Create authentic intentions. Your time is not elusive. Nor is it tongue-tied to your obligations, or your time and place in your stage of life. Our underlying thoughts, feelings, or sensations in our bodies are really about finding our authenticity and our feelings of worth. Worth translates to time, space, and ultimately to effort. Ready for some radical thinking? Those intentions don’t necessarily need to be set exclusively for accomplishment this year, right now. Give these mindful practices a try–whatever you need to finally hear your authentic self’s needs.

Do you believe in magic? Curate a playlist for your next road trip: When the perfect song roots in my brain, a transformation begins. In those few wide-awake minutes, the slothy mindlessness of the mundane in my life is paused. Time warps from sticky stop-motion to a dreamy, panoramic film as the new vibe kicks in. In life, we don’t feel that just-right moment right away–we wake up to it. I add songs to my playlists that draw me in, building into the moment. And like a favorite slice-of-life film, I let the embers glow as the moment fades and the feeling is left to seep into the experience of my road trip.

Many of my friends have mentioned not feeling in the spirit of the season of light, and I felt a sadness and longing from them. I wondered what was missing, so I set out with curiosity and reflection. For me, the season of light is an amplified opportunity to reach within and to shine love out to others with my whole heart. The last place I imagined I’d shine my glow of love was the grocery store.