Springwolf’s 🐾 © 2015 Motto

The Year Long Affirmation

Many years ago I stopped making New Years Resolutions. I was never able to stick to them and keep them going the year through. Not being able to keep up with such a lofty goal was frustrating. To say the least. And left me feeling defeated, not empowered.

I began seeing Resolutions as Affirmations to Fail. What a negative and self-defeating concept. Setting yourself up to fail and feeling bad about not carrying through on the promise you made to yourself. How is this helpful? Well, for me it wasn’t helpful at all. So I stopped making Resolutions!

Instead I worked on creating a motto to carry me through the rough patches of the year. The harder the challenge, the more blunt the Motto was. Especially in the beginning of my new practice.

My first motto was designed to do nothing more than get me through a day of frustration and anger. In 2001 I didn’t like my Boss at the time, which meant I didn’t like my job either. But my Motto got me through those exceptionally rough days “I don’t care, I get paid.” And it worked. Pretty well actually. The group of people I managed at the time, took up my practice and new motto as well. Each time we hit a wall of frustration, someone would recite the motto and everyone would relax a little bit. Continue reading →