We’re officially one week into 2017. Are you still feeling the strength of your resolve? Are you feeling like the goals you set as “resolutions” for a “new year, new me” are realistic? Attainable? Healthy, even?

I know I sound a little snotty, but I hate the whole clock-strikes-12-and-I’m-a-different-human mentality. I actually feel like that’s harmful to setting goals and following through, and sets you up for a painful experience, rather than one of growth and success (whatever that looks like for you).

I attended a New Year’s Eve ritual with Ralph de la Rosa at Maha Rose Center for Healing and received some insight that solidified how I feel about resolutions. He said one of his teachers -- and I’m kicking myself for not writing this name down -- said that we are all innately perfect, but we can also all use some improvement. And that paradox is brilliant. We are not doing ourselves harm by seeking to improve, as long as we are approaching it from a purely loving standpoint.

If you’re going into the new year with a combative attitude toward yourself, that’s not going to help you move forward. For example, “I need to lose 25 pounds or I won’t find love” or “I need to stop acting like a piece of shit toward my family.” Banish those low-vibe thoughts and change your perspective on the situation! Find the will to take care of your physical body from the love you have for living in it. Find forgiveness toward yourself when people and circumstances challenge you.

I was so grateful to have found myself at Ralph’s workshop to hear those words, to start the year with a healthy mindset and to remind myself that any change and growth I want to happen in my life needs to start first with self-love.

One of the things I want to focus on in the new year is taking top-notch care of myself on a physical and spiritual level, so that I can be a vessel for change and serve others. One of the ways this manifests in my life is baths. I am so inspired by the healers who have crossed my path, like Deborah Hanekamp and Rebecca Conran, who have encouraged me to adopt baths as part of my routine.

I started in the fall of 2016 to really carve time to soak my body in warm baths with Epsom salt, oils, herbs, crystals, Reiki and other healing elements. Now I do it after intense workouts in addition to whenever I want to have some quiet time for self-care and reflection.

I hope some of this resonated with you and I encourage you to start with love! Then watch how the time falls away, and the effort and experience becomes more pleasant.