January 2026 Week 1

Happy New Year Calm Crew. If you recall last year we spent most of the month of January​ in reflection rather than intention setting of New Years resolutions. I think the 2nd Friday of January is referred to as “quitters Friday” when the majority of people quit their New Years resolutions. So here is a bonus - if we have not set one yet, we can’t quit it that soon lol.
Have you been reflecting on anything this past week? Has anything come to your attention that you want to accomplish this year? Or maybe something you want to leave behind in 2025 - a habit or behavior?
You may have remembered that one of the niyamas of yoga is “Svadhyaya or self-study, inner exploration”. Self-study is the gift of awareness we can give ourselves. I would like the beginning of this year to be guided by the following intention for us: I am perfectly, imperfect. Self study is not helpful if it is critical. We can look inward and find our “diamonds and our roughs” without judgement, and then we can move forward with clear intention setting. It is not helpful to identify our imperfections with judgment and self condemnation.
This intention came simply from a word of the year generator link I was given. My word was imperfect! This got me thinking and it came at the right time. I had just been talking to my sister in law about how I am so easy to hand out forgiveness to others in my life. Life is hard, sometimes we mess up, but we are all trying our best. However….when I do something I deem as a “mess up” - omg I hold on tight, ruminate, replay etc - awful! Who am I not to forgive myself? Who am I to judge myself so harshly? Someone with a big ego for sure which needs to be knocked down and diffused!!! SO yes, I like everyone else is imperfect and that is A OK! Some might even say it makes us even more “perfect”…..perfectly imperfect. Do you remember the Japanese art form called KinsugiI?
“Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the fractures with lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, transforming flaws into beautiful, highlighted seams that tell the object's unique history, embodying philosophies of embracing imperfection, resilience, and finding beauty in damage. It's more than just repair; it's a mindful craft that honors the breakage as part of the item's story, often making the piece more valuable and unique than before.”
Can you see how this can apply to ourselves and our perfectly, imperfect selves? I love the idea that the lacquer stands out and highlights the potteries flaws making it more beautiful than before. We can be ordinary like any other blue bowl, but what if we highlighted our imperfections to make us more vibrant, interesting and colorful just like that cracked blue bowl with seams of gold lacquer!
Take a moment this week to write out your “imperfections”. Can they make you more complete, more beautiful and vibrant if you did not look at yourself as damaged by them?

"When self examination, meditation and prayer are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakeable foundation for life.”

This is what we are trying to accomplish each day, each week in the Calm Crew- “an unshakeable foundation for life”.
Important to note, we won’t do this all perfectly and we will be shaken off of our foundation, but the more effort we put in the stronger our inner and outer fortitude will be. We will hit bumps along the way, but we will know what to do to come back to our true selves and our strong foundation. I am certainly always bumping along and not doing life perfectly, but I am trying and I am moving forward, learning along the way.