The beginning of a new year is an opportunity for transformation.

Life patterns that no longer assist our highest potential—such as poor foods choices or unhelpful habits—can be replaced with positive and healthful actions.

What better time than now?

A journal can be an excellent tool and partner along life’s path.

Write down what you want your life to look like in a year and what steps you are willing to take to achieve these goals. Write 10 things you want to accomplish this year. Write down 100 things you wish to do in your lifetime. Putting goals on paper is a first step to achieving them.

Take a picture of yourself now.

Take another photo of yourself next year at this time. If we keep doing the same things, we are likely to get the same results. Replace a negative habit with a positive one—getting a manicure (preferably with more natural products) rather than biting your nails, for example. Make this the best year ever!

Here are some inspirational suggestions to choosing your own New Year’s resolutions.

Every year I make a resolution for each chakra.

The word chakras comes from the Sanskrit word meaning “wheel.” They are considered energy centers and each chakra corresponds to a color, action and part of the body.

Perhaps in grade school we or our friends had a chart on the fridge listing chores? Across the top were the days of the week. After completing a task, and perhaps receiving a star, one enjoyed a sense of accomplishment. It’s still a good idea.

Make a list of all the healthy chores (or pleasures!) that will be helpful to us.

Include body, mind and spirit—things like taking an aromatherapy bath, a multi-vitamin, herbal supplement, eat a salad daily, get outdoors or attending a yoga class. One might have a goal of being sugar, alcohol or wheat free all day. Since we most likely couldn’t fulfill all of our goals everyday, try for at least seven things daily.

Rather than going to bed at night, saying, “Darn, I forgot to do my eye exercises,” we can affirm that we did many healthy things today and tomorrow there will be others!

Red: The first chakra is located at the base of the spine. It corresponds to survival, elimination and action.

Waking half an hour earlier gives us more time for ourselves. Stretch before getting out of bed, like babies and animals. If we prepare for morning the night before by packing a healthful lunch, laying out clothing and whatever papers we need for the day, we can have a more serene day.

The best time to exercise is in the morning, when the air is cleaner. Exercise increases endorphin production, enhancing cheerfulness, energy, circulation, digestion, immunity, posture, and elimination.

Exercise in open air, or at least with the windows open when possible. Walk or ride a bicycle, taking the less polluted route. Provide back up plans, such as a dance video when inclement weather keeps us home.

Get rid of clutter. Make someone’s day and give away what can’t be used, have a yard sale, donate to a charity, recycle or reinvent.

Red ray foods to include: beets, pomegranates, apples, watermelon, radish, hazelnuts and tomatoes.

Orange: The second chakra corresponds to the reproductive organs, kidneys and adrenals. It is the center for relations, partnerships and sexuality.

Connections with friends can be positive. Invite a few friends over. Have healthy potlucks at rotating homes and give every one the opportunity to put a business card into a hat. Each participant can draw a card and commit to offering an exchange. We might find ourselves trading a massage for a feng shui consultation, or a landscaping consultation for a facial. By learning more about the talents of those around us, we create friendships and expand our business.

If there is any one in our life that we need to forgive, owe an apology to, or need to return a borrowed item, do what we can to make it right, if possible.

If we are blessed to have found a partner, get healthy together, by exercising or preparing food as a team. Learn about tantra by reading a book such as The Art of Sexual Ecstasy by Margo Anand or taking a workshop together. Keep learning about love and relationships our entire life.

Pumpkin and other winter squashes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cinnamon and oranges are foods to bring the orange ray into our lives.

Yellow: The third chakra corresponds to the solar plexus, naval area, digestion and our center of material comfort.

Keeping a food journal and recording what one eats and drinks encourages insight about what is going into our bodies. Do our choices support ultimate health?

Say a blessing or take few deep breaths to get calm and present before eating. Put our fork down between bites. Some people find that using a smaller plate, cocktail fork or eating with chopsticks reminds them to appreciate each bite.

We require more fuel at midday than at night. Some may find that lunch rather than dinner as the main meal may work best. Rather than snacking into the night, right after dinner, floss and brush our teeth to discourage food consumption. If we must eat something choose celery or raw carrot. This year, equip our kitchen with what is needed for healthier living: a blender, food processor, dehydrator or juicer.

Cravings are more likely to occur when we are hungry.  When craving sweets, choose a something crunchy, such as an apple. Craving salty foods may indicate that minerals such as those found in sea vegetables are needed. When craving fats, a tablespoon daily of flax seeds or hemp seed oil provides essential fatty acids. Put all of our vitamins and herbal in an easily accessible place. They don’t work unless we use them!

