22 Goals for 2022 - It Always Starts With Gratitude

Back To Good

True to form, I’m a little late to the New Year’s resolution game. I wasn’t sure how to start. I remember being really excited for 2020 (clearly I have zero talent for predicting the future), and well, we all know how that went. We were cautiously optimistic for 2021 and things didn’t really get better. If you are like me, you are looking at 2022 with some serious trepidation. But I realized that I need to stop letting the world dictate how I am going to feel. I need to practice what I’ve been preaching, and find joy in the moment, whatever the situation. And that joy begins within.

I need to get back to myself. While some pre-pandemic things are back, things are not really the same. I’ve stopped doing so many of the things I love that help bring meaning and purpose to my life. I haven’t been writing here regularly. My yoga studio closed and I haven’t been teaching – or practicing. I haven’t been meditating or eating well. And I’m turning into a flubby blob of uselessness and sadness.

So – time to turn it around. Which for me means making small changes, and being willing to make some really big ones as well. Even if it means letting go of some things I’ve worked really really hard on, and being willing to blow it all up and start from scratch. In this case, they kind of blew up on their own, but maybe that was just the kick in the butt I needed to start all over.

22 For 2022

So this year, I will be making 22 resolutions for 2022! Most will be little things, but they will all be steps in the right direction to help me gain perspective and get back on track. Some I will write about it details, but I will post them all on social media so that you can follow along. I can’t promise that I will be successful in everything I implement, but I promise to be honest about my efforts and my journey.

Item #1 – Gratitude

For me, it always starts with gratitude. This is an easy and really effective way to change your perspective and start seeing the good in the world and in our lives. An attitude of gratitude has been shown to increase health, happiness, and mental wellbeing. And, as best-selling author Melody Beattie puts it “ “Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Practicing Gratitude

My gratitude practice used to be an important part of my day (even though it only took a few minutes), but that kind of fell by the wayside. Luckily, it’s super easy to pick right back up. My favorite way to practice gratitude is by keeping a gratitude journal. I just take literally about 5 minutes a day to write down 3 things I’m thankful for. I personally like to do this first thing in the morning. Then, it helps set the tone for the day and I start off seeing the positive. And when I’m feeling not-so-positive, it always helps to look at the many blessings I’ve written down before.

Practicing gratitude can flip your whole perspective. There is plenty of good AND bad in the world. You will start to feel that you life is full of whichever one YOU choose to focus on. After all, the energy we project is the energy we attract!

I think a gratitude practice should be personal – it doesn’t matter what you write or how big or small the thing is, just that it means something to you. So, I’m not really one for those social media gratitude challenges. To me those end up being more about what people want others to see rather than what they are truly thankful for. I don’t want to read about someone being super thankful for their beach house or Caribbean vacation lol, and I don’t want my own blessings to be judged by anyone else. Anyway, I think of gratitude as a choice, not a challenge.

Some people don’t practice gratitude because it seems too easy. That is not true. Eventually with practice (like anything) it becomes easier. And small steps absolutely make a big difference. But it is so much easier to focus on the negative and complain about it than to make a conscience effort to be thankful for the big and small blessings in your life. It’s NOT easy, but it is worth it!