A Gentle Start to the New Year: Mindful Practices from a Somatic Art Therapist
We often hear the phrase “new year, new me” as a way to begin the new year. A time advertised to change up our rituals and routines - a chance to start fresh and new. While the intent may seem exciting and invigorating, the language and energy behind this experience and bring up feelings of shame, anxiety, grief, low self-esteem and pressure to perform or push ourselves when we aren’t ready. Perhaps you feel somewhere in the middle: noticing challenging feelings while also wanting to start fresh and set intentions for progress in the new year.
What if, you could hold space for both and have a gentle start to your year?
The Dangers of “New Year, New Me” Mentality
On January 1st of every year, we enter a new year - opportunity, change and excitement can be in the air. If the year prior felt particularly challenging, it can also feel like a sigh of relief to have the promise of a new beginning. While exciting, there can also bring up feelings of pressure or isolation to suppress or ignore our current reality or emotional state (both of which are things that never support our emotional experience). Some of us may also start to feel a sense of pressure to perform or do things in a certain way. This can be particularly true when it comes to setting intentions, how we act on our goals and a sense of urgency to make things happen immediately.
All of which are things that disconnect us from our body and it’s individualized needs.
How do you truly want to feel and how can you make that happen?
Rather than feeling the need to change, adjust and “fix” every part of your life, what is you took some time at the start of the new year to pause? To ask yourself : how do I truly want to feel?
Maybe you sit in quiet reflection to hear that voice inside your head answer or maybe you spend some time with your journal or art materials to see what may come up. Let your intuition guide how you want to hear the answer to that question too. Try to release judgement or expectations of what the answer should be and really just listen.
When you are able to find that, even if it is just one thing, ask yourself: how can I make that happen? This can be a list of ways to achieve that experience, maybe it is a simple shift or reminder in your day to day. Again, release the expectations of how things should be or any limiting belief in your head - but rather allow yourself to explore and see how it all unfolds.
We tend to feel pressure to perform, to conform and do things as everyone else is - often from a place of force or expectation. But what if you gave yourself the permission to simply be, ask and then act. To give yourself the time and space to see what it is that you truly want. The new year is a beautiful time to re-evaluate, assess and set intentions, yet maybe this year you allow yourself to do so in a gentle and mindful way. The days are short but overall life is long, why not allow yourself to live it how you truly want to?
If you are looking for ways to support yourself in connecting more with your body and your intuition through a creative and somatic lens, I have many opportunities for ways to work with me: creative journaling, individual somatic art therapy, somatic healing or women’s retreat on January 31st at Casa Kawa in Miami, FL.
