Starting again
At any time.
Once New Years hits, there’s the energy of self-improvement. We get a seemingly fresh start on goals and habits. While there’s nothing particularly wrong with this, it’s difficult to hold this energy without pressure. If we end up not sticking with our resolutions, the inner critic comes out, we feel guilt when we don’t stick to the plan, and we lose sight of why we held these aspirations to begin with.
Taking on a different lens based on insight (aka mindfulness), we can move away from the need to “improve” and instead into the exploration of deeper intentions. This centers around the question: how do I want to show up?
In both Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Buddhism, there’s the overlapping concepts of values and wise intention: how we want to align our actions, words, and movement according to what’s deeply purposeful for us. Wise intentions help us cultivate the qualities (values) we want to embody and anchor to. This differs from goals, which are future-oriented and need to be “achieved”, whereas values and intentions are never finished. They might change according to our energy, life stage or simply the present moment, but they don’t depend on any outcome. Instead they impact how we feel and how we respond to challenges.
And because aligning in this way is never “finished” we can begin again, and again, and again. At any time. It doesn’t have to be New Years, a birthday, a seasonal shift, or a Monday. If these types of timeframes help you re-align, without the pressure, they might be useful for grounding back into values, but we also don’t need to wait for these symbolic occasions— sometimes the waiting is actually avoidance in disguise.
If it feels difficult to pinpoint your values and intentions, consider the goals you’re aiming for, or the things that already feel meaningful for you, and explore why. For example, for a goal of losing 10 pounds: perhaps the why includes to feel more confident, be healthier and be connected to your body. You could take the values of confidence, wellbeing and self-connection and explore ways to ignite those qualities internally— such as cognitive work to dismantle self-limiting beliefs, mindful eating, or stretching for 5 minutes at any time to observe how the body is feeling. You can consider any action, reflection or practice that would cultivate that value.
Or if you already know that you enjoying reading books, what inner parts are you getting in touch with when you read? The values could be around imagination, growth/learning, or feeling grounded. Now what other small actions would lead to embodying imagination, learning or groundedness?
What makes values and wise intention so accessible is that they show up as an inner feeling, rather than a tangible outcome. Going for a walk down the street might ignite the value of community in 1 person and the value of exploration in someone else. The context is less important than the embodiment, and we only notice this inner attitude through mindfulness. By being present and in touch with the activity or action, we can observe that value at play, rather than going through the motions, stuck in our thoughts or autopilot.
Holding this framework lends much more room to align with our values, at any time. When we feel balanced, in touch with our purpose and inspired, working towards goals feels very different, and we don’t need to “succeed” or wait for the outcome to feel that we’re living a meaningful life. Perhaps 2026 won’t be about doing more, but about doing and begin with intention🩶.
3 questions to begin 2026 (or any moment) with:
How do I want to show up? (Think value and intentions). Some ideas: with openness, flexibility, curiosity, self-love, ease, acceptance, compassion, courage, boldness, adventurous.
What connections do I want more of want to deepen? Some ideas: to self, a specific relationship, spirituality, nature, community.
What would hep me feel more present? Some ideas: allocated time away from screens, being in nature, taking a meditation course, time with folks who inspire me, taking 3 deep breaths at random times, stretching.
