New year, new beginning. New day, new dawn. Out with the old, in with the new. Time to turn the page. Cliches right? There are so many ways people express the desire to begin again, because we all feel it at some points in our lives. It pretty much a universal part of the human condition, a desire to change, grow, be free….

Unfortunately, this desire can be full of recrimination and shame, too. We feel like we ‘failed’ when we didn’t make it to the gym 3x a week all year or we didn’t stick to the healthier diet or [fill in the blank]. Following this path, the shame can make changing our lives seem futile, like the effort is never going to last. But what does that have to do with anything? Life is a pulsating vibrant thing. We expand then contract, we lie down then stand up, we inhale then exhale, we step off our mat then we get back on the mat.

If right now, there is a desire to make positive changes in our life, let’s do it. Maybe it won’t last forever or maybe it will. Just because it’s not perfect doesn’t mean it’s not perfect.

Let’s keep our goals sustainable, salad for dinner one night a week, strength training two times a week for 15 minutes, two thousand steps a day, yoga class once a week… After a few months, if the pattern takes root, then we can adapt and take on a bit more than before. If the new direction slips away, when the desire returns, we simply say to ourselves “Welcome, back. Let’s begin again.”