My dear friends,

At the start of any new year there’s always chatter about what we want to achieve, cultivate, and bring forth in our lives. It’s an amazing and beneficial practice to get clear on your wants and desires, so you can know what you need to do to achieve them.

On the flip side, it’s also so important to recognize the patterns or habits that might be getting in the way of these wants and desires. Consciously or not, we engage in certain behaviors that can make us feel stuck and worse than we need to.

This past week I’ve been reflecting on the behaviors I’ve noticed in my own life that I know fall into this category, and shining a light on them, so I can conscientiously make an effort to do better or change course.

What I noticed most about the habits that I want to shift this year, is just how much time and mental energy they take from me. When I think about what I want to create and who I want to be, I know that I can’t do and be that person, as efficiently and as peacefully as I’d like to, if I’m consistently engaging in behaviors that are not helpful. Just like with anything else, awareness is the biggest key to creating change. When I know better, I can then do better.

Below are five habits I’m looking to release this year:

1. Comparing my timeline to someone else’s. Every single person has a unique life path, no two will look the same. Comparing yourself with someone else is quite simply a waste of your precious energy. Hone in on your path, your desires, and what you can do every day to make it happen in your timing.
2. Ruminating and feeling regretful of things in the past. We all have flashbacks to cringe behaviors and choices, because we’ve all done and said things we’ve regretted. Beating ourselves up over things that have happened won’t make us better people in the present and future. You can acknowledge, learn, and do better, and save your mental energy on what you can cultivate, not what you regret.
3. Being quick to judge and write stories about another person’s behavior. It’s easy to get triggered by someone’s else’s behavior, but there is so much peace that can be found in not taking on another’s actions or behaviors, and not falling into the trap of writing stories about it. Choose how you want to engage and create the boundary on how you want to proceed.
4. Being overly judgmental about myself and my appearance. I think that most people feel the pressure to look and appear a certain way at some point in their lives, and I’ve noticed, especially during these months of pandemic living, that I’ve fallen back into the trap of being a little too obsessive with body image, weight, and appearance. My body is my one, precious home, and rather than nitpicking or looking for faults, I wish to honor it for all that it does for me, every day.
5. Too much screen time. Again, over the course of the pandemic, my screen time has sky rocketed. I can, without a doubt, correlate dips in my mental health to the days where I’m on my devices for long periods at a time. So much of life happens outside of these tiny screens that we carry around in our pockets. There is so much joy and peace that can be found if we are just present to it.

What do you wish to lovingly release this year? If you feel called, let me know in the comments!

xo, Michelle

Michelle Maros is Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life's Creative Director and resident writer. She has a degree in Journalism from Indiana University and is also a certified holistic health coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and registered yoga teacher with trainings with Anuttara Yoga Shala and Strala Yoga. Michelle has a deep desire to help people find happiness in all areas of their lives, and truly believes the Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life movement will bring lasting change to the world. Michelle splits her time between Florida and New York City and loves connecting with people from all over the world. If you'd like to contact her, she can be reached at 

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