Being in 2021
a new kind of resolution
January 1 has come and gone, marked appropriately by the great ball in Times Square dropping onto an empty scene, a fitting symboly of a year spent largely working, learning and living from home. A collective sigh of relief was heard around the world when we symbolically wrapped 2020 and looked ahead to a new year.
I am generally a big proponent of taking time to reflect and set intentions, especially at birthdays or the start of a new year, moments that mark the passing of time. Right now, though, life is not normal, and it’s hard to know what the coming months may bring. How then, do we think about approaching a vision for this new year?
a good resolution
The typical New Year’s Resolution involves one, or several, initiatives for change and growth, paths to improve ourselves in some way. In past years, I would have focused on setting “SMART” goals (that’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, in case you aren’t spending much time in the self-help and time management spaces). And I would have encouraged you, and me, to be accountable, building on small, maintainable changes, to celebrate victories, and to schedule periodic check-ins across the year in order to keep those goals in mind. Go ahead and set some behavioral goals if you feel like it. But I’m not going to focus too much on those things for 2021…….
a new kind of resolution
For me, this year, it’s hard to think too much about doing when merely being in the world asks a lot of us. With an abundance of daily news concerning health, economic, and political happenings around the world, being present for our current experience, and managing it with some level of equanimity, maybe one of the most powerful goals we can set.
Across different cultures, there’s variability in how much being is valued vs. doing. The typical doing resolution draws on action and observable change. But another way to focus on our growth is to think about the quality of presence we have in the world.
In order to get at this, you may ask yourself things like:
how am I feeling right now in
my body?
my mind?
my emotions?
Is there a thought, a memory, or an image that I can hold to help me be centered?
how can I ground myself and be present? Perhaps by following my breath, releasing tension, or redirecting my thoughts away from a constant inner “chatter?”
the quality of your presence
If you’ve spent some time tuning in to your inner experience, and perhaps doing a bit of grounding or centering, you may then take some time to reflect on how you want to be in the world. This line of thought helps us to connect with our highest values, and with others. You may explore a few questions like:
how do I want to move through my day?
who do I want to be in the world?
which of my highest values shine through when I sit or interact with others? This is not about performing or doing anything per se, but about holding in our minds and hearts the person we are inside, and connecting with others from that space.
So maybe using the passage into the new year as a time to reflect on being, the quality of presence we bring to our moments, makes sense, especially for 2021. Happy new year.
*For more information on how to cultivate mindfulness in the moment, you may like my previous post on mindfulness .
