January 1 is a day of resolutions, promises, and commitments to form better habits, get back into shape, pick up an old hobby. January 17—more or less—is when all of those commitments begin to fade, and we look accusingly at that new gym membership.

New Years resolutions can feel like we’re set up to fail, set up for disappointment. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Today’s guest, Vinita Wright, is a spiritual author and spiritual director, a retreat facilitator and the managing editor at Loyola Press in the trade books department. She’s written fiction and non-fiction, and shares some insights and reflections from her life as a writer that can help us create better habits—and look at the process of creating those habits from a place of love and self-worth, rather than frustration. Vinita is also a student and practitioner of Ignatian Spirituality, so you can bet we spent a good deal of time exploring how St. Ignatius’ insights can help us all as we begin this new year. (Here’s a hint: it has to do with contemplation and action.)

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