As we lay out plans to better ourselves, I invite you to consider a concept from author and entrepreneur Danielle Laporte, who asks, “What will you do to feel the way you want to feel?”

Laporte directs her readers from outward goals (go to the gym more, for example) to deeper ones: I want to feel strong, energized and empowered. Today, I’ll hit the gym.

This subtle shift in goal setting brings awareness of our deeper desires, granting us clarity that is crucial in seeking joy and fulfillment.

In setting goals for this new year, we can look at our gardens as living, breathing opportunities. In the garden, we can give root to our resolutions.

Begin with the end in mind

Making a blueprint for your garden is like designing Utopia. With all that power comes a chance to breathe life into our values. When we have deeper goals, we have more flexibility in how we go about achieving them. The possibilities are endless! What once was a chore is now an open field.

Integrate your values, budget and resourcefulness into your planning process as you select soil, seeds and plant starts. With each decision, you may find yourself closer to feeling the way you want to feel.

Planting good health

Wellness is central to lifestyle, and usually gets extra attention this time of year. Grounding wellness resolutions in a clear understanding of how we want to feel means we can design our gardens to match. We can grow our medicine. We can facilitate life in the garden and reap the rewards, which are full, deeply nourishing, surprising and manifold.

Consider high-impact gardening methods, in which you utilize every bit of space by seeding thick and thinning-harvesting continually. Grow a mix of annual and perennial herbs, a variety of roots and fruits in a range of colors. Diversity in the garden means diversity on the plate.

Getting clear on what we enjoy doing with our harvests helps us optimize our space by guiding our planting decisions. Consider growing food that you can dry and ferment in the fall and store through the winter.

Any blueprint guided by our deeper desires is likely to manifest into something profound. Happy rooting!