Exciting Plans For The New Year
Hello and welcome to episode 313 of The Mindful Kind podcast.
It’s almost the start of a brand new year and I’ve been thinking a lot about some things I’d love to focus on.
Yes, this episode will be a bit light-hearted, but I really hope that you find some exciting new ideas you can implement in the New Year, too. And if not, I hope you’ll feel inspired to think about what might bring meaning and joy and gratitude into your life and make some plans for yourself!
Let’s dive into some of the things I’m excited to focus on in 2022.
1: Giving people the benefit of the doubt
I’ve noticed that over the last few years, I’ve been slowly changing the way I feel about other people. I’ve been a bit less sensitive, a bit more forgiving, and a bit more easy-going. And I could not figure out exactly what I was doing to feel that way. I knew it was partly thanks to mindfulness and being more open-minded. And partly to do with setting better boundaries.
But then, a few weeks ago, I realised what the big difference was! I often used to assume that other people were deliberately trying to do the wrong thing or intentionally hurting my feelings. But now, I’m much more likely to give someone the benefit of the doubt. Meaning, I assume that they’re doing the best they can or that I don’t know what hardships they might be dealing with behind the scenes.
So, I started looking into the research about giving people the benefit of the doubt and I was really excited by what I found! As I learned more on this topic, I decided I wanted to dedicate a whole episode of The Mindful Kind to it so we can dive a bit deeper. Make sure you stay tuned for the next episode of The Mindful Kind, number 314, about giving people the benefit of the doubt.
2: Slow mindful movement
The next thing I’m excited to be focusing on in 2022 is slow mindful movement.
If you listened to last week’s episode of The Mindful Kind, you’ll already know that I recently started practicing Qigong (which is similar to Tai Chi) and I’m really enjoying it! I signed up for an online course called Modern Qigong (affiliate link) and I’ve been doing short classes most days. My favourite class so far was “Transform Stress Into Vitality.” If you’d like to learn more about Qigong, you can also watch a free Masterclass about it here (affiliate link).
Earlier last year, I learned a lot about walking and how good it is for brain health, and I’ve been really keen to do more mindful walking. My partner, Dec, and I are moving into our new home in January 2022 and we’re really close to a lot of walking tracks, so I’m really excited to make mindful walking a more regular habit again!
I’ve also practiced yoga pretty consistently over the last few years, so I’m planning to keep that going in 2022, too.
I’m not sure exactly about the frequency of my slow mindful movement goals yet, but I’m thinking I’ll do at least one type of slow mindful movement each day, whether that’s a mindful walk, yoga, or Qigong. And then I might build my habits from there!
3: Cooking
I can’t even tell you how excited I am to have a nice kitchen in our new home! I’ve pretty much been reading nothing except recipe books for the last month. At the end of most days, you’ll find me curled up in bed with a cookbook, reading over old recipes I used to love making and new ones I’m excited to try.
You might not know this, but Dec and I moved into the upstairs part of a shed on my mum’s property nearly three years ago so we could focus on building our online business teaching mindfulness and stress management. We also wanted to pay off some debt we’d accrued while living in Melbourne and save a deposit for our first home!
And it’s been amazing to have the opportunity to save money and focus on the business. But we don’t actually have a kitchen, a bathroom, or running water in our little space. It’s one big room with our desks, the couch, our bed, a bench with a blender, kettle, and microwave, and the bed for our dogs.
I was using my mum’s kitchen once a week to do all my cooking and storing it in containers in the fridge. It wasn’t exactly a fun cooking experience, it was just a bit of a rush to try and get it all done as fast as I could!
So, once we move into our new home in just a few short weeks, I’m so excited to have a kitchen I can use whenever I like! I can get up in the morning and make pancakes if I feel like it. Or make a delicious slice or muffins to eat with cups of tea. I honestly can’t wait to experiment more in the kitchen and have some fun trying new recipes.
4: Going on new adventures
The fourth thing I’m excited to focus on in the New Year is going on new adventures. Moving to a new area is a little daunting, but mostly I’m excited to go exploring and discover new hidden gems. For the last few months, I’ve been following businesses and people who live near our new home and I’ve saved heaps of posts about things to do!
For example, I followed a local food store that often posts about restaurants in the area and I’ve saved all the restaurants that look interesting so we can visit them. I’ve also searched for hashtags on Instagram about the local area and found lots of great walks, parks, and picnic spots.
It’s been so much fun and I’m really excited, but I don’t think you necessarily have to move to a new place to do this. You might be surprised by the cool places you might find nearby when you take the time to look. Like me, you might want to make a list of cafes, restaurants, yoga studios, gardens, walking trails, lakes, and other fun things to do. Then, take some time to go on new adventures in the new year.
Just before I wrap up this episode, I’m so excited to let you know that I’ve created an epic free resource featuring all my favourite books, my favourite podcasts to listen to, my favourite courses - basically all the things that I’ve found helpful over the years. And you can find this entire list right here so you can dive into some really amazing content and learn from the same resources that I’ve loved learning from.
Thank you so much for listening and I hope you have a wonderful week, Mindful Kind.
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