New Year’s Intention: Take a Leap!
By Jon Barbieri
Jon Barbieri leads Take a Leap into 2014: Establish Your Intention and Commitment, December 30, 2013-January 1, 2014
Jonathan Barbieri
New Year’s resolutions have earned quite a reputation with their knack for creating lofty, unreachable, goals. And still, they can be genuinely helpful in opening space for reflection, creating an opportunity to set clear intentions for the year to come.
In making resolutions we often envision what we would like to change about our lives: what to add, remove, or improve to become “better people.” With this approach, the whole thing can get a bit intense and self-aggressive. “I am never going to eat cake again, and I will meditate 2 hours a day if it kills me.”
So, how does the ritual of New Year’s resolutions change, when instead of developing a wish list, we start with our basic human qualities?
We begin by acknowledging that we aspire to do good, to be kind, that we wish for happiness and that fundamentally, we have everything we need to realize these virtues.
Using contemplations, meditation, and discussion, we will touch on these qualities. We will also look at actions or habits we have that are not healthy for us to continue in a very simple and contemplative way. In doing so, we can resolve to pay greater attention to these actions so that over the next year we will acknowledge them and work with them. In addition, we will look at our aspirations for those qualities we wish to cultivate, and make a resolution to nurture and bring them forward.
In this way our approach is not a wish for the year as much as it is a way to look at our life as a journey, and 2014 as the next step along the path.
Join us for this special program and allow your aspirations for the New Year to become clear, confident, and committed through reflection and renewal. What better way to celebrate New Year’s Eve than with a delicious full-course dinner on the magical starry land of Shambhala Mountain Center?
I’m so happy that Jon is continuing the “Take a Leap into the new year” series. I participated in the first program “Take Leap into 2012”, and for me the experience was life changing. Jon’s ability to bring a group together with his warmth, kindness and humor is a gift. This is a wonderful way to begin a new year! — Gayle Sykes
Jon Barbieri leads Take a Leap into 2014: Establish Your Intention and Commitment, December 30, 2013-January 1, 2014. To learn more, CLICK HERE
