The Fairy Godmother’s Solutions to Resolutions

by Fairy Godmother

Did you know that on average New Year’s Resolutions last 2 weeks?

So why do we even bother?

The beginning of the year is always pregnant with possibility and potential for people, it is like someone has cleaned the slate of the past and now we get to recreate our lives and our futures. For most people at the end of the old year there is a cycle of reflection and looking back on the year past and then the new year is the season of new beginnings and the energy and excitement that comes with a new year is a very powerful catalyst for creating an incredible year. But if New Year’s resolutions don’t really work, then why even make them? Exactly, throw them out, I say! And now instead I am going to give you the Fairy Godmother’s guide to powerfully creating a phenomenal year in 2009.

New Year’s Resolutions

Set Intentions rather than resolutions

That all-knowing mama-ship of words, the Dictionary, says that an intention is

“the act of determining mentally upon some action or the result specifically with the end in mind.”

It is really just thinking about the outcome of what you want. It is different to a resolution which is about resolve and determination and is often about stopping or giving something up. Intention is much lighter, it is merely a kind of wishful thinking about what you want.

Why even set an intention?

Wishes, dreams, goals and intentions give us a sense of direction in our lives, a sense of where we are going and what we are moving towards. Just think: When you are driving, you know where you want to go and you plot out your route. If you didn’t know where you where going to, then at every stop street you would be turning left or right and where would you then end up? Probably going around in circles, which is how a lot of people experience their lives – the past being repeated over and over again.

Sign posts

An exercise for setting intentions:

Lie down on the floor and close your eyes, become aware of your breathing and gently relax now imagine that you are in December 2009 – you can be anywhere you decide that you want to be – you may be on your summer holiday, at a party with friends, the last day at the office. Take a look around your surroundings – what do you see, what do you hear, what do you feel? Now imaging that there is someone that you are speaking to – it could be a work colleague, friend, partner, family member. Now imagine that you are telling them about your incredible 2009 and why it has been so fantastic – tell them about all the things that have happened during the year that have made it your best year yet. Now imagine that you have your cell phone or digital camera with you while you are chatting to them and while you are talking you are flicking through and showing them photos of all the incredible things that have happened during 2009. Hear yourself speaking to them, see the photos of what has happened in the year and feel the emotions of excitement and elation and happiness as you speak to them.

When you are ready, you then open your eyes and write down on a piece of paper all of the things that you told the person in your imagination about what had happened in 2009.

These are now your intentions for 2009.
Put these up in your bedroom, bathroom mirror, office – somewhere visible so that you can see them often and reflect on them.

Now every morning for the next 30 days, close your eyes and imagine the story that you have just created of the day in December 2009. Imagine it with all five of your senses, as if you are really there.

I did this exercise in January of 2008 to powerfully set-up my year. I imagined myself walking in a forest in Argentina, speaking Spanish and telling a friend about the magic and amazing things that happened during 2008.

As I write this post, a year later, I am aware of having completely manifested my own reality. I am sitting now overlooking a still, vibrant-blue lake and magnificent mountains of a little town called Bariloche in Argentina. A few days ago it happened I reality, that walk in the forest, and one of the things that I delightedly shared with my friend was the fact that my dream of inspiring thousands of people through my writing has come true through being approached by South Africa’s biggest publisher to write a book – which I am excited to say I have just completed. Something that a year ago seemed highly improbable, merely a wishful thinking dream, has come true.

Below is a pictue of a room that I have spent a lot of time in over the last month while writing my book – as you can see it has magnificent views of the lakes and mountains.

My bariloche writing spot

That is the power of this exercise. Create your life, as you wish it to be.

Make your intentions outcome based

The trick with setting powerful intentions is to start with a clear picture of the final outcome making up a story of what you want to have happen. As an example an intention for 2009 could be to start your own business. In setting this intention imagine yourself in your own offices, speaking to clients on the phone or out having lunch with your 3 big clients that you have been working with for the last few months. Get a clear mental image and sense of what you want.

Make sure they are positive outcome images

Often we make resolutions about things we don’t want to do – like

I want to give-up smoking;

I want to stop eating fatty foods,

I want to stop having late nights,

I want to get out of debt,

I want to stop working such long hours and being stressed.

When you create your intentions be aware of the image that comes up in your mind when you think about it. Eg. when you say I want to give up smoking the image that appears in your head is of you smoking, or when you say I want to stop working long hours the image that appears in your minds-eye is one of sitting behind your desk, with work stacked up and working long hours. So make sure any intention that you set brings up positive images of what you want eg. instead of
“I want to give up smoking” replace it with
“I am healthy, vital and energetic and truly care for my body”
and then imagine yourself doing gym classes, eating good food and feeling well.

Instead of “I am going to stop working long hours and being stressed”
– “I am leading a balanced life where work and play are equally combined”
and then imagine yourself playing with your kids at home without being distracted and leaving work at 5 feeling good about what you have done that day.

Speak the intentions as if they are in the present

Our thoughts, words and actions truly create our realities. So many of us are unaware about the power of our thoughts and words in creating our lives. Movies like ‘the Secret’ and ‘What the bleep’ have begun to open up general consciousness to the power of our thoughts and that our thoughts truly do become things, however our speaking and action are just as important as our thoughts – because speaking and action are more physical than our thoughts. However, so many people speak and act unconsciously, unaware of the impact on their lives. Watch your words. They create your world.

In the intentions used above eg. I am leading a balanced life where work and play are equally combined, you will see that they are formed in the present tense using ‘I am’ rather than in the future like ‘I am going to’, or ‘I will lead a balanced life’.
Here’s analogy about why you should speak intentions in the present. Imagine you are planting a beautiful vegetable garden, you buy lettuce seeds from the nursery; you dig holes and place the lettuce seeds in them; and then you water those seeds every few days. You would say to a friend “I have planted lettuces in my vegetable garden”. What you have done in reality is just put seeds in the ground, but because you are so certain that they will grow into lettuces you say “I have planted lettuces”, like the lettuces already exist. Your words automatically create an image in your mind of beautiful green, succulent lettuces growing in the soil.

It is the same with intentions. When you speak intentions and think thoughts in the present tense what you are doing is planting the seed of intention like it is true now and while it may not be where your current circumstances have lead you today, by using the present tense you are planting the potential seed that will grow into the beautiful reality of your desired future.

Wishing

Take time out to set your intentions

If you really want to create a life that you love with all your dreams coming true then as a Fairy Godmother, who knows all about making dreams come true, I highly recommend that you take a few hours for yourself to do this intention setting exercise, write them down, stick them up and then spend time imagining the outcome and have a fun, playful, magical and kick-ass 2009!

January 5, 2009 No Comments