Find other ways to reward and comfort ourselves other than food. Make a list in our journal.  Enjoy the sensual delights of an aromatherapy bath, foot massage or walking in a beautiful environment—be it nature or an art museum.

Yellow rayed allies include lemon, banana, almonds, ginger and pine nuts.

Green: The fourth chakra corresponds to the heart and lung center. It is the seat of love, forgiveness and compassion.

Breathing more deeply and fully increases the amount of oxygen in the blood. Good posture encourages deep breathing, good circulation, a calmer mind, improved concentration and mood and better function of all the organs. Wear comfortable clothing that promotes circulation without binding. Take walks in the pine forests or along the beach and breathe the air.

Live a greener life.

Support organics.

Go vegetarian, or even raw food vegan pedestrian.

Recycle more than we already do.

Vote with our dollars. Buy that which supports good causes and do our best to consume less that is harmful or polluting to the planet. This may be the year that we stop buying things that require dry cleaning and buy some organic cotton or hemp clothes. We can’t just talk about saving whales and rainforests. Put our money where our mouth is and be willing to donate to at least some good causes.

Gardens affirm our belief in the future, even if it’s only on the balcony, or a sprout garden on the kitchen counter. Start or join a community garden. Plant fruit trees.

“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is now.”

~ Chinese proverb

Learn about wild edibles instead of spraying them. Be a steward of the Earth and help recreate a paradise. Have an attitude of gratitude.

Dark green leafy vegetables such as kale, arugula, watercress and avocados give us the green ray. Super foods like barley grass and wheat grass juice, blue green algae, spirulina and chlorella can be highly energizing, alkalinizing and help support us when letting go of addictions.

Blue: The fifth chakra corresponds to the base of throat, thyroid and parathyroid. It is the center of the spoken word and communication.

Speak out more. Take time to sign petitions or write letters to the editor about community concerns.

Is there something that we might like to teach others or give a class on? Before, I taught at a university, I gave herb walks for my daughter’s Brownie troop. It all starts somewhere.

Adopt a hobby we love as a form of self-expression. Hands on activities keep our brain alert and keeps our hands out of the snack bowl. Drawing, playing a musical instrument, knitting, crochet, macramé, sewing, woodworking, origami and beadwork can all make our realms more enriched. Let our projects be an expression of our love and positive thoughts.

Blueberries, blue corn and plums are foods to bring in the blue ray.

Indigo: Between the eyebrows, deep in brain the pituitary regulates the glandular function of the entire body. This is the center of intelligence and intuition.

Perhaps some old habit is getting in the way. Be clear that we want to give up our addiction. Write down all the reasons we want to let go of an addiction and post it in several places where we will see it daily. Find support with a qualified practitioner, on the net or with a group for our concerns. Supplements such as GTF chromium which helps stabilize blood sugar levels, B complex and calcium magnesium, calm and nourish the nervous system all can support one letting go of addictions. Learn about getting more alkaline. When our bodies are in a more acidic state, it is easy to feel overwhelmed with unhealthful cravings.

Keep learning new things our entire life. Is there something we have always wanted to learn? Make a commitment to read a least two books on the subject and/or take a class on it this year.

Listening to motivational tapes put our consciousness where we want it. Rather than playing video games about destruction, check out some of the tools at www.wilddivine.com that have video games that inspire higher consciousness.

Black sesame seeds, elderberries, currants and raisins all represent the indigo color.

Violet: The “crown” chakra corresponds to the pineal gland at top of head. It is the center of divine consciousness and spirituality.

Do we have a path that helps us feel connected to Divine Source? This might be the year that we visit a place of worship, remember to pray, learn to meditate, join a spiritual study or discussion group, create an altar or place for contemplation in our home, or read books that are spiritually uplifting.

Acai fruit, grapes, and purple cabbage, are reminders of the violet ray.

May this New Year be filled with truth, beauty, goodness and health!

Classes with Brigitte Mars:

January 16th, 12-2 p.m. Natural Remedies for Mental and Emotional Health. $30 Wild Bear Mountain Ecology Center, 20 Lakeview Drive Unit 107, Nederland, Colorado 80466, 303-258-0495

January 24-27, 2016 Healing with Herbs, Food, and Essential Oils in the Bahamas! Tuition: $366,

~

Relephant:

Top 12: Get off Your Grass & Create an Edible Lawn.

Author: Brigitte Mars

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: wikimedia