5 New Year's Resolutions for more Heiterkeit

Approaching the new year is a wonderful invitation to pause and reflect. What were your favourite moments in 2020? What are you proud of? What was challenging? Unfortunately, we rarely accept this invitation. As the year draws to a close, we tend to rush to our next project instead: New Year's resolutions.

Although setting goals may be helpful, ambitions can also stress us out. By writing down a long list of New Year's Resolutions, we put ourselves under pressure to be perfect, overachieving super-humans. After being struck by a pandemic in 2020, we really deserve to start the new year by being kind to ourselves. It is time to make our 2021 goals all about Heiterkeit. Agreed? Then our five alternative New Year's Resolutions are for you.

1. Make listening a priority

Have you ever caught yourself phrasing a response in your head while somebody else was still talking? While this is normal and common, it can prevent you from really focussing on the conversation. Set active listening as your goal for 2021.

Start by banning your smartphone from conversations, ignore your mental to-do list and learn to just be in the moment. This New Year's resolution will reward you with lots of quality time and meaningful connections with your loved ones. The outcome? More Heiterkeit

2. Retreat to nature regularly

Erase the link between outdoors and exercising. If you love running, that's great. If you don't, that's great too. Don't turn it into an all-or-nothing scenario, but make your resolution merely about spending more time in nature, no matter how. 

A simple walk in the forest, for example, is perfect to lift your spirits, inhale the fresh air and declutter your mind. Mother Nature will automatically help you recharge your batteries and bring Heiterkeit into your life.

3. Practise mindfulness

Mindfulness is a non-judgmental awareness of yourself and your current emotions. It can help you retreat to an inner calmness and balance instead of letting a situation overwhelm you. Learning this ability is a powerful resolution for 2021 because when you are mindful, you are in charge of your feelings and actions.

For a start, try guided meditation or mindfulness podcasts. Many people also see yoga as a valuable resource. When you become more advanced, you can learn breathing techniques or body scan meditations. Consciously experiencing your environment through all five senses may also increase your awareness for the present moment.

4. Take care of others

The spirit of giving is a heiter spirit, so include others in your New Year's Resolutions too. Why not surprise your parents with homemade cookies or a sweet card to thank them for their everlasting support? Or how about doing the groceries for your elderly neighbour? You can also be kind to animals! Walking dogs from the shelter will spark joy for both yourself and your furry friends in 2021.

5. Say yes to Heiterkeit more often

Whilst it is important to value our responsibilities and duties, we must not forget that life is short. In 2021, make it a priority to follow your heart. Having a wonderful time with friends on a weeknight? Why not do what makes you happy and enjoy yourself.

You prefer time for yourself instead? Then how about a night at home with your favourite book? You alone decide what your soul needs. Just say yes to the things that make you heiter!

New Year's Resolutions are a great way to make conscious choices and rethink our priorities. But instead of putting the screws on yourself with exaggerated self-improvement goals, shift the focus of your 2021 resolutions on experiencing as many moments of joy as possible. We wish you a happy new year filled with loads of Heiterkeit!

Image: Benjamin Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine

Words: Marina Hoyer

Marina Hoyer is a writer from Hannover, Germany who currently lives in Thessaloniki and Thassos Island in Greece. She works in PR and primarily writes editorial articles for sustainable fashion and lifestyle magazines. Apart from looking at fashion, beauty and lifestyle, Marina’s writing also depicts personal themes such as self-development, well-being or relationships.

Happy New Year

Out with the old, in with the new. Even though 2017 was wonderful and if I reflect on it, filled with many heiter moments, I am glad to start the next year with new goals and new beginnings. How are you preparing yourself for 2018? Have you made a plan, do you believe in New Year’s resolutions? I’ve looked into different traditions linked with the occasion and tried to find out how people deal with welcoming another year.

In some European countries such as Austria and Germany the use of incense plays an important role on New Year’s Eve (alongside the other 11 Days of Christmas). According to old myths, spirits make an appearance in the mortal world on those days. By filling each room of the house with incense smoke, families believe they are protecting themselves from the spirits and ensuring everyone’s well-being and prosperity are kept as they are. The smoke of incense helps the spirits to return to the other side. Some also say that the tradition is a way to let all hopes and wishes for the upcoming year rise to the sky and thus, to god.

The origins of Hogmanay, New Year’s Eve in Scotland, date back to the Vikings and their winter solstice celebrations. My husband, who grew up in Perthshire, describes the night as the biggest event in the Scottish annual calendar. There are different customs that mark the night but two of the most popular ones are the singing of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ (a poem by Scotsman Richard Burns) and the practice of first-footing that starts immediately after midnight. First-footing is a tradition that celebrates the first person (usually a dark-haired and tall man) who enters the house in the New Year and by doing so, brings luck to the family. By offering gifts such as salt, shortbread, whisky, a fruit cake and coal the family show gratitude to the first-footer.

In Spain people eat twelve grapes and make twelve wishes for each hour before the New Year, in Ecuador they try to make their wish for a holiday come true by walking round the block with an empty suitcase, whereas farmers in Romania believe to get lucky by practicing animal whispering. Fireworks, candlelight processions or handing out good luck charms in the shapes of piglets, horseshoes and shamrocks, the list is endless and I love the diversity of all the different traditions. If you take a closer look though, you notice very quickly that they have something in common. Hope, optimism and the belief that things can get better are key to all of them. There is a strong sense that wishes are here to be fulfilled. Everyone deserves happiness, and that is exactly what we should keep in mind when we go into 2018. I know, it is easy to forget those positive thoughts and the hopeful feelings you associate with the change of a year but I believe that if we tried to remember them more often, even in the months after January, things can look different and perhaps even more heiter (cheerful).

I wish every single one of you & your families a very happy New Year. May it be exciting, creative, full of love, joy and the right dose of heiterkeit.   

Katharina

Words & images: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine