The beginning of a new year is an opportunity for transformation. Life patterns that don’t assist us in reaching our highest potential—such as poor food choices or not exercising regularly—can be replaced with positive and healthful actions. What better time than now?

A journal can be an excellent tool and partner along life’s path. Write down what you want your life to look like in a year and what steps you are willing to take to achieve these goals. Choose 10 goals you want to accomplish this year. List 100 things you wish to do in your lifetime. Putting goals on paper is the first step to achieving them. Take a picture of yourself now. To mark your progress, plan to take another snapshot next year at this time.

If we keep repeating the same lifestyle habits, we are likely to get the same results. Replace a negative habit with a positive one—for example, give yourself a manicure with natural products rather than biting your nails. Make this your best year ever!

Every year I make a resolution for each chakra. Here are some ideas to inspire your own New Year’s resolutions.

RED: The first chakra is located at the base of the spine. It corresponds to survival, elimination, and action.

Waking a half hour earlier gives you more time for yourself. Stretch before getting out of bed like babies and animals do. If you prepare for morning the night before by packing a healthful lunch or laying out clothes and other items, you are more likely to start your day serenely.

The best time to exercise is in the morning. Exercise increases endorphin production, enhancing cheerfulness, energy, circulation, digestion, immunity, posture, and elimination. Exercise in open air or at least with the windows open when possible. Walk or ride a bicycle, taking the less polluted route. Use a backup plan, such as a dance video, when inclement weather keeps you home.

Get rid of clutter. Make someone’s day, and give away what can’t be used. Have a yard sale, donate to a charity, or recycle.

Red energy foods to include in the diet are beets, pomegranates, apples, watermelon, radishes, hazelnuts, and tomatoes.

ORANGE: The second chakra corresponds to the reproductive organs, kidneys, and adrenals. It is the center for relations, partnerships, and sexuality.

Connecting with friends can be positive. Host healthy potlucks at rotating homes, and give every guest the opportunity to put a card into a hat. Each participant can draw a card for an exchange of skills or services. You might find yourself trading a massage for a feng shui consultation or a landscaping session for a facial. By learning more about the talents of those around us, we create friendships and expand our professional horizons.

If there is anyone in your life you need to forgive or to whom you owe an apology, do what you can to make it right. Return items you have borrowed.

If you are blessed to have found a partner, get healthy together by exercising or preparing food as a team. Keep learning about love and relationships your entire life.

Pumpkins and other winter squashes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cinnamon, and oranges are foods to bring the orange energy into our lives.

YELLOW: The third chakra corresponds to the solar plexus, navel area, digestion, and our center of material comfort.

Recording what one eats and drinks—as well as dietary supplement intake—encourages consciousness of what’s going into the body. Do your choices support ultimate health?

Say a blessing, or take a few deep breaths to be present and get calm before eating. Put your fork down between bites. Using a smaller plate, cocktail fork, or chopsticks to dine can remind you to appreciate each bite. Focusing on lunch rather than dinner as the day’s main meal may work best. Rather than snacking into the night, floss and brush your teeth right after dinner to discourage additional food consumption. If you must eat something, munch on raw celery or carrot. This year, equip your kitchen with raw-food accessories: food processor, dehydrator, juicer, and so on.

When craving sweets, choose something crunchy like an apple. Craving salty foods may indicate that minerals such as those found in sea vegetables are needed. If you crave fatty foods, consider adding essential fatty acids to your routine. Put all of your vitamins and minerals, as well as herbal and other supplements, in an easy-to-reach place. They won’t work unless you take them!

Find ways to reward and comfort yourself other than food. Enjoy the sensual delights of an aromatherapy bath, foot massage, or a walk in a beautiful environment—be it nature or an art museum.

Yellow energy allies include lemons, bananas, almonds, ginger, and pine nuts.

GREEN: The fourth chakra corresponds to the heart and lung center. It is the seat of love, forgiveness, and compassion.

Breathing deeply and fully increases the amount of oxygen in the blood. Good posture encourages deep breathing, better circulation, a calmer mind, improved concentration, mood, and functioning of all the organs. Wear comfortable clothing to promote circulation. Take walks in the pine forest or along the beach, and breathe the air.

Live a greener life. Buy organic. Go vegetarian, or become a raw food vegan. Recycle more than you already do. Vote with your dollars. Buy products from responsible companies, and do your best to consume less of what is harmful or polluting to the planet. Make this the year you stop buying clothes that require dry-cleaning. You may decide to add some organic cotton or hemp pieces to your wardrobe. Put your money where your mouth is by supporting companies that give back, and be willing to donate to worthy causes.

Gardens affirm our belief in the future, even if it’s only on the balcony or a sprout garden on the kitchen counter. This spring, plant fruit trees. As the saying goes, “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.” Be a steward of the earth, and help recreate a paradise. Adopt an attitude of gratitude.

Avocados and dark green, leafy vegetables such as kale, arugula, and watercress align us with the green ray. Superfoods like barley grass and wheat grass juices, blue green algae, spirulina, and chlorella can be highly energizing, alkalinizing, and support letting go of addictions.

BLUE: The fifth chakra corresponds to the base of the throat as well as the thyroid and parathyroid. It is the center of the spoken word and communication.

Speak out more. Take time to sign petitions, or write letters to the editor about community concerns.
Is there something that you might like to teach others or give a class on? Before I taught at a university, I offered herb walks for my daughter’s Brownie troops. It all starts somewhere.

Enjoy a hobby as a form of self-expression. Hands-on activities keep our brains alert and keep our fingers out of the snack bowl. Drawing, playing a musical instrument, knitting, crochet, macrame, sewing, woodworking, origami, and beadwork can enrich us. Let your projects be an expression of your love and positive thoughts.

Blueberries, blue corn, and plums are foods to bring in the blue energy.

INDIGO: Between the eyebrows, deep in the brain, the pituitary regulates the glandular function of the entire body. The indigo chakra is the source of your intuitive intelligence.

Perhaps some old habit is getting in the way. Write down all the reasons you want to let go of an addiction, and post your list in several places where you will see it daily. Find support with a qualified practitioner, through a network at your natural products store or on the Web. Helpful supplements include GTF chromium, which helps stabilize blood sugar levels, along with B complex vitamins, calcium, and magnesium, to help calm and nourish the nervous system. Learn about achieving an acid-alkaline balance. When our bodies tend toward a more acidic state, we often feel overwhelmed with unhealthful cravings.

Keep learning over the course of your life. Is there something you’ve always wanted to know about? Make a commitment to read a least two books on the subject, and/or take a class about it this year.

Listening to motivational tapes may help support mental well-being. Instead of playing video games about destruction, check out some of the tools at www.wilddivine.com, where video games inspire higher consciousness.
Black sesame seeds, elderberries, currants, and raisins all represent the indigo color.

VIOLET: The “crown” chakra is the center of divine consciousness and spirituality.

Do you have a path that helps you feel connected to the Divine? This might be the year that you visit a place of worship, pray, learn to meditate, join a spiritual study or discussion group, create an altar or place for contemplation in your home, or read books that are spiritually uplifting.

Acai fruit, grapes, and purple cabbages are reminders of the violet ray.

May this new year be filled with truth, beauty, goodness, and health!