Forget Resolutions: Invent a world and step into it

This year, don't waste all of that bright bubbly energy on fixing your body or changing the way you balance your checkbook: change your whole life.Instead of making resolutions, create a new world and step into it.All you need is a vision you won't give up on - and a world that you won't be able to resist living in.Here's how:1) Get quietAllow images to drift toward you, watch for flashes and glimmers of what could be. Let them come all day long. Let them bubble up through your dreams.

• I do this while sipping warm, comforting mugs of tea with cream.
• I like silence. You can add music if you like.
• Keep your notebook close by.

2) Follow the energyYou know that little burst of excitement that flares when something new arrives? That's guidance. Don't let it get away.3) Get curiousKeep asking: what is this? Scan it for detail; for contours and color, texture and temperature. What shining something has caught your inner eye?4) Take notesEven if it's a bit fuzzy around the edges, write elaborate descriptions of the details that you can discern - invent the ones that you can't quite make out.

• I am wearing black yoga capris. My feet are bare. I'm walking across a large sunny room - the floors are hardwood, the walls are white - except for one wall of French doors which open onto a balcony overlooking the ocean. Over my shoulders, a sheer silk shawl, the color of the sea.

5) What else?As you write, search the mental image for details. When this vision manifests, how does my body feel? What am I wearing? What is the temperature of the floor beneath my feet? What scent fills the air? What's on the radio? Who's with me? What are we doing? How does it feel?5) Make things upAs your vision forms, there will be things that you can't quite make out. Make them up. For example, in my own vision, I don't have any idea what the other rooms in that beachfront house are like. I can't quite make out the exact location of the kitchen or the color of the bathroom tiles. That's okay. Give your inner stylist a box of markers and paints. Let her draw all over things. Play.6) Feel into the vision. Use all of your senses.See it, hear it, smell it, taste it. Feel your vision surrounding and enfolding you. You are a part of the vision and it is a part of you. This is the first step to every single thing that's ever been created.7) Ask for it. Write, speak or pray your request to whatever deity, prophet or cosmic force you believe in. Do it in the way that feels the most natural and comfortable for you.

• I take it to God (because I believe in God.)
• I speak out loud. You don't have to.
• I say: God, I know that you can do anything. I really want this, I love it already and I'll do anything you guide me to do to make it happen.

8) Reconnect to your love for the vision. Let it flood your heart.This strengthens and clarifies your commitment and makes you a magnet, drawing the vision from idea into form.9) Let what comes come.I end every prayer with: This or something better is streaming toward me now. So be it, so it is. In this way, I release control of the outcome. I let the angels guide me the rest of the way.This is kind of like letting someone you trust steer the car while you step on the gas pedal... or vice versa (cuz you'll take turns with God - steering, and driving.)10) Hold the vision and let it in.Continue to hold the vision and follow the guidance that comes, allowing the world you've created to form around you and within you. In this way, with imagination, a strong vision and faith, all worlds that have ever been made were made.