New Year’s Resolutions: 51 Day Check In

Yes, my friends, it was exactly 51 day ago today that we rang in the New Year. In that moment of euphoria and excitement we made our biggest New Year resolutions. We envisioned ourselves to be the fittest, healthiest, and happiest we have ever been. We promised to conquer our biggest demons and like super heroes imagined embracing our own super powers.

Then the first day of 2019 we came to our senses and all of us made a very conscious, and serious commitment. A sustainable, accountable, and achievable commitment to be “a bigger and better version of ourselves with each and every new day”.

You don’t remember making that commitment with me? (Go ahead click on the link please.)

Let me refresh your memory my friend!

Ah, glad you remembered. So today, on day 51, we are all checking in to see how we are doing on our promise. We don’t want 365 days to pass (and they will pass without waiting for anyone) feeling defeated and helpless. Again, next year as mid-night strike we repeat the same old process only to gain short term happiness.

Our commitment from the beginning of this year was real, achievable and sustainable. We had very clear intentions to make some serious changes to each aspect of our lives. We have to make sure we keep ourselves on track. And we shall keep each other accountable. Are you with me?

Have you been able to take some baby steps towards your goals? Are you proud of some changes you have been able to make? Are you striving to learn and grow everyday? Are you trying to push yourself into new territory? What are your challenges? Did you maybe totally forget? Is your heart in the right place but kind of feel lost?

What ever stage you are at, accept it graciously and let us move forward. When making our resolution we discussed addressing three different categories: Body, Mind and Soul.

In order to make our check in a little easier let us follow the same. Our intention and goal is to improve in each of these aspects of our being each and everyday.

Here is what each one looks like for me so far:

1: Body:

Two years ago I set my intention to be physically more fit and strong. I made it a point to incorporate some sort of physical exercise into my day, every day and started eating consciously. I managed to loose and keep off 14 pounds and feel awesome. (My intention was not to loose weight but to become physically fit).

This year I defined my goal a little further. I want to become good at yoga. I had a rough start in January (I will share my challenge soon), but I am happy to be back on track. I must confess I am not good at joining any classes. I am a free bird and love to do things on my own schedule depending on the day. I am very self motivated so commitment is not an issue.

Secondly, with my chronic pain I have to move at my own pace. Moving forward when the body is happy and taking it easy when its in pain. We have to learn to work with our own lifestyle and body. But work we must without an excuse.

What I have discovered that works like a charm for me is finding good yoga videos on Youtube. I wanted to get good at the core poses and gain some strength so I came across this video by Bright Side:

Are my poses anywhere close to this? Nope, but there is hope my friends. I will keep chugging along one day at a time. Let me tell you though, when I am able to hold a pose longer then usually I feel so proud of myself.

2. Mind:

What is the mind and how it controls us.

All our lives we have learnt to focus outwards. We always want to change and control external influences on our lives. So much time and effort is wasted trying to change things that are beyond our control. What we need to realize is that the real work we need to focus on is inwards. Shifting our focus inwards is just the beginning of the tremendous work that needs to be done. The outcome and rewards of this internal work are immense.

Lets learn not to judge:

So let’s take one step at a time. One area at a time. Currently, I am working on getting rid of “Judgement” in my life.

The biggest thing our mind almost forces us to do is “JUDGE”! Isn’t it? We judge everything and everyone. We judge ourselves, others, events, opinions, situations, and life itself. We get so caught up in this judgment that we disconnect ourselves from the real essence of life.

Why do we judge so much? You see our minds constantly tell us that we are not enough. We feel small, inadequate, and insecure. With all this clutter in our brains the only way we feel good is by judging everyone and everything around us. We feel better by making others feel small.

My goal is to catch myself every time I am about to judge anyone or any thing. We all have our struggles, challenges and circumstances. We are all born different, learn differently, think differently and behave differently. There is no right or wrong. Our way is not the only way to do things in life. Let us remember the world is a beautiful place because of our differences. Once we drop judgement we learn to move with the flow of things and happily accept everything and everyone. We simply accept and flow with everything as it is.

Who’s Judgment will you let go of?

By the same token we are also afraid of other people’s judgement. We fear what others may say or think. We hold ourselves back because we are afraid of others’ opinions. The truth of the matter is that our life is our own journey. We need to live it on our own terms constantly pushing ourselves to our highest potential. The sooner we figure this out the happier we will be.

We need to decide who’s opinion is the most important in our lives. Who are the people that really matter? Who are the rocks in our life? Thats who’s opinion should matter. Everyone else’s opinion about us is their business not ours. So whose judgment will you let go of today?

I will ask myself this every day when my mind tries to frighten me. What about you?

3. Spiritual:

Let’s learn to embrace our spirituality.

On the spiritual front I find gratitude truly connects me to my soul. As I pursue my quest of a bigger, better version of myself; I have promised to start each day by thanking my own body, mind and soul for letting me experience life at its best. For supporting and being with me every step of the way. I promise to stand in front of the mirror and take a look at myself, my real self beyond the physical being, and be grateful for all that I have been blessed with. Thats my commitment. It makes me so happy and joyful.

We are in this together:

That my friends is my progress so far on my New Year’s resolution. What about you? I really want to hear about your challenges and successes. Let us share and inspire each other. Looking forward to hearing from you.

With love,

Devinder 💖