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So many of us decide to make New Year's Resolutions for January and fail within the first few weeks. There is a very good reason for this.
Let's start with where the New Year's Resolution may have come from. According to the History Channel, the Babylonians were the first to have written down the idea of a New Year's Resolution. The New Year's for them was in March, they would make a promise to their gods to pay back debts and return borrowed objects. (Those were the examples that were given, I'm sure there were more and much more serious as well). By making these promises to the Gods they were being held to their intentions because no one wants to be on the bad side of a God.
Over the years the New Year's Resolution has been assigned to something a little less religious or faith-based and turned into a promise to lose weight, or an end goal that may be unattainable or unreasonable. A resolution to ourselves. There have been studies conducted that prove by making a resolution to ourselves for any reason, we are destined to put it off or fail completely because the term we use is nothing more than a suggested course of action to our desired outcome and thus we do not hold ourselves accountable to the end goal.
What does any of this have to do with spirituality? Well, let's take a moment to once again look at how this all first started. When the Babylonians made their promises they made them to a being other them themselves. It wasn't an arbitrary goal promised to themselves or their spouse, or their children, it was to their Gods. To beings that would hold them to a higher standard than they would themselves.
The Gods, Ascended Masters, or other beings, know our potential. They know we are human and have flaws but they understand what we are capable of if we have the right guidance. By making a Promise to the gods to fulfill a goal in a year, do you not think that you would be more mindful of completing that goal? Honestly, if you break down what a New Year's Resolution really is, it's a form of intention setting but we as people are unable to fulfill this intention because of how we present it. So why wouldn't you set your intention, with your gods (or the universe or what you believe) and be successful in the New Year?
There is also the issue of date setting. By considering your Resolution and setting a date of January 1st as a starting point you are more often than not going to put it off. You are in the middle of a grand celebration and the season of eating a lot of food but suddenly you want to start a diet on January 1st. Be mindful of when you set your start dates or don't set one at all. Look at the cycles of the moon to determine if you need to follow a pattern to better hold to your intention or set a date that is not in the middle of the celebration season.
As an experiment, I want anyone who reads this to take into consideration everything that you've read. Think about a promise or intention you want to fulfill in 2023 and consider how you would go about casting this intention/promise/resolution, to your Gods/Masters/Universe. Set a start date that best suit your intention or give yourself less time to think about it and just do it. Sometimes if we are anticipating something to start we sabotage ourselves before it even gets off the ground.
As the writer of this blog, my promise is to focus on self-care and self-growth in 2023.
If you are comfortable, tell us what your intention for 2023 is.