New Year’s Manifesto
Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely. ―Roy T. Bennet
👥 Serves: 1 person, 11-25 people, 2-10 people
🎚 Difficulty: Medium
⏳ Total time: 31-60 minutes
🥣 Ingredients: Sheets of paper (1 per person), pens (1 per person), “Social universe” recipe
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Accomplishments, Awareness, Liberatory Learning, Meaning, Ritualising
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Accountability, Aligning with the cycles, Ambition, Clarity, Commitment, Determination, Focus, Goal-setting, Intentionality, Ritualising
New Year’s Manifesto
📝 Description
A manifesto for the year.
Whenever the new year approaches, we invite you to create a compass to guide you along. A manifesto for the year. A manifesto is an infinitely valuable tool that acts as your true North. It is a declaration of your core values, what you stand for, and how you want to live your life. Because life is messy and never easy (unfortunately adulthood is not all rainbows and unicorns as we had hoped for), sometimes things get in the way of your true self. Writing a personal manifesto clarifies and solidifies who you are as a human being. It is written with strong and empowering language so, when needed, you can remind yourself of what you are capable of, what you are working towards, and, most importantly, what matters the most.
The following recipe guides you through a few simple steps to create your own manifesto. It has been gifted by our wellbeing content partner Nadya Saib of Wangsa Jelita. Nadya encourages you to honour two principles when writing the manifesto. In her words, “First, I write it intending to be true to myself. I believe a manifesto is the most profound form of self-expression and it must serve the wellbeing of the writer. And it is not in a selfish way, because, second, I must also think beyond myself. My manifesto must include how I am of service to others. And I strongly recommend you to do the same when you write yours.”
👣 Steps
Day 1 – Reflect (30’)
To write your manifesto, you can start by looking at the recipe “Social universe”. Think about how you intend to show up when it comes to each area. How do you want to present yourself when it comes to dealing with people in your life? If you haven’t done the social universe exercise, you may consider the following questions:
- What do I stand for?
- What values do I want to live my life by?
- How do I choose to define myself?
- What changes do I need to make so that I can live my best life?
- How do I want to treat my body?
- How do I want to take care of my mental and emotional health?
- How do I want to spend my money?
- How do I want to spend my time?
- How do I want to cope with hardships?
- How do I want to deal with failures, mistakes, and disappointments?
Take the time you need, and again, be true to yourself. Treat this as a safe space for you to show up as your true self.
Day 2 – Write your manifesto (30’)
Now it’s time for you to write your manifesto. If you’re looking for inspiration, here are Nadya’s top nine affirmation on her 2020 manifesto:
- I treat myself like I treat someone whom I love and respect.
- I listen to my body, and I give her what she needs to flourish.
- I focus on what is within my control, and I make the best of it.
- I listen to what people say with the awareness that we all project ourselves when we interact with others.
- I treat people with honesty and compassion.
- I value growth and dedicate my time, for my own and other’s growth.
- I value humour. I surround myself with people who make me laugh.
- I monitor energy exchanges. I commit to doing more of the things that give me energy and less of the things that take it away.
- I allow myself to make a mistake. I forgive myself when I do, and I learn from it.