Written by Jen Liu

“The tradition of marking the New Year, as it's observed in different ways and times in various cultures across the globe, seems almost to exist to remind us of such timeless wisdoms: that we can start over, be grateful for this life and mourn its deep sorrows at the same time, recognize mistakes we've made, and make a sincere wish to do better.”

Setting New Year's resolutions can be a contentious topic; many people see them as cliché, frivolous, and destined to fail. But from an energetic standpoint, we can consider the spirit of renewal that comes around this time of year as a benevolent wind that can be ridden toward growth and change.

Throughout the calendar year, as we go through the motions of everyday life and take care of our tasks in an often myopic way, it's easy to lose sight of the basic yet powerful truth that each day — each moment, even — can be the start of something new. Practices like meditation do a fantastic job at reminding us of this truth through teachings like impermanence, emptiness, and beginner's mind. But keeping that attitude fresh in our embodied lives, allowing it to actually move us to be more compassionate and awake, can be the challenge of a lifetime.

The tradition of marking the New Year, as it's observed in different ways and times in various cultures across the globe, seems almost to exist to remind us of such timeless wisdoms: that we can start over, be grateful for this life and mourn its deep sorrows at the same time, recognize mistakes we've made, and make a sincere wish to do better.

There are many meaningful ways to participate in this collective time of self-inquiry, whether it’s through setting New Year's resolutions, journaling about the past year, or simply pausing to reflect. What might appear as a silly foray into setting a New Year's goal could be a significant entry point into reconnecting with intention and willpower — those uniquely human traits which seem to separate us from other species and can be used to create terrific beauty or wreak unfathomable destruction, depending on how mindfully they're wielded. For a time, we might just feel empowered to ride the wind of the moment instead of letting it ride us — and get to do it in community.

Whether or not we set resolutions, and whether or not we complete the ones we set, something worthwhile can come out of participating in the process of discovering what is possible when we decide to flow with the wind of change instead of working against it, or forgetting it's there at all.