Creative Ways to Bring in the New Year

While seeing the turn of the year as a way to refresh, renew, and set intentions, sometimes there can be a subliminal tone of judgement, criticism, and resentment. While all of these feelings are valid, maybe it’s time we look at the way we are completing New Year’s rituals that may be impacting our overall mental health and self-perceptions. If you are someone who really struggles with resolutions, that’s not your fault. Oftentimes, resolutions are behavioral changes that have the tendency to be rooted in shame, which makes for a difficult road ahead. We have some suggestions of ways to shift the ritual to lessen self blame and make the process feel more approachable. 

1. Vision Boarding

While this might not be something that you’ve done since you were younger, it might be time to dig into some magazines with scissors and glue to create a piece of art that adds subjectivity and serenity to your space. By focusing on what images, words, or objects you gravitate towards, we are ridding the ritual of resolve which can remove the criticism. 

2. Setting Intentions

Instead of looking at what we want to fix, it might be helpful to think about what you want to add. What would you want to bring into the new year? What do you want more of? Try to keep it simple and vague in order to see how painting with a broad brush may keep you out of a more rigid mindset. Go with the flow!

3. Pick a Value

It can be hard to think about all the different things we may want to change. In this case, we might want to simplify the process by selecting something that already feels aligned for some familiarity. Selecting a singular value might be helpful to bring focus and mindfulness to that area. Think about things like ‘rest’ or ‘friendship’ or ‘self-care’, how will you build within those values? What is working already? What has/hasn’t worked in the past. 

4. Do a Tarot Pull

If you are needing help with selecting a direction to focus, it might be helpful to seek out alternative practices that offer guidance and clarity. Tarot is a way to seek alignment and interpretation that can be directive while also subjective. 

While these are only a small selection of activities and ways to honor the New Year, it might be helpful to try some of them out to see what fits! Remember, we are looking for ways to soften our critical lens and lean into subjectivity and self acceptance. If you do want to stick to resolutions, remember to be kind and supportive in your goal setting. By bringing self-acceptance into the transition, we can feel the judgement subside which leads to more achievable goals.   

The information on this website is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical or psychological condition and is not a substitute for therapy. If you are experiencing an emergency please call/text 988 or go to your nearest emergency room.