Happy New Year! Time to let go of the old and embrace the new.

2020 was sure a year to remember. How will you make 2021 different? Do you want to lose weight? Get healthier? Get more sleep? Start a gratitude or meditation practice? Clean out a cluttered garage or closet?

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you want to change? Or reflected on how many times you started the year with the best of intentions only to have them peter out after a few weeks or months? Awareness and self-compassion are key.

It is only when we become self-aware, do we even notice that change is desired. This may start as a nebulous sense of discontentment. Something’s not working. I am not happy (insert other desired emotion — satisfied, fulfilled, etc.). Indulging over the holidays may make clothes feel tight and leave bodies feeling sluggish and achy. COVID may have exposed health challenges. You may be influenced by clever marketing of exercise equipment, diet plans or gym memberships. Perhaps, friends and family members encourage you to “jump on the bandwagon” they’ve started riding, posting on social media and inviting you to participate in new activities. Next thing you know, you’re preparing to make changes.

What makes you say, “Yes, I’m ready to make change?” Many reasons might apply—interest, health concerns, a need to belong, an upcoming event, willingness, etc. But what helps that change stick? I believe that it comes down to the difference between motivation and inspiration.

Motivation is defined as the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.

Inspiration is defined as the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something.

Motivation often occurs when a person is PUSHED to do something — perhaps out of necessity or a sense that things are not OK as they presently are. In contrast, inspiration is a much more transcendent experience. With inspiration, desire wells up, and it is all about the positive feeling that this change invokes. Inspiration can become a spiritual practice that is based in joy, hope and love. The root of the word essentially means “in spirit,” and it can help us see beyond the limitations of the body and mind. Inspired action is far more effective than motivation in sustaining the momentum of change.

Motivation often has a fatigue element when it is based in the criticism and resistance to “What Is.” Inspiration brings you back into an Aligned State of Being where you can access thoughts of Infinite Possibility, explore Divine Creativity, challenge Limiting Beliefs and make Sustainable Change. It becomes less about punishing the past or current Self and more about channeling the Highest Good.

By integrating past experiences with Awareness, you can learn how to offer yourself and others compassion. Compassion can help you create a new Core Belief that can be deeply healing: Perhaps everyone is doing the best that they can in any given moment—and that is enough. Level of consciousness determines what a person believes is possible or necessary, and it always drives choices and behaviors. Perspective shapes the experience of reality. Change your perspective, and you will change your life.

When you are living life through the lens of compassionate self-awareness, change can be made gently. Urgency and self-criticism often dissolve because neither are required to create or sustain change. By practicing self-compassion, you gain access to emotional and physical relief immediately. The work then becomes forgiving your past self and others for perpetuating dysfunctional behaviors and beliefs. You can break patterns of victimization and reclaim your innate power to make conscious choices. You can learn how to tend to the needs of your Being and validate the fact that old habits were meeting legitimate human needs and soothing difficult emotions.

As you become more adept at compassionate self-awareness, you will notice when you have outgrown these old patterns, and you will discard them with grace and ease when you are ready.

Awareness and self-compassion go beyond making New Year’s resolutions; they inspire healing, growth and evolution. What a beautiful way of saying Happy New Year!

Jenny Opdycke, PA-C

Jenny has been practicing medicine for more than 16 years. Her specialties include holistic wellness, anxiety/depression, trauma recovery and intuitive, low-carb eating strategies that promote self-awareness and healing. She loves spending time with her twin girls, friends, and fur babies. More info at www.integratedhealthmatters.com.