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What’s Your New Year’s Mantra?

by | Last updated: Dec 31, 2023 | Blog, Mind/Body | 3 comments

Most of us make New Year’s resolutions. Promises to make changes… lose weight, make more money, get organized, be happier. Many of us make the same resolutions every year. And for a couple of months, we are committed. And most of us fail to keep our resolutions.

Twenty years ago, my husband and I decided to break tradition and choose a New Year’s Mantra for the year.

No more resolutions for us… only Mantras. A word or phrase that summed up the spirit of our intentions for the year.

You may be familiar with mantras as a repetitive prayer chanted to aid meditation. A Sanskrit word meaning “sacred counsel”, a New Year’s Mantra becomes divine guidance for twelve months.

On New Years Eve 2001, we chose our first Mantra – Ease. Everything we did that year was based on Ease. If we were struggling with a decision, we chose Ease and took the path of least resistance. That year was a year of change, big change. Our son graduated high school and went off to college, our daughter started high school, and we moved. We sold our home, a rental property, and gave up the lease on my health care clinic. With layers of real estate contingencies, our decision appeared convoluted, seemingly not one of Ease. It took a lot of faith to let go of everything and relax in the flow.

On a warm spring day in Ventura, I was waiting in my office when a new patient canceled her two-hour consultation. Frustrated without my computer to work on my book, and with two teenagers, there was lots to be done at home, yet I was stuck at my clinic… and then I had a brilliant idea. What if I could have it all? A house for our family, a barn for our horses, and room for my holistic health care practice, so healing and creating would be like eating and breathing? It was time to move.

Eight years before, I had dreamt of a little yellow house with white shutters in a forest. Twice before we tried to sell our old house yet we could not find the perfect place…

Until the year of Ease.

In 2002, California real estate was hot. Homes were selling in a matter of days at the top price, yet not for us. Our real estate agent fussed, my husband worried, but I knew that nothing would sell until we found the perfect place that would fill all of our needs. And I insisted on Ease. I refused to struggle with anything. Only that which presented itself with Ease would do.

Then we found something, not quite perfect, but it would do. Before putting in a bid, we wanted to explore the neighborhood. So we walked our dogs through the beautiful park, like Arbolada in Ojai and came across… a little yellow house with white shutters sheltered by trees. With a sale by owner sign right by the mailbox.

“This is it!” I cried, tied the dogs to an oak tree, and knocked on the door.

A woman opened the door, took one look at me, put her hand to her mouth, and whispered, “You… you’re the one who’s supposed to live here!”

I nodded. She sadly shook her head, “But we already have a bid.”

“Don’t worry,” I reassured her and myself, “this is the house from my dreams. Everything will work out.”

And it did. Everything came together with an Ease that took our breath away. We have chosen mantras each New Years since.

So how do you choose a Mantra?

Well, you can start by making resolutions or intentions for the New Year and then search for a theme in your resolutions. Underneath the surface of your list of resolutions, what do you truly desire? At the heart of your intentions, what does your soul need?

Are you resolving to make more money, get out of debt, spend more time with your loved ones? Perhaps your mantra is Freedom.

Or do you intend to lose weight, get your blood pressure down, eat better? Perhaps your mantra is Health.

Or perhaps life has been so crazy difficult lately, that Ease feels like the perfect Mantra for you.

Between Ease and Love, we have chosen Mantras of Freedom, Peace, Being in the Moment, Rejuvenation. The year we chose Rejuvenation, we got a jacuzzi and remodeled our kitchen, rejuvenating our bodies and our home.

After much consideration, I decided that my 2024 mantra will be PEACE.

Why?

Because it’s time to release all worry about the future, regret of the past and live in acceptance of the present.

That is the lesson I learned last year – I meant to get out of my own way and make some grand shifts yet life threw some obstacles. Particularly spending the last half of the year dealing with my declining father.

So with the help of my four-year-old granddaughter who insists I just BE… I relaxed into the flow of letting go.

For me, Peace is calm acceptance, happiness, absence of worry, and being in the flow.

Peace is a precursor to joy.

May 2024 find you being your truth, loving yourself, and living your Mantra to the fullest!

Blessings of Love and Light,

Deborah

About the Author - Deborah Maragopoulos FNP

Known as the Hormone Queen®️, I’ve made it my mission to help everyone – no matter their age – balance their hormones, and live the energy and joy their DNA and true destiny desires. See more about me my story here…

     

3 Comments

  1. Joseph Bialobzeski

    Wonderful idea. Resolutions never really appealed to me but this idea does.

    As I approached retirement in 2015 I looked forward to having the time to do some of the things I never found time to do before. I made a list and one of the things I decided to do was to create. Simple as that. I guess I could say that has been one of my mantras. I want to create for the fun of it.

    I also just wanted to me happy, to find joy everywhere. That was difficult for me while working. I even wrote myself a little poem:

    THE BEST IN LIFE IS WHAT I’M AFTER
    PEACE, LOVE, JOY,
    HARMONY AND LAUGHTER

    At some point after retirement I decided to stop pretending and to just be real in my relationships. At my workplace I had to deal with a lot of folks I would not have consciously chosen to be with, but now I do not have to and “stop pretending” became my mantra. If a relationship is not working for me I do not pretend that it is anymore. Family, friend or foe, it does not matter. That mantra has caused some issues. Perhaps I need to moderate it a bit. Maybe my new year mantra should be about flexibility or tolerance.

    Or perhaps just being more patient with myself and others. I do realize that there is an ebb and flow to life and that everything comes to us exactly when it is supposed to. I remember something my second grade teacher, Miss Savoca, used to say: “patience is a virtue.” Not very profound but why do I remember it to this day? It must be important to my soul journey, I suppose.

    So many choices it will be hard to choose just one. I have gotten a little off track since I retired so maybe I should just go back to the basics and choose to be happy. If I can make decisions based on that concept while still being kind perhaps everything else will fall into place.

    So much to think about. Thanks for the mantra idea. I hope you have a wonderful new year and good luck with your new mantra. You have already inspired me! I hope you find a lot of inspiration for you also.

    Reply
    • Joseph Bialobzeski

      Hello Deborah,

      When I reread your writings, whether it be your book or an article like this one, I always get more out of it.

      I noticed that you labeled your mantra as “our mantra.” I believe that this distinction is important. I now realize that the reason my previous mantras have not, to this point, been as successful as I had hoped for was because they were “my mantras” and not “our mantras.” As a result, my wife and I were not always on the same mantra page. I intend to do that better as we develop our new mantra.

      I like your idea of examining possible new year’s resolutions and then finding a theme running through them to use as a mantra. Go with a broad stroke approach. A word or short phrase to sum it all up. My root desire or intention. My wife and I are going to do this and we are going to be looking at it not as our new year’s resolution but rather as our “new me mantra.”

      When we find ourselves off track, I hope we remember to hit our reset button and revert to our new me mantra…inspired by you.

      Love the photo included with this article. It’s perfect.

      Reply
  2. Steph Hynds

    Love this idea!

    Reply

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