It’s that time of the year when we get overly dramatic and whip out our pens and dust our notebooks and vigorously write down ‘100 things we want to accomplish in the new year’. We get all serious and self-important like the world depends on our goals! I’m not casting stones here, quite the contrary – I get it – its that euphoria that comes with a fresh start, a chance at cleaning the slate. It’s like an olive branch from the universe (if you believe the universe can do that). 

And considering how 2020 and 2021 behaved, most of us are desperate for a fresh start. I’m right there with ya! Honestly, I couldn’t get out of 2021 fast enough! I wanted to remove my heels and bolt as fast as I could and as far away as possible from 2020 and 2021. These two years whooped my behind big time.  

I’ll have to admit though, that I wasn’t very enthused about writing down my goals and intentions this year. The fact that I achieved very little (pandemic notwithstanding) of what I had hoped to achieve in the past two years dampened my spirit and made me rethink whether I really needed to write down my goals or whether I should just ‘let things flow’ (my latest fad and mantra). But God in His Infinite Wisdom and Love challenged my thinking and I found myself typing passionately on my laptop – I’m a keyboard warrior 👩🏽‍💻- so no offence to the ones writing in journals 😛 (though I do keep a personal handwritten journal too to record my daily shenanigans🦹🏽‍♀️). Amidst all the typing, I was challenged about my thought patterns, which is why we’re here.

One of the most spirited passages in the Bible is in Matthew 23 when Jesus declared the seven woes to the Pharisees and the Scribes. It is no wonder that they plotted to kill Jesus quickly, because He poked right where it hurt! In vs 25-28, Jesus rebuked them for putting up a clean and beautiful appearance on the outside, yet the inside was filthy and unclean. Jesus compared them to a cup/dish that was dirty inside and white-washed tombs that were full of dead men’s bones! Talk about driving the point home!

Riding on Jesus’ analogies, let me try and land this plane. Many times we’re like that cup/dish or that white-washed tomb that seems perfect on the outside yet our inside is grimy and stale. By inside, I don’t mean our bodies, I mean our minds. One of the biggest reasons why most people fail (No judgement here, I’ve had epic fails too) in keeping up with their goals 25 minutes after writing them down (hyperbole intended😸) is because they have done nothing about the state of their minds. We are so busy fixing the outside so everyone can see we’re ‘getting with the program’, but we do absolutely nothing to change our way of thinking. It’s like washing and painting an old, broken down car, and expecting it to function like a brand new car. It’s simply washed and painted junk.

Our thoughts and thought patterns are the root cause of our problems and in this case, the reason why most people will fail miserably while trying to accomplish their goals this year. We must do a ‘mental root canal’ and correct things from the inside out. Basically, a tooth root canal is done to repair and save a badly damaged tooth instead of removing it. The term root canal basically means cleaning the canals inside a tooth’s root. Most of us need a major mental root canal because our mental canals are royally blocked and decayed! They’re blocked with negativity, self-doubt, past disappointments, and other self-imposed limitations. Until we unblock and clean the canals, we will continue going round and round in circles – writing new goals in new floral journals with fancy pens and never accomplishing anything. The problem isn’t with the journal or the pen – the problem is YOU – your mental canals need some cleaning. 

So now that we have established the root cause of the problem, how can we clean our mental canals? (At this point you’ve gathered we’ve moved from the white-washed tomb analogy to the tooth analogy…)

Here’s my take (feeling like a certified dentist with a Sherlock Holmes vibe🦷👩🏽‍⚕️🕵🏽‍♀️):

1. First, we need to identify what tooth is decayed and what is causing the decay – why aren’t you accomplishing your goals/intentions? Is it because the goals are too big? Is it self- doubt?- Do you really and 💯💯💯 believe you can accomplish what you have written down? Get to the actual root of the problem. It is worth noting that most people fail to accomplish their goals because they actually don’t believe they can! I know it sounds cliche, but research has proven that most people don’t actually believe they’re consistent enough or good enough to stick to their goals and accomplish them! That’s just some nasty mental 🤯🤬.

2. After identifying the cause of the decay, clean out the filth and unclog the canals. Remove those mental barriers and outdated thinking patterns you’ve had for the past 100 years! Too many times we’re stuck in what we were told when we were 6! It was a different time and different era! Move past ‘who said what’ and know that you have the power to change the course of your life by changing how you think. You can clean out the mental junk by doing something symbolic. In my case, on 31st Dec 2021, I wrote down thinking and behaviour patterns in my life that I needed to leave behind because they were no longer serving me. After writing them all down, I set them on fire as a symbol of destroying them forever. Find whichever ‘cleaning process’ works for you and get cleaning.

3. Next, put some medication on the root to avoid infection. Medication in our case would be speaking positive words over yourself, affirming yourself, reading, going for therapy, etc. My medication is reading God’s Word and speaking aloud His promises in my life. Medicate your mental canal to heal from past mental infections and to avoid slipping back into old thought patterns. 

4. Lastly, after identifying the decay, cleaning out the gunk and medicating the wounded part, fill the gap with the right filling. In this case, good and healthy thoughts. Replace the old, rusty thoughts with new thought patterns, new beliefs and belief systems about yourself and your capabilities, new ideas of what technique works best for you to accomplish your goals, etc. Also, fill your mind with the right voices. Disconnect from any voice that is speaking contrary to what you want to accomplish (unless they sincerely love you and are giving you sound advice). Listen to podcasts or people who have successfully done what you want to accomplish. Anything is possible to those who believe!

And there we go….the plane has finally landed 🛩🛩🛩. As you continue marinating in the euphoria of the new year, take time and do a mental root canal…… It could be exactly what you need to make 2022 your best year! 

Always,

Posh 💕