As each year comes to an end, many of us reflect upon the past year and feel inspired to make resolutions that will make our new year better than the last. The problem with resolutions is we get stuck dreaming about all the things we want to better or change about ourselves and forget that the process of change often requires a plan. We all know someone, maybe ourselves, who proudly announces New Year’s resolutions each year, but has a hard time keeping them. This is your year to make resolutions that you can keep!
Keep it Real!
Take some time to reflect. Write down all the things that really matter to you and feel important to achieve. Make sure your resolutions are actually things that you want to work for and grow from. Your resolutions don’t have to compete with someone else’s resolutions. Maybe your best friend wants to run a marathon or start an organization to save endangered species; it feels powerful to dream about doing something big, but it’s more powerful to take baby steps and commit to things you will actually do. If you can keep it real with yourself and create goals that feel manageable, you will succeed. Even if your resolutions feels small, you’ll be surprised when looking back at the end of this year at how much those little changes can create big growth.
5 Common New Year’s Resolutions RESOLVED
Weight Loss.
While excess weight and obesity contribute to poor health and disease, many weight loss resources are not necessarily concerned with overall health but the satisfaction of size and weight. If losing weight is on your resolution list, ask yourself these questions: What is my goal in losing weight? How can I lose weight in a way that will promote my overall health and help me truly change the way I eat? The new year juice cleanse seems ever so cliche and yet so appropriate. The fabulous fact about cleansing is that it gives you an opportunity to create a new foundation for your diet. Juice Cleansing reboots your body and sends a new message to your brain. The message is that your body functions based on what you feed it. Through emptiness we can fill ourselves with what we need to be truly satisfied. Start the year off with a 7 day cleanse and use the opportunity to learn, grow and jump-start weight loss.
Be Happier.
We all want to be happy, but how much of our own happiness can we contribute to and generate through the way we think? Through meditation, self-reflection and learning to tune in to ourselves, we discover that happiness is really the connection we have with ourselves. A nutrient dense diet and meal plan can help balance hormones which support a good mood. Trust yourself, love yourself, nourish yourself and have faith in your pursuits.
Be Healthier.
How do you define good health? Perhaps images of food pyramids or charts from the doctor’s office comes to mind. What does any of that mean to you? Good health is reflected in the dimensions of yourself: your overall nutrition, what you eat, how you sleep, how you think, how you feel and your lifestyle. The easiest way to simplify how to be healthier is to first recognize yourself as whole, healthy and sacred. In this way, the foods you eat and the lifestyle you lead must honor the highest of your potential. To be healthier this year simply ask, “How is this going to contribute to the beautiful temple I already am?”
Work Harder.
Pouring our energy, time and effort into things that we see to completion through hard work feels very rewarding. Find your passion—that thing you’ve always said you’ll do “someday”—and make time for it everyday. By the end of the year, all the effort you put into the things that matter to you will feel so rewarding. It’s like planting seeds, watering your garden and then eventually getting to witness what has bloomed. Work hard from a place of love and passion.
Give it up…
Instead of thinking about what you want to give up, think about what you want to gain. That thing in your life that you seek to give up should not be just about the “thing.” Giving up whatever doesn’t serve your health, nutrition, and well-being is an opportunity to be a warrior in all areas of your life. How do you want to feel? Celebrated, honored, nourished, and satisfied? If you can figure that out, you will be transformed. It takes time, but start now and see where you are by the end of the year. That part of you that craves the things that are not serving you will gradually be replaced with an inner desire to create wellness and balance.
