I don’t do new year’s resolutions. At all. It was liberating a couple years ago when I made that decision.

What do I do instead?

I prepare for the new year.

I start by closing the previous year (more on that here). Then I prepare for the new year by dreaming, planning and strategizing. My Core Desired Feelings (CDFs), a Word of the Year, and a Mantra of the Year are my tools.

Core Desired Feelings (CDFs)

I review my Core Desired Feelings (CDFs) and ask myself: are they still exactly the way I want to feel? I say them out loud and pay attention to the response in my gut and in my heart. I need to feel yesssssss.

Once settled on my CDFs I ask myself: what will I do to feel that way? In that answer I find my word of the year, sometimes my mantra of the year is hidden in there too. I save this list because it’s a wonderful list of things, experiences, goals and intentions.

New to Core Desired Feelings? Check out my post here and the book here that started it all.

Word of the Year

My word of the year helps me focus my core desired feelings. It goes like this:

I will … [word of the year] so that I feel … [core desired feelings]

So my word of the year helps me feel the way I want to feel (my CDFs). I use a great free workbook to get me started (get it here) and look back on my earlier journaling for more inspiration.

Mantra of the Year

Mantras are an important part of my meditation practice so I write a special one for the year that I use to check-in and re-focus myself. I also use my CDFs as a mantra, but my mantra of the year is meant to shake up thought patterns or habits.

I re-read my previous journaling and day dreams. I consider my CDFs and my word of the year, then ask myself: what can I do differently to help me feel that way? During that journaling a sentence catch my eye or reading an entry triggers a thought.

In meditation I ask: what should I focus on this year, what should I do to help myself create a wonderful year, and what can I do to help myself learn what I need to learn. And then I stay open to receiving the answer. When I get the mantra, I just know.

Why do I prepare for my year like this?

My CDFs + Word of the Year + Mantra of the Year = My Compass

It’s direction.

A map for the year.

Vision Board

Then I create a Vision Board based on my map for the year. I look through a variety of magazines (styles, content, etc.) and find images, words, colours that represent the vision that I am holding for my year. Sometimes I go online and find a few specifics – especially true for those images I hold in my mind’s eye during meditation.

Then I play some inspiring music and sort through the images. I choose the ones that really resonate with me. I paste them on a large poster board, decorating with patterned scrapbooking paper, cutting and tearing as needed.

I like to write my Core Desired Feelings, my word of the year, and my mantra in a special gold pen. I write other words, sentences, song lyrics, etc. with coloured markers. I like to write these particularly important words in my own hand.  Some years, I have written down specific goals on my vision board as well.

When you’ve got the map, you know where you’re going and you’ll know when you get there.

The Vision Board is yours and yours alone. So you can decide how you want to make it, these are simply my suggestions and best practices. The most important thing before creating your Vision Board is getting clear on what you want – and to me that means how do you want to feel. I am hosting The Desire Map workshops and special Desire Map + Vision Boarding workshops that can help (details here). I’d love to guide you through this process.

The bottom line

No resolutions for me. Just clarity. Heart. And soul.

This post contains affiliate links for Danielle LaPorte. Her book, The Desire Map, made such an impact on me that I became a Licensed Desire Map Facilitator. I’m so proud to be part of this revolution of the heart. I’d love for you to check it out with my affiliate link right here.