At the start of each year, I definitely set new goals – for business and life. I also, do a lot of planning and preparing. To me, January feels like a new season, especially for business (you know, a new tax year).

But, the person I am doesn’t need to change. The person I am is great. She sets new goals and calls in new things but she doesn’t need to become someone new every year (unless I really want that).

Instead, I like to think “New Year, Expanded You.”

Instead of becoming an entirely new person, I like to focus on expanding who I am each year. It’s okay to want to grow, improve and expand. That’s normal and healthy. Humans need to grow.

So, if you’re like me and you seek expansion and growth, try these 5 tips to start the new year on your best manifestation foot:

1. Craft Your Vision Board

I know, sounds cliqué, but trust me on this one. Vision boards are incredibly helpful, especially for visual people.

But don’t just throw a bunch of really nice looking photos on it. Be intentional about this. Take some time to reflect or meditate on what you truly want to bring into this year. Then, find photos that match the vision in your head and your ideal life.

When we start by focusing on the person we want to be then the things we want to manifest naturally come. And it can give you a good benchmark.

When thinking about what you want to bring into your life if you know who you want to be, who you want to embody, ask yourself “Is this something my ideal self would have?” If yes, put it on the board!

2. Rituals for Manifesting Abundance

New Years is a great time to get cozy and dig deep. Including feel-good, calming and supportive rituals into your New Year practice can help you reflect on the year you just had and align for the year you’re starting.

You could try something like:

• Light your favourite candle (or 10)
• Find a comfy and quiet spot in your house
• Wrap yourself up in your favourite blanket so you’re warm
• Take some deep, grounding breaths
• Do a visualization:
  • Start by acknowledging the abundance that’s already around you. Think about what is abundant in your house, what’s abundant outside, what’s abundant in the world, etc.
  • Express gratitude for the abundance that’s all around you
  • Next, think about what type of abundance you want to call in this year (money, love, friends, etc.) and ask the universe for it, if it’s for your highest good
  • At the end, thank the universe for the gifts it provides
• You can journal on what came up during this if you like.

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3. Cultivate New Year Mindfulness

Mindfulness and mindfulness practices are the keys to habit change and ultimately making positive and lasting changes in your life. Mindfulness can actually heal and change the circuits of the brain.

Mindful meditation “changes the balance of brain activity between the higher order cortical regions responsible for attention and strengthens executive control over the activation of these attentional networks.” It can help our mind sway more to the positive than the negative, it can help reprogram our thoughts, it can strengthen many of our brain systems and it can support stronger brain functioning – among other things.

Find mindfulness practices that can be done daily, consistently to build up and strengthen your brain and thinking. Once you begin to change your thoughts your behaviours (including your actions and habits) begin to change as well.

Some ideas for mindfulness habits could be:

• Starting a gratitude journal
• Meditation practice
• Moon rituals
• Body scans
• Deep breathing or breathing practices
• Cold plunges/sauna/infrared therapy
• Mindful movement/stretching
• Slow living practices

Or find your own that you love and work for you. But, now is a great time to find a practice you love and stick with it. The changes will be endless and the growth and expansion will allow you to manifest with ease.

4. Manifest Gratitude in the New Year

A key component in effective manifestation is gratitude. If you’re not grateful for what you already have in your life, it can be hard to feel like anything is good enough. You can also be grateful for things you have not manifested yet as if you have already manifested them.

Grab a new journal and make it a daily practice to record a list of things you are grateful for. It doesn’t have to be a lot but make it something you do daily. Everything, big and small. Some days, it is harder to come up with gratitudes, so I am grateful for the small things like a roof over my head or the fact that I could eat.

I include creating a gratitude list in my New Year’s ritual. I create a large list of everything I was grateful for (that I can remember) from the year we just had. I like to start here as I think it sets a positive tone for the rest of the ritual.

For the rest of the year, I create smaller lists (3-5) every day.

5. Create Affirmations for New Beginnings

Affirmations are a simple yet powerful practice to create positive and lasting mental change that results in overall growth and expansion in life.

During my New Year’s ritual, I create a word for the year. From that word, I create an affirmation that includes it so I’m always reminded of my word and am able to use it in a functional way.

The way you talk to yourself matters. What you’re saying becomes a message to your brain and your brain begins to believe it. If you’re always telling yourself you just don’t succeed, that becomes embedded in your brain and your brain helps you live up to this expectation.

Therefore, if we constantly tell ourselves positive things about our ability, we will live up to that expectation. So, start your year off by creating a powerful affirmation for yourself based on the dream life you desire. Write it down and place it somewhere you’ll see it and repeat it to yourself every day, multiple times a day.

Your start of the year practice does not have to be complicated. It’s also incredibly important to have an ongoing practice throughout the year. The goals and intentions you set at the start of the year aren’t a one-and-done. You can’t think of something once, in the spur of the moment and expect that they’ll magically reach you.

But, having a solid practice/ritual to start the year and a plan to consistently maintain throughout the year, is the key to expanding and continuing to grow into the person with the life you desire.

XO,
Sarah