Personal Growth

New Year’s Possibilities: Say Goodbye to the Old and Call in the New

Times of transition give you a great opportunity to reevaluate many areas of your life. The turning of the year is a time when people make resolutions to start a new diet, recommit to the gym membership, or call their mothers more frequently. However, it also gives you the opportunity to look deeper into your spiritual goals and ask yourself what do you really want at the level of your soul.

Release the Old for the New

Before embracing the new, it’s necessary to create space by resolving any issues from the previous year. As T.S. Elliot wrote, “Last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.” Take a few minutes to recap or review the main events of your life during the last year.

Do this fairly quickly and notice any times you get stuck or feel some emotional charge. Accept whatever happened has happened; there’s nothing you can do to change it now. Forgive anyone you feel may have harmed you in some way; forgive yourself if there’s any guilt. Ask yourself what is the most important thing you learned from all the experiences you had last year. Ask yourself, “For what am I grateful?” Doing this releases any old energies, allowing the freedom to create whatever you wish to manifest in the coming year.

The New Year awaits you with a bounty of Infinite Possibilities—the only limits are the ones you put on it. When you ask yourself, “What do I really, really want?” be bold! If your desires are wimpy, you’ll be guaranteeing yourself a wimpy year. Is there anything you’ve been hesitant about doing? Maybe now is the time to do it. Look deep within and discover the magic that’s hiding there.

What Is Your Deepest Desire? How Can You Serve?

Start to find your magic by finding a few minutes of quiet time each day for a week. Sit, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Bring your awareness into your heart center in the middle of your chest. Now silently ask yourself the following questions, each two or three times. Ask the question, pause, and then listen to whatever answers come. Listen without judging or evaluating—there are no right or wrong answers. Allow the answers to arise from your heart and your soul rather than the ego.

· “What do I really, really want? What is my deepest desire?”

· “What is my purpose? Why am I here? How can I serve?”

Each day write down whatever answers came to you, again without evaluation. At the end of the week, review all your answers. Notice if they’ve changed during the week. Usually the first answers are more superficial and as you continue, you begin to form a picture of your heart’s deepest desires and your soul’s true purpose. Now choose two or three of the answers that most resonate with you and your spiritual journey. Form them into a simple phrase or sentence. Don’t worry about ignoring your more superficial desires, they will either get fulfilled or transmuted into something greater as you activate your deeper desires and purpose.

Repeat Your Desire

Memorize and silently repeat your sentence every day during some quiet period, perhaps before or after a meditation, and before bed at night. Repeat the sentence and imagine you are letting it settle into the field of inner silence, like planting a seed in the fertile land of infinite possibilities and infinite organizing power. Let go of any attachment to the outcome and allow the Universe to begin organizing everything for delivery at exactly the right moment and in a perfect format. Feel free to repeat asking the questions, and changing or modifying your sentence as you progress through the year.

By following this simple procedure, the Universe will handle the details. After all, it’s your Universe. However, there are a few things you can do from your side to help the process. Your mind and body are the instruments through which the Divine expresses itself. Very simply, think of the mind and body like a window and the Divine like the sun, shining through it. If the window is dirty, you will only get a partial or distorted view of the sun. Likewise, the more stress, fatigues, and toxins in your physiology, the harder it is for the Divine to shine through you and create the life you deserve.

Embrace the Pillars of Health

Deepak Chopra recommends that you pay attention to what he calls the Pillars of Health:

· Sleep: Aim for seven to eight hours of good-quality sleep every night.

· Meditation: Spend time every day in silence, reconnecting with your inner self

· Exercise: Move your body every day by walking, doing simple yogic stretching, or weight training.

· Emotions: Be aware of your relationships—are they supporting your spiritual goals?

· Nutrition: Eat healthy, fresh foods with a focus on fruits and vegetables.

· Grounding: Stay connected to Mother Earth—spend time in nature.

How to Live a Happy, Healthy Life

Here are a few more guidelines to help you live a happy, healthy, and spiritually fulfilled life.

· Stay alert and awake to the opportunities. Life’s blessings don’t always manifest exactly how you thought they would.

· In times of struggle ask yourself, “Is there a better way of doing this?”

· When in doubt, always ask your heart or Higher Self for guidance.

· Dont waste your power. Don’t give your power to your ego—don’t let it run your life. Don’t give your power to what you are not.

· Look for the Joy in everything you do. There will always be bumps in the road but, overall, does your life and your spiritual practice bring you Joy? If not, look within to see what needs to be changed.

· Live your life consciously. Don’t make rash decisions. Be patient, you have eternity.

· Live your life from Love not fear.

· Learn to think with your heart and love with your mind.

· Find your Truth from within.

· Be open and listen to other points of view but don’t allow others to control your life.

· Serve the planet and everyone on it with unconditional love.

· Raise your vibration. As Einstein said, “You can never solve a problem at the level at which the problem was created.” Rise above life’s challenges.

· Be graceful in everything you do and attract abundance on all levels.

· Live in your Love and Light; breathe it from the Cosmos. Fill yourself with them. Be them.

And remember, enjoy your year but don’t take any of it too seriously. This time next year you’ll be looking back on it all as if it was a dream!


Learn how to release old unwanted behaviors and embrace new healthy habits through meditation with Deepak Chopra and Roger Gabriel in our Primordial Sound Meditation Online Course. Learn More.