Motivate to Get Them: A Mindfulness Meditation for Resolutions and Personal Goals

Are you struggling to make progress on your New Year’s Resolutions? Did you get started and have a slip? Having trouble getting started on them at all? If your answer was yes to any of these questions, then please know that you are not alone. Change is hard, especially when it comes to self-improvement.

As mentioned in the recent post, 14 Psychology Tips to Help You Reach Your New Year’s Resolutions, there is nothing that says we have to make resolutions. Nevertheless, each year in January, many people are inspired to keep the tradition of working on personal goals. Despite the best intentions about our New Year’s Resolutions, we may struggle to get started or make the progress we envisioned for ourselves.

If you are finding yourself struggling to get started or to make progress on your New Year’s Resolutions, it can be helpful to get in touch with what originally moved you to commit to making change in the first place. Often, we will find that the New Year’s Resolutions or personal goals we set for ourselves are connected to our values. (This would certainly be true if you followed the tips in New Year's Resolution Wins: To Get Them, Start with How You Set Them post.)

One path to reconnecting with our original motivation for New Year’s Resolutions, and underlying values, is through guided mindfulness meditation. The practice of mindfulness is an ancient Buddhist tradition that psychologists have found helps to reduce stress and anxiety and enhance overall well-being, among other benefits.

I invite you to try the below Motivate to Get Them Mindfulness Meditation, a short and simple practice with a focus on motivation for personal goals. It may prove helpful in reconnecting you to the original motivation behind your New Year’s Resolutions or personal goals any time of the year.

Transcription:

Welcome to the Motivate to Get Them Mindfulness Meditation, a short and simple practice with a focus on motivation for personal goals.

Let's begin by taking a moment to allow the body to settle into a comfy position…

You may wish to close your eyes or keep them slightly open with a soft focus looking downward a few feet in front of you ...

Allow your spine to lift and for your shoulders to soften.....

Today we will practice remembering motivation...

Taking a full breath in...

Holding for a few at the top…

and then a long, slow breath out ...

Allow the mind to rest on the breath ...

Now call to mind something where you might be feeling a lack of motivation.....

It could be a New Year’s Resolution...

Maybe it's a task at work you've been putting off...

Or perhaps it’s about repairing a relationship issue with a family member or friend.....

As you envision this issue, listen to these questions lightly and see what comes up...

there's no need to figure anything out right now, if nothing comes to mind just continue to focus on the breath   

and notice what thoughts arise letting them pass through your mind as if carried by a gentle breeze.....

Ask yourself, “when it comes to this issue what is my greatest aspiration?” ..........

And then ask, what about this issue is most important to me? ..........

What might be getting in the way of me addressing this issue? ..........

How do I want to show up in connection to this issue? .......

Notice how you feel when you consider these questions, the specific sensations in your body…

and again, there is nothing to figure out here, just notice what comes up for you

as you ask these next questions ...........

If this issue was in progress or completed, what would that mean to me? ..........

If this issue was in progress or completed, what would that feel like? ...

See if you can really feel that feeling, allowing yourself to fully absorb it ....................

As you experience these feelings of accomplishment, consider how you can access this place again the next time you face this issue…

How can you use these feelings as a source of focus? ..........

Can these feelings serve as a motivation for you to engage? ....................

and finally ask yourself, “what is my intention moving forward?” ....................

Let's finish this mindfulness meditation with a full deep breath in …

Holding for a few at the top

and finally, a long, slow breath out........

Thank You

Dr. Jennifer McManus is a licensed psychologist who helps people with forward movement towards their life goals at the new year and all year long. She regularly integrates the construct of mindfulness into her practice of psychology. If you think you may benefit from personalized and professional help with obstacles in the way of achieving your goals, please feel free to contact the psychotherapy practice of Dr. Jennifer McManus to learn more about available support. You can schedule a complimentary consultation, email, or call the office at 866-706-3665.