Each year around this time we think about what we’d like to learn, eliminate or do better in the coming year.  I get it.  I really do.  We want to feel better and be happier.  After the gluttony of the holidays, a little reality check is expected, but in ‘resolving’ to change something that we deem less than desirable, we also create a lot of guilt energy about how we are currently living.  That is something I no longer subscribe to.

I used to not like myself very much.  Loathe wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration.  Being diagnosed with a brain tumor brought me back to loving myself – my authentic self, not the persona that I felt I must present.  When I wasn’t being authentic, pre-brain tumor, I made a lot of decisions that numbed me to life via processed food, lack of body movement, and drinking too much. Now, I recognize that the brain tumor gave me accountability to how I treat my body, mind and spirit.  It brought me to a place of love and respect for myself that I had always lacked.   Now, I indulge when it feels right.  Now, I focus on what makes me feel centered.  Now, I focus on how I can make others feel as good as I usually do.  These aren’t resolutions because I don’t feel guilty when I don’t succeed.  These are choices I make – that’s it.  I do the things I do now because of how they make me FEEL.  How I feel is my internal guidance system. 

Guilt sucks.  There is absolutely no value in it.  Guilt robs you of peace and happiness and makes you feel less than.  When we create resolutions we are shouting out to the Universe that we don’t feel we are good enough just as we are.  But we don’t need to strive in order to succeed.  This may fly in the face of the paradigm you have always identified with – that nothing worthwhile comes easily.  A far more effortless approach is accepting that a Divine Source is always available to bring us anything we align to.   The Divine Source is much more capable of seeing what is best for us than we are.  Why go it alone when we don’t have to?  We don’t need to figure anything out.  All that we need to do is ask the Divine Source to bring us what is ours and to line ourselves up with who we authentically are.  In our authenticity, health, wealth and happiness naturally come.  I’d much rather flow and trust that the Universe has my back.  I don’t need to ‘improve’ myself and neither do you.  I just need to be authentically me.  In this authentic state of being, Divine Source conspires to support me.

Tapping into how we feel as the source of staying authentic is actually very easy to do.  Simply observe how you feel as you weigh decisions.  If my body vibration pings harmoniously, I know I am being true.  If I feel any dread, fear or anxiety, I know that choice is not right for me.  I do this not through grand gestures but through making small, incremental decisions every day that keep me on my path.  Easy peasy.  I can’t fail when I do this.   What is meant for me, truly, will come.  What steps I am meant to take will be obvious.  I don’t need to see what things will be like in a year, I just need to recognize my next right step when it presents itself.

Creating a plan for what you intend to be is a great thing.  But rather than beating yourself up for where you believe you have ‘failed’, creating resolutions that seem like punishments for past mistakes, take this opportunity to connect with what makes you feel vibrant.  Spend 10 minutes alone contemplating who the authentic you really is.  This is not the perfect mother or father, the best boss, employee or friend.  This has virtually nothing to do with who you are in relation to others.  This is who you are by yourself, when no one is watching or expecting anything from you.  This is what makes you glow.

Make 2015 the year that you come into your own.  Do not dim your light for anyone.  Fly your own personal freak flag proudly for all to see.  You may encounter some people who get pretty annoyed that you are not reacting as you usually would, not caving to pressure.  You may need to say ‘no’ to things that before you did because you felt you ‘should’.  Stay authentic. In your authenticity you will find peace and happiness.  Shine your light brightly and with integrity and, in doing so, you quietly encourage others to do the same.

Line yourself up with what feels right and feels good to you in every situation.  If it doesn’t feel good, just don’t do it.

Authentically yours,

Erin