The End of the New Year Resolution
The beginning of living in your natural rhythm
I am writing this note from a tropical paradise in Brasil, watching the water and sky dissolve into the same seamless blue. Here, a quiet sense of aliveness—punctuated by the birds’ exotic songs — makes the frantic energy of “New Year’s Resolutions” feel entirely out of place.
And isn’t it? }We often approach the new year like a renovation project, attempting to “fix” our habits as if we were broken houses, only to find the foundation remains unchanged. Yet, this is the dilemma so many of us fall into—despite the annual inevitability that by February, the promises we made to ourselves have already wilted.
While becoming more receptive to my sense of Wonder this past year, a long time recognition is taking deeper root.
Every detour is actually an instruction kit to bring us back to our own natural rhythm.
{By natural rhythm, I mean that state of ease where we are no longer bumping up against things like time being a constraint in our lives.}
When we impose a resolution upon a rhythm that is already out of alignment, how can it possibly take root? Worse, attempting a forced fix before we even understand our own rhythm only creates more pressure and deeper dissonance. It is like trying to plant a fragile seed in frozen, exhausted soil—not only will it fail to grow, but the effort of forcing it further depletes the ground.
Instead of getting lured by the distraction that your failure is a lack of willpower, go straight to the root of the true misalignment!
It has become so clear to me over twenty-five years of assisting others through this process with the help of Ayurveda: The real work is the unraveling back into our innate alignment. So, this 2026, instead of piling a new heavy list of tasks on top of a crooked foundation, let’s align the environment that makes everything else possible.
As the calendar turns, I leave you with a trick question from this serene backyard:What is the garden you want to cultivate in the coming year? I call it a trick because until we shift our focus from the ‘seed’ of a new habit to the actual soil it requires, the inquiry itself is hollow.
In other words, if this is the year you finally stop trying to be “better” and instead free yourself to honor the way you actually function, here’s a more substantial type of inquiry to welcome your new year:
What environment will help you in working with the “bumps” on your road, rather than against them?
As a Tin Tin to those of us honoring our natural rhythms this 2026, may we (as often as we need to) return our attention to what matters most:
Living as we truly are.
Happy In Rhythm You,
Christianne
