More / Less

I’m not a fan of New Year's resolutions. For the most part, they don’t work and are based on the assumption that you are not good enough as is. And, Jan 1st makes no sense as the start of the year. We are still in the depth of winter, just a couple of weeks out from the Winter Solstice.

Instead, I like to use the month of January as a time of reflection on the past year and setting intentions for the coming year—which, on the earth-based pagan calendar, starts at the cross-quarter holiday of Imbolc on February 2nd, the beginning of Spring. The Lunar New Year always falls in this same time frame, plus or minus a few weeks.

While visiting my brother and his family in LA last week, they introduced me to a wonderful way to frame this practice: More and Less.

Reflecting on the past year, what did you especially enjoy doing or experiencing, what held meaning for you, and what inspired you? Set intentions for creating more of that.

What was challenging, difficult, uninspiring? Set intentions to create less of that.

More might be “go out to the movies more often” “honor my inner knowing more often” or “show more patience with my in-laws.”

Less might be “work less on the weekends” “worry less” or “be less critical of myself and others.”

I like this new year’s framework for several reasons. It keeps your focus on your sphere of influence by thinking about what you created rather than what happened to you.

It’s not about becoming a new version of yourself; rather, it’s about nurturing the life-affirming qualities in yourself and your life and focusing less attention on the difficult.

And it holds the Yin/Yang reality of life: good stuff and bad stuff happen every year. We can’t control the incoming, but we can choose where we put our attention: activities, states of being, and qualities of self.

What is your More / Less for 2025?
Kirstin Lindquist