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(Written by an attendee)
I attended the New Years Intentions meeting that was held at Dawn’s house last week and was so affected by the experience that it inspired me to write this article. This year, when it came to making News Years Resolutions (or Intentions), I was all set to forgo the tradition. I figured I never keep them so why even bother making them? But I was intrigued when I found out about the meeting and read the questions for reflection so I decided to give it a shot. Besides, I couldn’t resist a chance to get together with other women for a night of socializing without our kids around. Of course I waited until the last minute to answer the questions and tried to focus my attention as best as I could in the last few moments of Madison’s nap. Needless to say it was difficult to give much thought to my answers as I listened to Madison crying for me to come and get her. Even though I didn’t feel prepared, I still thought going to the meeting would be worthwhile.
Fortunately the meeting was exactly what I needed. We all sat around on the floor in a quiet and comfortable setting and Dawn explained her way of making New Years Intentions. Then we spent the rest of the evening quietly reflecting and writing on our own. Some people shared what they were writing and some did not – there wasn’t any pressure to share anything. I had a hard time at first coming up with resolutions because I felt pretty content with my life as it was, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized all the different ways I could make my life even better and the list of intentions got longer and longer. As I was driving home, I realized that the act of writing the intentions and having the opportunity to do it in a quiet environment surrounded by other women with the same purpose made me feel more excited about the year ahead and motivated to make my intentions come true. It helped move me from simply being content with my life to making it more meaningful.
One phrase keeps running through my head – you get out of life what you put into it. I took a chance to try something new and it’s given me a fresh new perspective. So this year, I encourage you to try something new and hopefully you’ll also be pleasantly surprised by what happens when you do.
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