Its’ that time of year again. Roughly 36 hours from the time of writing this, you’ll likely be giddy on too much champagne and hors d’ouvres, and making promises to yourself and others that, well, might be easier said than done. If you pay close attention to most New Year’s resolution, you may notice a common theme: they mostly have to do with giving up a habit. Stop eating junk food, quit smoking, lose weight, etc, etc, etc…

I think this is why it’s so difficult for so many people to stick to their resolutions. They try to break a habit literally over night — of course it never works out. So, instead of trying to break a habit this New Year’s, I’d like to implore you to pick up a new habit: meditation.

What’s great about meditation is that it doesn’t force you to change anything about yourself or the way you currently live your life. You can keep all of your old habits and routines if you like, because you’re not taking away anything, you’re just introducing something new into the mix. Another reason meditation makes a great new year’s resolution is because it can actually help you break habits and meet your goals if that’s something you’d like to do.

Think of it like this: Anyone can say, “my new year’s resolution is to sculpt a masterpiece,” but if they don’t have any sculpting tools, and they’ve never taken any sculpting classes, perhaps a better resolution for them would be, “my new year’s resolution is to buy some clay and take a few sculpting classes.”

So, think of the goals you really want to meet, such as losing weight or quitting smoking, as your “sculptures,” and meditation as the tools, materials, and knowledge you need to bring those masterpieces to life.

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