This is the first post in the Reflection and Readiness series. In this series I explore how reflective practice can help prepare us to navigate life’s challenges and opportunities.
Resolution. Resolve. Resolution is a powerful word. For many January is the time for resolutions. There’s often a hopefulness at this time – an opportunity to set intentions for the year and leave behind patterns that are no longer working for us.
Resolution can also be a rigid word. New year’s resolutions can be tainted by a kind of fervour – a disappointment in the year that was and determination to start again – to reinvent ourselves. New year, new you.
Such resolutions can come in the form of punishing, uncompromising schedules. Sadly as life unfolds, with the year bringing inevitable surprises and factors outside of our control, these resolutions can fail. So often we attribute the failure to our lack of resolve. We punish ourselves and reinforce a story about our weakness and lack of willpower.
What if we were to add reflection to our January resolutions? What if our resolutions didn’t seek to break from the past, but to look back on the passing years to reflect on the shape of our lives? What space and grace would we allow ourselves if we explored with kindness and curiosity what we’ve learned and achieved (no matter how modest)? What if the prompt for the new year was:
What am I building?
I have written in this blog about different conceptualisations of wellbeing before – among them the idea of eudaimonia – which is often contrasted with hedonic wellbeing. While hedonic wellbeing refers to the experience of pleasure, eudaimonic wellbeing by contrast is about building a life led by values – a life of meaning and purpose.
This January, if you are making resolutions, I invite you to shape them through reflections.
How have you progressed with past resolutions?
What helped or hindered?
What are you proud of having achieved?
What have you struggled with?
What do you hope for?
What do you value?
How will these experiences, hopes and values guide you forward?
Creative practitioners are invited to join me on Saturday 14 March 2026 to explore these questions. At an ideal time to return to any intentions you have set in January, the What am I building? workshop is an opportunity to share experience and knowledge in a small group setting.
In this skills workshop, I draw on Acceptance and Commitment, Cognitive Behavioural, and Solution-Focused Brief therapies to provide tools to help maintain progress with your goals.
Optional follow up support is available through an online community of practice, subscription to resources, reflective practice groups or one-on-one coaching sessions. More information will be available at the workshop.
Places are limited. Find out more and register now.
