Speaking things into reality in 2024
and the importance of framing.
Happy New year, friends! Hope you’re all easing back into work and routine without too much of a holiday hangover. My holidays were a rollercoaster. We had some nice days but they were peppered with Covid and some family struggles so I’m ready to greet a new year.
I have always loved a fresh start—new notebooks, a freshly made bed, the first full day in a new place—however, when it comes to a new year and making resolutions I’ve only ever half-heartedly participated. If someone prompts me I’ll throw out a goal or two but that’s the extent of it. But last week as New Year’s Day approached I felt a little internal tug to start the year very differently than I normally do.
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Not to go all woo-woo on you, but 2024’s energy feels different than that of the past few years. I loved reading Nadine’s astrological take on the shift I’m feeling:
“We are leaving a lot behind in 2023. Pluto finally exits Capricorn on January 20, 2024, signaling that each of us is complete with a 15-year excavation process. We have all been brought down to the underworld of Capricorn, recognizing how we have been overworked, how we were taught that our accomplishments defined us, and how we worshiped linear external growth at the cost of our deepest intrinsic needs…But 2024 is something quite different, as we are not just entering our first full year of Pluto in Aquarius, but it is also an 8 year, a Strength year. Ruled by Leo, Strength is about illuminating every aspect of ourselves, even the parts that used to scare us or that we feared others would reject. It is time for us to reveal to the rest of the world who we have become over the past three years, over the past 15 years…”
Whether you’re astro-curious like me or the above sounded like gibberish, I wonder if you’re feeling a shift this year. I cannot quite explain it but something has me daring to think big. Strangely, what I felt the most pull to do on the first day of this year was to make a vision board. Strange because I always internally roll my eyes at people who create vision boards or talk about manifesting. It sounds mean when I type it out, especially given that I am 100% a person who will talk about astrology and energy shifts. But we’re here for authenticity above all so I’ll admit to the eye rolling!
Even more than my internal nudging to put some of my goals on paper, there seemed to be clear messages all around me saying that I need to put some intention into how I started my year. It continued into early Tuesday as I listened to Taraji P. Henson on Arm Chair expert. She mentioned that what you speak into existence will continue to be your reality. And even though I’ve heard it before, that struck a cord; particularly in the context of a new year. Because even if I don’t believe in vision boards or manifesting, there is something to be said for framing.
Psychologically we know that framing theory is very much a thing. Humans will respond differently if a decision or situation is presented to them emphasizing either positive gain or negative loss aspects. You might call it “spin” if you’re in the PR world.
Take, for example, my husband and I getting Covid right before Christmas this year. Negative framing would have me see this as absolutely shitty luck because I missed being in person for our family Christmas for the fourth year in a row. Positive framing would emphasize the chance for a slow, memory-making holiday at home. To be very authentic with you, I did not at all succeed in framing my holiday positively and cried several times at our bad luck. But, we pulled it together for Christmas Day and I do hope my kids have warm, happy memories of the last few years spent at home for the holidays.
If you’re in a rut and you continue to say “I’m in a rut” it only gives you that reality to live in.
I tend to be wary of optimistic framing (vision boards fall into that category for me, hence my aversion). I hate to be disappointed and so I opt to let myself be surprised if something goes incredibly well rather than expecting it to. But, it’s easy to miss the joy of anticipating something wonderful that way. If you’re in a rut and you continue to say “I’m in a rut” it only gives you that reality to live in. But, if you acknowledge you’ve had a hard time and say, “I’m on my way out of a rut, good things are coming,” who’s to say that it won’t shift you a little closer to better days. Certainly in the moment, positive framing gives you more hope and can drive you to keep that feeling going.
As New Years Day approached I thought a lot about what might change if, this year, I spoke everything I wanted aloud. What could happen if I visualized the things I wanted most to will into being and immortalized them on a fresh white poster board?. What might shift if I intentionally changed how I framed my new year?
And so, I spent New Year’s Day morning making a vision board with my 5-year-old. She painstakingly glued magazine cut outs to her poster board (which included a picture of Cheerios, Bio Oil, and a woman doing yoga) and then asked her dad to write a list of all the things she wants to do this year on the back (yes, it’s the cutest list ever). While she cut and glued her board, I flipped through a stack of magazines looking for images and words that stuck out to me. I found my board very naturally evolving around four themes. It was a delight to be in the moment doing something tactile and feeling that what was coming to the surface naturally was, in fact, my authentic focus for the new year ahead.
In solidarity, here are a few of the things I’m speaking into reality this year:
I want to get this newsletter to 1000 subscribers by the end of the year.
I’d like to do lots of traveling and connecting with friends just as I did in 2023, it was the most cup-filling thing ever
This will be the year we find some close friendships in our new town. Moving as an adult is so difficult and having a community will be vital to us enjoying our time here over the next several years.
Happy New Year friends, I can’t wait to ponder with you this year. Next week we’ll talk about a deeply interesting experiment around aesthetics and art (or maybe dig into some wild documentaries I’ve seen lately, I haven’t decided yet). I can’t wait because I’ve just been thinking that this is going to be a really good year.
Still thinking about…
Can’t stop rewatching this video about the trouble with translating value you create online to your actual reality.
Hoping for a chance to make this drool worthy breakfast for guests in 2024
Plotting snagging reservations at this revamped NYC restaurant
Not above manifesting fashion visions and this particular piece better make its way to my closet this year
Loving Anna’s way of envisioning her month so she doesn’t buy unnecessary clothing
Tore through this book in the last three days and loved it. Now on to this one which I cannot wait to get immersed in.