us individually and for us as a couple. We may even draw an angel card. My husband works with the Shustah cards which often become part of our routine. It may feel right to simply journal about the highlights or memorable parts of the past year for a bit of time.

All of this doesn’t take us more than two, maybe two-and-a-half, hours. It’s not much time considering we’re making an outline for the next 365 days. Yet it’s long enough for us to focus and discover our intentions for the next year of our lives. So, if you’re interested in giving this a try, get yourself a notebook or a journal and create your own ritual, create your own goals. Xin Nian Kuai Le as the Chinese say. May this New Year bless us all with good health, happiness and success.