I had trouble deciding on a New Year’s resolution this year. I couldn’t really come up with anything that felt right. After a year of very clean living throughout my pregnancy and into the first couple of months of motherhood, I didn’t have any major vices to give up. More generic resolutions like “be kinder” didn’t feel proactive enough. After racking my brain I decided to stop thinking about it and trust that the right idea would eventually reveal itself. Finally on New Year’s Eve my yoga teacher casually threw out a little gem at the end of class, somewhere between “drink lots of water today” and “namaste”. I knew right then I had found an ideal mantra for the new year…

What I love about it is rather than thinking of giving something up or framing things in the context of deprivation, this message encourages us to place value on the things that feed our growth, health and well-being. Let’s face it, sometimes we get attached to things that aren’t necessarily the best for us and when we try to give them up we feel like we’re missing out on something. This quote flips the script on that idea. Instead of feeling like we are depriving ourselves, it’s about choosing to fill our life with the things that genuinely make us feel good. The more we do that, the less space there is for anything else. It helps us recognize the value of certain habits, healthy foods, positive relationships, even thoughts, all of the things that bring joy into our life. It gives us permission to make them a priority and makes letting go of the things that don’t a little easier. It inevitably makes us question and more clearly define what it is that nourishes us. So instead of a traditional New Year’s resolution, I’m going to make this my motto for 2017 and I thought I’d share in case you’d like to use it too. Wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year! x Jacq