CSH Mindfulness Newsletter – 16th Issue, Living Intentionally: A Whole-Hearted Life

January arrives and many of us begin earnestly making New Year’s resolutions. We resolve to get more exercise. We commit (or re-commit) to meditating every morning. We promise to stay away from those cookies or vow to no longer be held captive by yet another Netflix series.

Like ill-fitting clothes that take up space in an all too full closet, we all long to discard unwelcome aspects of ourselves for something more affirmative, helpful or useful Making New Year’s resolutions serves our desire to change, curtail or free ourselves of habits and behaviors that no longer make sense in our lives.

While they may have been whole-heartedly conceived, unfortunately, most New Year’s resolutions fail. A study by researchers at Scranton University found that only 19 percent of individuals keep their New Year’s resolutions, and most are abandoned by mid-January.

It’s important to also note that behavior change specialists tell us there are a number of things we can do to greatly improve the odds of our New Year’s resolutions succeeding. Some of these tips are listed below and fortunately, they can also be applied to developing or re-committing to a regular meditation practice.

But when it comes to our cultivating mindful awareness - whether a regular meditation practice or mindfully living our daily lives rooted in values of that honor human dignity, compassion and understanding - it may prove more helpful to be guided by our deepest intentions rather than by resolutions.  

Intentions inspire us to move toward what we value most. Resolutions tend to be about improvement plans and knee-jerk responses to what we don’t want; they are often about moving away from something rather than toward what matters most. With the practice of mindfulness, intention is viewed as the spirit with which we do something, or the attitude that underlies our actions.