As the year draws to a close, many people find themselves in a reflective state. Our minds wander through all the opportunities to make positive changes for a better year and a better life.

Take stock of how you have felt this year. What was your greatest joy? What was your biggest struggle? Think about how life events boosted you up and let you down, and how you reacted in the face of these situations.

When the year began you may have made resolutions like: I’m going to go to the gym before work three times per week. I’m going to drink 8 glasses of water a day, and eat healthier. I am going to take 10 minutes each day to meditate.

But what happens when you look back on the year and you went to the gym 3 times instead of 3 times per week? When by December the juice cleanse is long over, your gym pass is collecting dust and your daily meditations never manifested? Making resolutions and then breaking them can be a source of tension and struggle, and can leave you feeling like an underachiever.

In 2017, empower your resolutions. Make your resolutions from a place of gratitude and abundance. Resolve to work out because your body is a temple and your health is the most important thing. Be grateful that your body can move and grow and strengthen you. Resolve to meditate each day because you are worth the time and space. You deserve peace, calm, and mindfulness.

The reason is just as important as the actions that you decide to take. Set your new intentions for 2017 from a place of abundance and gratitude, and not from a place of lacking, or wanting more.

Whether 2016 was a year of setting goals and smashing them, or of unplanned detours, let go. Let go of what you hoped 2016 would be. Let go of what 2016 wasn’t. Let go of what 2016 was (chaotic, intense, difficult). Let go of the disappointment of what you didn’t achieve. If 2016 was the best year of your life, let go of that too. Holding on to the idea that this was your “best.year.ever” will hold you back from having an even more stellar 2017.

As you let go of what did and didn’t happen in 2016, you’ll notice that now there’s a space. Where there used to be stress, tension, regret, feelings of “I should,” and ‘I shouldn’t,” there is simply space. Suddenly, you have room. Room to dream, room to grow, room to hold a vision for the next year of your life.

As you shift into gratitude and holding space for the next great year of your life, take some time to set new intentions. Instead of looking outside of yourself for things you do not have and wanting more, look within. Feel gratitude for the inner strength, wisdom and limitlessness that resides in you. Set intentions for how you want to feel and actions you can take to make you feel that way.

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