New Year Intention- Be (the) Light

Happy new year and new decade! Welcome to 2020. I started a tradition of setting a new year intention a few years ago to help ground and guide me for the new year. Anybody who knows me knows how much I love new things: new changes, new chances, new opportunities, and new beginnings. Speaking as a true Aries, I love beginning new things and setting new year’s resolutions was no exception. These resolutions were your conventional ones of losing weight, adopting a healthier diet, exercising more and pursuing my dreams with vigor. As with all new things, life would quickly mask these resolutions and they would be a distant memory by February.

Instead of resolutions, I’ve found that setting a carefully crafted intention to be both fulfilling and rewarding. It’s also easier to uphold and maintain an intention than a resolution. There’s something more grand and meaningful in an intention. A new year intention provides me with focus and clarity about my goals for the upcoming year and is a way for me to remember the things in my life that are the most significant. My new year intention becomes my mantra, something that I can recite daily to remind myself of my purpose. I try to pick intentions that can overlap the personal and the professional spheres, that have multiple applications and meanings, and that provide direction for the year ahead.

This year, my new year intention is to be (the) light. As the oldest child and now a mother, wife, and lawyer, worry, anxiety and stress have always been my middle name. For most of my life, bedtime would be riddled with anxiety, my sleep restless and interrupted. This year, I want to be light in my mind and with my thoughts. I want to be light with myself, to not take myself so seriously. Simply put, I want to lighten up and enjoy the ride.

Gandhi had once said “I must reduce myself to zero” and with being light, my hope is that I can reduce my self, my ego, to zero. Through mindfulness and meditation, I hope that I can reduce my inner critic, my conditioning and societal pressures and demands down to nothing such that my true self can emerge.

I want to be light in my consumption, from food to consumer goods to unnecessary waste. While of course I want to lose weight, this new year intention is much more than that. Being light to me means consuming less, being mindful of the resources I am using, and trying to minimize my carbon footprint and harm to the planet. In addition, I want to be light in my use of social media and to not depend on it as much as I have these past few years.

Lastly, be the light comes from my desire to be a positive source of inspiration for my children. In the daily grind of life and work, it is easy to forget how much influence we have over our children and how much they try to emulate and please us. My intention this year is to be the light for children, Kabir and Navya, so that they too can shine.

As we break into the new year, I wish you all love, peace, health, wellness and most of all, light.