Ring out the old, ring in the new. Ring, happy bells, across the snow; The year is going, let it go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. These words written by Alfred Lord Tennyson reflect the practice of releasing the woes and challenges of the passing year while welcoming the promise of new beginnings. As you usher in the start of a new year, it is customary to vow to refrain from participating in self-defeating ways of thinking and being and to initiate a shift in consciousness that would lead to the experience of greater vitality, health, wealth, harmony, love, and joy.
Making New Year resolutions and setting intentions are practices that elicit excitement and hope. According to researcher John Norcross, the feelings of possibility and excitement within many, and the promises made by individuals to keep resolutions are strong the first few weeks of the new year. However, by February the level of motivation and commitment begins to wane. Additionally, his work and the studies of others show that only 8% of the people experience the fulfillment of intentions set. Are you part of the 92% who fail to see the manifestation of your aspirations? If so, have you ever pondered how you can be more successful in realizing your dreams?
If you are truly serious about bringing your intentions into expression you must apprehend that the penning of intentions is only the first step in the creative process. Setting intentions are the seeds of Divine Ideas. Like seeds you plant in the earth, you must tend to them regularly with great care in order for them to bloom and thrive. Other nutrients that will allow the desires of your heart to sprout are affirmative prayer and the conscious activation of your Spiritual Powers of Faith, Imagination, Elimination, Life, Will, and Order.
Faith is synonymous with belief. You must ask yourself the following: “Do I have an unwavering belief that I Am worthy of that which I desire?… Do I know with my whole heart and soul that I am a Divine Being who has the ability to draw forth from the Invisible Absolute Realm my Good?” If you answered no to one or both of these questions your soil is arid and will not support the germination of the seeds of your intentions. If you doubt your worthiness and co-creative abilities, through the Power of Elimination you can disengage your energy from self-limiting beliefs and through the practice of affirmative prayer you can passionately declare your Divinity and claim your Good.
Water helps to transport nutrients from the soil throughout the seedling and helps it to stand tall. Like water, the Power of Imagination is a carrier of needed nutrients. It becomes the vibrational conveyor of what we zealously intend in image form. Daily devotion to visualization sends passionately charged radio waves to the invisible, energetic Substance of the Universe and singles it to produce after its kind. Not only must you visualize your intentions in manifest form, but you must be willing to give the nutrient of Life to your visions. Life is given to your desires by taking action to animate your intentions. You further vitalize your seedling by embodying the attitude and behaviors as if you were living the Truth of your intentions.
Seedlings in fresh bloom are susceptible to the unpredictable weather patterns of Mother Earth. Likewise, along our journey, we often experience unexpected challenges, and we must call forth our Powers of Will, our determination, and Order, our flexibility, to stay the course and adapt to the day to day changes that occur in our lives long after the first of the year passes.
Finally, you would not expect a newly planted seed to grow into full bloom in a couple of weeks or even months, yet many naively believe that the sole practice of writing or speaking an intention passionately for a few days or weeks will produce their heart’s desire like magic. As you set your intentions for 2018, may you be willing to cultivate them with the needed nutrients and only then will you come to realize the desires of your heart.