New Year's Resolution Solution

With the beginning of the year approaching quickly, many of us will be making resolutions to improve our lives in various ways, such as eating healthier, doing better in school, or devoting more time to our practice. I know that my big resolution is to lose weight, and I'm sure that many others share that resolution. Personally, when I make a resolution (New Year's or otherwise), I find it useful to track my progress. Doing so holds me accountable for my actions. In the past, I have tried to keep a food journal, but it always seems to fall through. Have any of you ever had this problem? If so, I think I may have developed a ritual to consecrate your food journal in order to help you stay focused and on track. I will post the ritual here; feel free to make any changes to the ritual setup, the poem, or anything else that will make the ritual more personal to you. However, if you choose to share this with someone, I ask that my name be attached to the work in some way because this is an original creation.

Materials:
Journal or notebook
Most prized ritual stone
Wand
Pen
Dim lighting, music (or whatever atmosphere suits you)

Best during the waning moon.

1. On the first page of the notebook, write a short paragraph of intent
2. On the next page, write a prayer or poem to recite during the ritual. Ask for traits that will assist your purpose and protection from conflicts.
3. With the stone in your non-dominant hand and the wand in your dominant hand, close your eyes and count backwards slowly from your current weight to your desired weight.
4. Open your eyes and concentrate the page as you begin to recite the prayer or poem. As you do so, move the wand in a widdershins motion.
5. Upon completion of the recitation, move the stone to the dominant hand and put the wand down. Move the stone across the page in a widdershins motion as you close your eyes.
6. Close the book. Retire the stone and pick up the wand. Again in a widdershins motion, close your eyes and move the wand around the cover. Repeat the phrase, "Allow strength and will. Remove the excess," as many times as you see fit.
7. Retire the wand and pick up the stone again. Move it in the same motion across the cover and say an improvised prayer to yourself.
8. Retire all materials.

Prayer I used:

Thy unwritten oath,
Thy lined visage,
Thy papered cover,
Thy well-bound pages:

Allow strength and will.
Bless my withered soul
And bind its severed,
Cursed, scissored wounds.

Remove the excess,
The ill-intended.
Scourge of it, burn it,
But do not save it.

I ask thee, O God,
To hold down my pain,
To banish sorrow,
And grant health and peace.

Amen.