With only seven days into the 2014, there is still plenty of time of time to create some meaningful intentions to work one this year. Anytime is a perfect time set new goals, but there is something that feels particularity special about setting goals at the dawn of a new year. Maybe it’s the recent family time, or the break given to students to review the past year, or just the feeling that there is an entirely new beginning simply handed to us.

I’m not particularly fond of the word “resolutions,” it just feels inauthentic to me. I prefer the word “intentions.” Maybe because some people feel resolutions are made to broken, whereas intentions have a hint of understanding, even  if not every single goal is completed in the way initially expected. When I think of resolutions I think of small scale (losing weight), when I think intentions, I think life altering (re-evaluating lifestyle choices; diet, exercise, emotional & spiritual well being, etc. that lead to health problems.) My past new year intentions have been life altering for me.

Near the end of 2011 and after a separation from my partner, I realized that I had not been treating myself the way I deserved. I had become so accustomed to someone else treating my kindly, I had forgotten how to treat myself kindly. So I decided to make my 2012 intentions “The Year of Self-Love.” I vowed to do something nice for myself everyday.Though there have been several studies with differing conclusive results on the amount of time needed to create a new habit, all studies I’ve read note that to create a new habit takes less than three months, ranging from twenty four days to sixty six. Personally, that’s a pretty reassuring fact for me. I’ve lived for nearly twenty one-years & I have the ability to rewire some of my behavior in just over two months? Ever since my Year of Self-Love, I constantly do treat myself, and everyone I surround myself with noticeably better than before my 2012 intentions.

Last year’s intention fueled my “Year of Abundance.” I was able to completely fund (with literally almost no help from my parents, I think they just felt obligated to help in some way lol), a trip overseas for four months to study abroad.

Think, feel and dream big this year. Speak, write, paint your goals into existence.The universe is on your side.

All things Color, Love & Fashion,

Ayanna L.