2026 Word and Intention of the year: FLOW

On January 3, 2026 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn Emotions, healing, Mind, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Self Reflection, spiritual healing7 Comments

“The river does not struggle to reach the ocean.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

I have not set resolutions in many years, because I have always seen how I can never live up to them…and then when I can’t live up to them, I feel crappier than even before I set them. Instead I choose a healing intention for the whole year.

This is easily my favorite year end ritual since the past few years- to choose a word for the year. Which also doubles as the intention of the year as well.

I’ve found that after years of setting goals and resolutions which fizzle out in intensity and appeal after a few weeks, a word based intention creates a wonderful level of focus. It is sort of an anchor to come back to when you feel lost along the way. My word for last year was: Positive. And, I can say with great satisfaction that, that is the first thing I wrote as a something I have achieved in 2025 in my journal. Positive everything, was at the forefront of all that I did in the last year.

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Positive Reflections on the Year gone by 2025(+FREE Printable Worksheets)

On December 21, 2025December 21, 2025 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn Emotions, healing, Mind, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Prompts, Positive Self Reflection, spiritual healing6 Comments

As we arrive at the final few days of 2025, many people notice a subtle heaviness in the air, a quieter, darker, more inward energy. From the perspective of growth and reflections this is not something to resist. It is a natural descent into reflection. As Carl Jung wisely said, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

End-of-year energy tends to pull us inward, inviting us to pause, review, and metabolize what we’ve lived through. And that is precisely why this season can become a powerful container for deep healing.

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Micro Self-Care Habits to Break the People-Pleaser Cycle in 2026

On December 3, 2025 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn Emotions, healing, Mind, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Self Reflection7 Comments

If you’ve spent most of your life prioritizing the comfort, needs, and expectations of others, consider this your gentle invitation back to yourself. You are allowed, truly allowed, to choose yourself first.

In fact, your well-being depends on it!

As a recovering people-pleaser myself, I know all too well the pitfalls of needing to please everyone but myself. To the point of self-sabotage! It took me many years on this healing journey to even realise this was what I was doing, to myself.

People-pleasing often begins as a childhood survival strategy. I learned early on that harmony meant safety, that being “good” meant love, and that shrinking myself kept the peace. These self-abotaging patterns may have protected me once, but not anymore.

As you move toward a new year, and if you still carry these people pleasing cycles, it’s worth asking with compassion: Is this way of being still nourishing my spirit?

What if the small acts of care you long for aren’t indulgent, but sacred? What if tending to your inner world is actually the foundation that allows you to show up authentically, wholeheartedly, and sustainably for the people you cherish?

In case you haven’t heard it lately:

You deserve space to rest and recharge.
You deserve to take up room in your own life.

If you’re ready to make 2026 the year you stop self-abandoning and begin self-belonging, start with these practices so small they feel almost effortless. Small shifts can open big inner doors…

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