More of What I Love: Monthly Devotionals

I’m not really one for resolutions. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of setting goals that make us better in some way, and anyone who knows me knows rituals are part of my daily existence. But it’s almost impossible to go into a new year without considering the concept of resolutions. 

Last month I spent some time thinking about what 2019 might hold, and I thought about resolutions as things to give up. I’m already plant-based, I go for months at a time without drinking alcohol, and the thought of giving up something like carbs or espresso, well, that just seems unnecessarily cruel. So I made a decision. 

This year, rather than taking away, I want to add. I want to enrich my days with more of what I love, what I need, and what will benefit others. If there’s one thing I could do to improve my year, it would be to nurture my passions and find more balance with work. I made a list of everything I want more of in 2019, and decided to borrow my friend Katie's idea to work on one goal every month. 

Rather than looking at the year as a whole, every month I’ll be focusing on one way to add more of what I love to my life. I took into consideration what is scheduled for those months, and then arranged the activities by when they would be the most beneficial. I also didn’t want to call them resolutions, so after some consideration, I’ve decided to call them monthly devotionals. The connotation with devotional is often religious, but in a way, that’s how I see these practices. So on the first of every month, I’ll be announcing that month’s devotional and documenting the experience. For January, my goal is to meditate five days a week. Meditation is nothing new to me, but it tends fall away when I’m busiest. So for January, I’ll be making sure that doesn’t happen.