We make resolutions every year, and January is always filled with the hope and pressure of changing our lives. A lot of these resolutions are forgotten or ignored, and by March we feel like we have failed to reach and arbitrary goal. It’s not a great system.

So what I have done this week, is set Eclipse resolutions. I don’t know a whole lot about moon cycles, Mercury in retrograde, or how the planets impact my productivity, but I like the idea of making reflective choices based on a non-human event. Humans decide when the New Year is, but the moon doesn’t give a shit what humans think. The moon just danced in front of our view of the sun to either a. remind us that we are tiny creatures in a giant universe and we are all in this together or b. mess with crickets and have them make night noises during the day. Could be both.

I am also super into the eclipse resolution model, because I only have to do it once every 37 years, so that gives me some time to get some of these things done. Everything I have read about the eclipse discusses letting go of unhelpful patterns, and shedding things in life that you don’t need. It’s about looking at yourself honestly and owning your story.

It is totally possible to do this without any consideration of the moon, obviously. Like most things, you can decide if you let it impact you or not, but I like the anchoring feeling of this beautiful event that we are not in charge of.

So, in the spirit of being honest with myself and owning my story and such, I am going to NOT share my resolutions, because over-sharing is a pattern that doesn’t always serve me well. See? This stuff really works.

Image via Koji Kudo