Celebrate your wins no matter how small - incremental upgrades can take us far!

Rather than beating ourselves up over starting to slack on our new year resolutions, try celebrating every win, no matter how small. Embodying the joy of our wins is likely to result in more success than focussing on our perceived shortcomings

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We are well into January now and if you did set yourself New Year’s resolutions, perhaps you’re noticing after the initial flourish and enthusiasm, they’re going on the wane slightly, you’re sliding a bit and dropping the enthusiasm and reality is biting.

Once we’ve been back to work and got back into our original routines, trying to introduce new routines can feel quite tiring as well. It’s still winter and the heart of winter here in the UK with the dark mornings, the dark nights.

So if you notice those great intentions sliding slightly already, please cut yourself some slack. New habits are really hard to entrench and engrain.

I liken it to brushing my teeth. I know I’m supposed to brush my teeth really lightly and then floss, and the main focus should be on the flossing. And time and time again I noticed how I really grind down into my brushing and forget the flossing sometimes. And I laugh at myself when that happens, because I know deep down the new habits and new ways of brushing my teeth are the better ones; this is what my dentist tells me all the time.

And yet, I’m on autopilot sometimes in the morning and I just do what I’ve always done. And it does raise a chuckle in me because I think wow it just shows how ingrained old habits are. Old habits die really slowly. Especially when we’re going about our business on autopilot.

So I invite you to consider that and cut yourself some slack when you do notice your new year’s resolution – when the tinge is gone and the enthusiasm waning slightly;  cut yourself some slack, have a chuckle when you notice the expectations are having to get dropped a bit because life gets in the way as well.

And rather, just tend to yourself with some compassion, some love, some appreciation for what you ARE managing to do.

And when you do what you do want to do and implement these new resolutions let’s say, really drop into how great it feels, how good it feels. Because that’s what we want to hold on to - the embodied experience of entrenching and putting into place the new habit.

And the more we focus on that, the more it will become second nature.

Embodiment is the key. How good does it feel when you are actually implementing the new practice.  Just in and of itself - implementing the new practice, as well as how proud of yourself you can feel afterwards. And that will serve you well.