New Year Intentions (instead of resolutions) by Wendy Sue Noah

And just when we scarcely make it through the holidays, in somewhat decent shape, here comes the New Year! Oh my! Let’s list our resolutions so we can feel good about feeling bad a few months later. This whole societal process is actually a BIG LOL! Honestly, who keeps to their resolution for more than a few months, if that?!

I went from years of resolutions, and feeling bad for not achieving my said goals, to avoiding resolutions all together, thinking THAT was the problem. No, resolutions and goals are always a positive thing for positive change. What has been missing for me, I now see, is that my resolutions stood alone, without looking at the origin of whatever it was that I wanted to change.

The dictionary gives two definitions for intentions:

1. A thing intended; an aim or plan.
2. MEDICINE, the healing process of a wound.

So, in order to make real change, in order to fulfill that plan, we need to consider both, our goals AND the healing process necessary to achieve that goal.

For example, let’s look at an eating disorder. Jenny has a New Year resolution to lose 50 pounds in 2018. In January, she loses 5 pounds, right on track. Come Valentine’s Day, her boyfriend is breaking up with her instead of bringing her flowers and kisses. So poor Jenny is devastated and goes on an eating binge, gaining 10 pounds, twice what she lost!

In this case, it’s not about her resolution of losing weight, as much as it is about the fact that she binges on food when she is feeling depressed. That is exactly where the healing needs to take place. When Jenny chooses to look at the cause of her weight gain, and deal with the source of it directly, then her New Year resolution becomes a lifelong intention.

Now I’m going to give you a personal example, of how my healing allowed (and allows) me to set realistic intentions, that become a more permanent part of my life, as opposed to a fleeting resolution.

What happened to me may be considered tragic, and I may consider it to be that too, but it has made me who I am today, through much healing and care. Ten years ago, my children’s father threw me out on the street and took my children away from me, telling them that I had abandoned them. I was homeless, penniless and childless in one day!

Fortunately, we are all doing very well now, and our lives continue to improve on many levels. As a single mom, I’ve had to focus on healing immense trauma to be able to raise them, and me, on the right track.

With all this in mind, I am fully setting my New Year Intention for 2018, which is to land new business ventures that will bring me and my family out of scarceness and into more abundance, on many levels.

With this intention in mind, and with my ten years of tremendous healing to reach this exquisite place, I’d like to share with you the fortune cookie that I received yesterday, just giving me confirmation on what is to be:

Happy New Year and Happy New Life!!

Note: You may visit Wendy at wendysuenoah.com.