With another year behind us, it’s time to set our intentions for 2020. Skip the notion of a pass/fail resolution and set a mindful intention to make progress on your personal goals. Often when focusing on your desired outcome, opportunities arise as long as you are open to taking an unexpected path.

For those looking for happiness in the coming year, feel free to review my January 2019 Hopewell Valley Neighbors article entitled, 2019: Get Your Happy On fohvos.info/2019-happy.

Last year’s “10 science-backed ways to be happier” was a lot to digest. This year let’s boil it down to one word – Connect!

Connect with your body. Connect with family and friends. Connect with land and outdoors. Connect with others.

Connecting with your body can be physiological like getting more exercise or sleep, or psychological like practicing gratitude or meditation.

Connecting with family and friends is proven to reduce stress and yet it’s easy to let work, responsibilities, and mundane tasks overpower your life. Make some time to hang out with family and non-work friends.

Connecting with land the outdoors is more difficult as technology becomes a larger part of our lives. Studies continue finding issues with children not regularly exposed to nature. Doctors are beginning to prescribe walking outdoors for adults as well.

Connecting with others can be particularly rewarding. Flora Edwards said it best. “In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.”

Meaningful connections are everywhere once you begin looking for them. Finding connections is like playing 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon. There are endless opportunities for connections but usually with enough connections, you hit your target.

So let me give examples in my work… At FoHVOS we set up Force of Nature Hikes. The hikes provide exercise, are more fun with family and friends, are at our local preserves, and sometimes introduce people to local lands and people they have never met. Let’s see… Connections with body, family & friends, land & outdoors and others.

How about FoHVOS Community Conservation projects that bring outdoor learing areas to local schools? Yup, the connections are there.

Our trail crews, volunteer, and Clean Community initiatives make the game too easy.

Now let’s come full circle. It’s 2020 and you are focusing on being your best self. What connections can you make? Set your intentions to make great connections and have a fulfilling and happy new year.

[Originally written by Lisa Wolff for the January 2020 edition of Hopewell Valley Neighbors]