“Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.”
— Maya Angelou

Now is the time of year when we create our goals and resolutions for the new year. We set SMART goals created in detail with deadlines marked in our calendars. We create our vision boards to help visualize our dreams and desires. We enlist our accountability partners to make sure we stay on track and don’t lose focus.

All these are great things, and I encourage you to use those techniques. I do as well. But what if for the new year, we make a conscious effort to live peacefully and lightly. Choose letting go of the baggage in your life weighing you down with the intent of creating peace and joy.

Learn to walk in life lightly. Not in the physical sense like you’re trying to walk on eggshells, but with a lightness in your heart and soul. It’s about creating joy and letting go of your burdens to wake up every day with a sense of wonder instead of feeling dread.

When you live lightly walking with peace in your heart, it’s contagious to those around you. Your co-workers will feel your joyful energy creating empowerment and creativity in the workplace. Family and friends will experience healing from your light-hearted spirit. You will create deeper and meaningful connections to the world around you increasing your capacity for compassion and empathy.

Instead of allowing worries to occupy your mind, replace them with thoughts of gratitude while living in the present moment. Worry creates heaviness in your heart making it difficult for your inner light to shine through. The world needs your light to illuminate and inspire people in your life and your community.

When you worry and stress out, it’s tempting to go down the rabbit hole of trying to control your life with endless to do lists, constant research on the internet with an unhealthy focus of finding solutions, ruminating on the negative instead of the positive, and more. All these actions steal your joy and weighs you down.

If times are tough, choose joy and remember life is full of abundance. Watch how kids play in the sand and jump in puddles. Listen to the birds sing and feel the breeze brush across your face. Snuggle with your dog and notice how he/she lives in the moment with unconditional love.

How would our lives change if we choose to live lightly and in ways to create joy? What if we let go of our worries and burdens to create an open heart? How would our lives improve by living peacefully instead soaking in the chaos?

I challenge you, including myself, to live lightly with a sense of peace for 2023. Think of if an experiment and see what happens. It won’t be easy. We will fall off track and revert to our old, habitual ways. But over time with intention, our small steps toward living lightly will lead to greater peace and joy.

Photo by Javardh on Unsplash