Well you knew I couldn’t resist an opportunity to re-post this sing along.  We first sang along with Kris Kringle and spoke about change in our discussion this summer You put one foot in front of the other…. Our discussion back then is even more apropos as the year comes to a close.  New Year’s resolutions are beginning to be all the buzz.  It’s about this time of year when people begin to talk about the things that are on the list for change next year.  I don’t support such silly talk. What you say?  A health coach and social worker who doesn’t support people making changes?  Yes, I say, well sort of anyway.  I think that using the words “New Year’s resolutions” connotes things that we a) make out of a feeling that we SHOULD make them and b) they are things that we say we will do but either we never do them or by February we stop doing them.   We will often then beat up on ourselves because we have, once again, not stuck to said resolutions and therefore are a bad, very bad person.  So no I do not support that you do that to yourself. Instead, I love this time of year for taking stock of what went well, what I would like to leave behind, what I want to bring into the New Year and what I would like to manifest that is new.  I like to call the new stuff “intentions”  I know, a little new agey but it feels like just the right fit.   Two web definitions of the word intention are “a thing intended; an aim or plan” and….my favorite…drumroll please…”the healing process of a wound.”  When we set New Year’s resolutions they quite often are things that we are wanting to change because part of doing so would be a cleansing or healing process.  People often think about things such as losing weight, exercising, sometimes career goals, employment opportunities or relationship issues. Sometimes people think of bringing something new into their life like a particular hobby whether new or old.  The end of the year, holidays brewing, brings up a lot of emotions as we previously discussed in our last chat ‘Tis the Season to Begin Again.   These emotions often cause us to reflect and take stock over the way in which we are living our lives.  All this is very good stuff until we load on a whole host of guilt and shame on top of those reflections.  This is what changes an intention into a resolution. Ahhhh you say, maybe this is why they have become a joke.  Resolutions are often related with guilt and shame but intentions have the ring of hope and wellness.