A Strategic Guide to Empowering New Year’s Resolutions

It’s about that time. A new year, a new day, an opportunity to create a new path with a perceived fresh start. Even if someone doesn’t require an entirely new year to start something new (in reality we can begin any time), the energy flow during this time can assist with building the internal momentum that fuels change motivation. 

The news stations cover flashbacks of the past year. Marketers focus on change for the new year. The balls dropping around the world symbolize ushering in a new year. There’s much mundane conversation about what will be done differently in the new year. When used effectively, all of this can support change. 

But fancy marketing and strong words will not create actual change. This is because change occurs not from some symbolic experience externally. All true change begins within. 

And this is the New Year’s fallacy, why people who set strong goals and wait until the 1st of January either begin on that day and do not sustain OR never get around to beginning in the first place. 

New projects, initiatives, all of the “this year is going to be different” requires behavioral transcendence at the metaphysical level. 

What does that mean?

It means to take on these new habits we need to evoke a transformation in our being that makes facilitating these habits into a part of our natural way of living. We make the qualities that are able to create those habits second-nature. When they become second-nature, we can choose any new habit we want.

Gym Memberships?

Let’s take this as an example. Gym membership signups are popular during the New Year’s time for several reasons. People may view this as a chance to start the new year with a new workout routine. On top of this they may want to incorporate new dietary habits. There is a desire to want to look better, feel better. Perhaps become more attractive to find a mate. A self-esteem booster, there can be many reasons. So there isn’t a challenge in the desire department. But desire alone will not create the second-nature necessary for the new gym member to actually sign up. And beyond that, to actually have the life force drive to sustain attending the gym on a consistent basis where the actual change they desire becomes reality. For that, there needs to be a change from within. 

New Job?

Job prospecting is another popular space ripe for New Year’s resolutions. Some people may wait until the year’s end to begin the job search process. As savvy searchers know, searching for a job is a job within itself and requires discipline, focus and that kind of persevering attitude similar to the gym member. 

We can see here that finding not just any new job, but the desired job requires certain qualities not different from that gym member: sustainability, focus, drive, life force. If the job seeker doesn’t have these qualities and then goes to seek the job, what are the chances of securing it? A change has to occur within the person, becoming a new person so that the approach to the goal is also new. 

The New Year’s Resolution

Let’s examine what a resolution actually is. A resolution is something we resolve to do. By extension it means we have the resolve to realize that resolution or goal, or vision. If we do not have the resolve, which comes from internal strength not from outside, setting a resolution is futile. 

Resolve is an endurance or persistence that provides the energy for us to accomplish something. 

If I set a resolution to write 3 books in 2018 and do not have the resolve to write even 1, what makes me think I’m going to reach anywhere near 3? In order to attain my resolution, I first need to develop the resolve. 

Cultivating Resolve

Resolve is defined in the dictionary as a “firm determination to do something.” This is a simplistic definition for a power so vital to realizing a goal. This determination has mechanics that are broken down into:

☐ The will

☐ The imagination

☐ The life force 

☐ The language

The Will

A misconception is that willpower is a forcible capacity, that it warrants brute force to be considered an act of will. When we use the will we are saying we are making a decision to act based in clarity of purpose and not by emotional lures. 

This means choosing to start a gym membership is an act of will when it is done not because someone told you that you were fat all year, or you’re tired of seeing the slim-figured models on television advertising bikinis. When you act from internal clarity, you are then choosing with your will based on a premise supporting your growth: exercise as the gym can enhance your health within a community. Otherwise you are being led by external influences and that is no different than leading a mouse to a trap with cheese. 

The will needs to be free of these external agitations so you can make clear choices.

If after examining your motives you find you only want to go to the gym due to some emotional trigger, instead of a gym membership, perhaps a more optimal choice for you is to workout with a friend. Or find ways to exercise at home or in the park out in nature. Or find a class that helps you with more holistic health. A gym membership may be just a reflex resolution because that’s what everyone else does and you’ve been programmed to think that’s the best solution. 

