Erica Hoke shares four ways to set intentions for the new year: write them on flying lanterns as a family tradition, burn written negatives to symbolically transfer energy, start a notebook to track affirmations and blessings, or create a personal New Year ceremony.
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Happy New Year's Eve day. I hopped on here a few minutes early today, and I'm going to set that as my intention for 2022 is to be more timely. And I commit to being on time, which is a little bit of a challenge for me. I'm not going to lie. So we're doing something fun today. And I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about, um, some things that my family does and get you thinking about intentions for 2022. And tracking those and that sort of thing. So if you don't know me, I'm Erica Hoke. I am an infertility mentor and empowerment coach. And the reason that we're talking about this is not because, and I want to say this because I need to hear it too. I want you to know that we're not doing this because there's some better version of yourself in the future. My friend reminded me of that the other day. And so I want to remind you, there's not a better version of yourself waiting in the future. All that we are capable of being is within us right now. So that being said, why are we picking words for 2022? Why are we setting intentions? Why are we, why are we doing these things? We're doing these things so that we can, um, so that our blessings are evident to us so that we can track our blessings. And, um, and also so that we can live intentional lives, right? So one of the things my family and I have, um, done as a tradition for many, many years now is we have the big, um, traditionally white paper, um, flying lanterns. And, uh, there's 6 of us, so we usually only do 3 or maybe 4. It just depends on how many we have. Sometimes we pair up and we'll write our, our names on the outside of them. And we'll write our intention, um, or our word of the year. We'll write a little message on those and then we send those up, um, and watch them float away at midnight or close to it. Cause sometimes the kids still don't stay up till midnight and sometimes let's be real, we don't stay up till midnight. So, um, we watch them float away and it just gives you a feeling of, um, hope and optimism. So what are some of the things you can certainly do those flying lanterns, but tonight is the night, right? So if you don't have those available, what are some other things that you can do to track your intentions in the coming year and to maybe even have like a little ceremony tonight, right? Or a little, you know, a little thing, a little starting point, a little jumping off point. So one of the things, so, um, I also have these flying wish papers and they're actually, It's actually not open. So see, I've had this in a drawer and I was like, oh, I was, uh, I was gonna give them as a gift and then I didn't. Um, and I thought these are really cute. It's a really cute way. Um, now if you're not the praying kind, um, they have flying wish papers also that don't have the word prayer on them. But the intention is, and certainly you can just get a plain piece of paper, right? Let's It's fine. These are thin like tissue paper, so when you light them, I've seen, um, they, uh, tend to stay aloft a little bit, and then they, um, you know, they disintegrate faster than, say, like a piece of paper. They actually, because of the thinness of them, they float up in the air. But, um, if you're thinking to yourself, well, what difference does that make? Like, what What is, what is the purpose of writing the word on the paper and then burning it? And is that even like really weird? Okay, so I would say to you, it's only really weird if you make it really weird. Okay, so we write on paper, we transfer our thoughts. Every living, everything in the world starts as a thought in our mind and then becomes concrete in the real world as we take action on it. But it starts as an idea in our mind first. So when you write the word down, it's a transfer of energy because it's gone from thought to something concrete. And then if you're trying to— if you'd like to rid yourself of some negativity, or if you'd like to write some things down that you don't— I'm doing hand movements that you can't see. If you'd like to write something down and then rid your mind of it, that's a good way to transfer that negative— negativity as a way of destroying it, a symbolic gesture of destroying the negativity. So if you don't think that that has any value, then I would say to you, if you have ever cherished a piece of artwork that your child if you're struggling with secondary infertility, um, any child has given you, or anybody in your life that you love has written you a card that touched you or given you a piece of artwork and you still have it. I would say that that is proof right there. Um, and I heard a great— I can't talk— a great podcast about this one time about the transfer of energy onto paper and that specific example of kids giving you or loved ones giving you a handwritten message. It really does mean something to the person, um, that is cherishing it. And so it's the same thought here. So we have the lanterns that we can do at midnight if you have them, or if you can get your hands on them. We have, um, the burning of the paper for maybe negative thoughts, or even, um, even good things too, um, as a, as a wish or as a prayer, whatever your preference is. And then the other thing that you can do is most people have notebooks lying around, like empty notebooks. Start a notebook for 2022 and start an affirmation page or a prayer page, whatever your preference is, and start tracking the things, the good things that happen in your life. That's another fun and easy way for you to see progress in your life. And as you say these prayers or as you say these affirmations to yourself and you start noticing changes, it's a really nice way to track it. So just get a notebook and dedicate that notebook to doing those things going forward. So thank you for being here. I am here Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon, and I will see you in 2022 at the same time. If you're watching on YouTube and you like this content, go ahead and hit that like and subscribe. If you are watching on Facebook and want to get notified, head on over to YouTube and follow me on my channel. Health and blessings to you in the new year and always. Bye-bye.
