New Year, New Goals

Well, it's that time again where everyone gives themselves new goals to accomplish for the year. Too many times in the past I've given myself new year's resolutions that I never follow through with. This year they are different than usual so I think there is a greater chance I will accomplish them. I guess I should say that I will accomplish them.

1. I will be happy in the now. Too many of us have goals that we want to achieve in order to bring us happiness. I've come to the realization that happiness must be found in the current moment. It must be found in the everyday mundane things. All the goals I have will be to better my life, but I hope to always be content in the present rather than waiting to reach happiness. I think I accomplish this already for the most part, but sometimes I let things get to me that in the great scheme of things don't really matter.


2. I will regularly do yoga. Not only do I want to perform the asanas on a regular basis (i.e. every single morning), I also want to learn and practice other aspects of yoga. Western yoga only focuses on the asanas, or poses. Eastern yoga touches base with a more spiritual experience.


3. I will begin growing my own food. I want to start gardening on a regular basis. Any vegetation that I purchase, I would like to obtain from only local sources. The 100 Mile Diet is a great website that explains very simply why eating locally is beneficial.


4. I will stop shopping at corporations. Although I am not perfect about this, I rarely purchase new clothing anymore. For the most part the only items I purchase from corporations are food items. This includes groceries and restaurants. There are enough Mom and Pop restaurants around here that I should never set foot in another Taco Bell or Olive Garden. The groceries will take a while to shift away from, but my previous goal will surely help some.


5. I will begin following a natural cycle. We are so caught up in manmade time that we tend to do more harm to our bodies than good. We should naturally begin to get sleepy as night falls rather than switching on a flip to keep us awake. If we went to bed as we naturally should, we would wake up earlier along with the sunrise. There is a reason that nature provides us with less light in the winter season. If only we would follow this pattern and let our bodies sleep for longer periods as nature intended.

Basically, I would like to do a lot of soul searching this year. I feel that we are so far off from our natural state and I would love to get more in touch with that.