The Imagination

Imagination is one of the key components in making the popular vision boards successful. Without explaining all of the mechanics, vision boards are really metaphysical tools that help us tap into our subconscious by means of the imagination. Even being unaware of this, the vision board user may consistently look at it and this facilitates the spirit imprinting process. Combined with visualization (experiencing what it is like to have or be what’s on the board), imagination stimulates the life force to help with bringing what’s on the board to reality. That some and not all of the images on the board tend to manifest has a definite reason. This can be covered in future posts.

The New Year’s resolution we choose, for it to have fuel needs to be envisioned by us. Not just envisioned, but actually experienced in the subconscious. This is why simply declaring “I’m going to the gym on day one” is not strong enough to sustain going all year and making it second-nature. It is just a statement without the rest of the ingredients in the metaphysical recipe. 

We use the imagination by going into a meditation for the trance state. Trance is the state where we actually create behavioral change at the root level and not by just writing down goals. Refer to my post on the Zazen technique, which will quickly induce the trance state. You perform this for 10-15 cycles and then allow yourself to rest in your visualization of the goal. 

If it’s gym membership, work with this script: 

☐ Apply the Zazen technology

☐ Write down on paper your New Year’s resolution, a simple statement

☐ Write down the challenges that have stood in your way preventing you from realizing this goal 

☐ Close your eyes and visualize yourself experiencing your resolution; fully embrace it with your senses (BE the resolution)

☐ Visualize yourself receiving the blessing from experiencing your resolution (increased health, abundance, friendship, etc.)

This is an ancient script practice (except the Zazen) for behavioral change used by the Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) civilization. It is designed to produce transformation from within by activating the spirit, which is the technology that produces our manifestations. 

By becoming the actual vision for the resolution, we begin to change internally and our external world will begin aligning with that. Now, if health or abundance or friendship are our resolutions, our spirit will go work to create opportunities for that to occur and they may show up different from how we originally stated. 

If the gym membership was a resolution and I perform the ancient script, I may receive a discounted option to join a local gym or may end up connecting with someone who owns a gym and invites me complimentary. Once experiencing it I may realize I could take other action for health aside from a gym. The options become limitless. 

If the gym membership IS the focus, my internal change will support the drive needed for me to attend consistently, and my subconscious which acts as a computer is programmed to draw to me the experiences of my intent, because I already felt what it’s like to be there, working out, receiving the benefits.

The Life Force

This is the energy that allows us to move, to be animated. It’s also the force that influences the health of our physicality and mind. It is directly influenced by our thoughts and emotions. If you’ve experienced a wellness workshop involving yoga or meditation or any kind of “alternative” medicine, this is the Prana or Qi being discussed. 

The script work will directly influence this life force to empower you with the energy of already realizing your resolution. By envisioning yourself already enjoying it, you move the life force and your spirit into action to make it happen for you. And from the western science perspective, it is already acknowledged that the brain treats visualizations and external experiences the same; what you imagine your brain treats as if it happened physically. This is a technology also employed by Olympic athletes.

The Language

The actual words used for your resolution are important. Referring back to the gym membership, you will want to avoid indecisive language like:

☐ Maybe I’ll go

☐ I might go

☐ I’m trying to go

☐ I’m going to try to make it

☐ I’m going to see if it’s possible

☐ Hopefully I’ll be able to go

☐ I guess I’ll go

Make your resolution into a statement that crystallizes your vision, and that you actually are experiencing it now. 

Instead of, “I am going to try and do my best to go to the gym three times a week,” you say, “I am attending the gym three times a week.”

The tense change puts your statement into the present and that goes directly to your subconscious. 

All of this just to make a New Year’s resolution?

If you want your resolution to be sustainable, yes. If you want to enact deep transformation inside, yes. 

When this metaphysical work is integrated into your system, you amplify any mundane techniques learned like:

☐ Slight-edge philosophy: start with small steps and then work towards larger. For gym membership, start with attending 2-3 times per week for 1 hour. Then gradually increase the frequency. This strategy assists your nervous system in making the new connections (particularly your brain) needed to create new habits. 

☐ Track your performance: write your progress down. Check off on a calendar each time you go to the gym. One-by-one, don’t miss a tracking. This creates self-responsibility for your new habit and you can gradually see the progress made in a landscape view.

☐ Have an end-state: know what you’re after. What do you actually want to receive from going to the gym? What are the specific, tangible benefits? How do you look? How do you walk? You won’t know you’ve reached your end-states  until you define what they are and track.