Did you make one or several New Year’s Resolutions this past New Year’s Eve?
Well, here’s what you need to do: dump them!
Completely get rid of them right here and now. Yes, right now. It’s true, we are not even a month into the new year, but let go of those resolutions!
Does anyone really ever keep New Year’s Resolutions?
Have you ever heard anyone accept an award, maybe a Grammy or a Nobel Peace Prize, saying, “I owe this all to that New Year’s Resolution I made back in 2002?”
I know I never have heard anyone say anything great resulted from New Year’s Resolutions, and I’m pretty sure it’s because of the fact that all too often they deal with a specific outward change.
Do these New Year’s Resolutions sound familiar?
I’m going to…
- lose weight.
- exercise more.
- eat healthier foods.
- stop drinking beer.
Usually, those resolutions come after a month of overindulgence during the holiday season, and we’re are trying to appease our guilt.
We all know that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. So, I say STOP with the New Year’s Resolutions dealing with a specific change to your outward life.
Come on now, we all know that those rapid ten pounds that you may lose in January are going right back on during that spring cruise you plan on taking.
That exercise class you signed up for in January will end quickly when you find something less jarring to take its place, like watching March Madness.
Those outward changes won’t stick, and you will find yourself sad, and feeling sad too often takes us all back down the road to overindulge.
Think about that time when you saw a friend go on vacation, and she was so excited about it. She goes on vacation, comes back home, and talks about how calm and wonderful her life was while on vacation. Then, she goes back to being chaotic and miserable in her everyday life. She tells you she needs to go back on vacation. Have you ever heard that from a friend?
Maybe you have heard yourself say those things.
INWARD
Life isn’t all about the outward. It has to be balanced with the inward.
Just stop the insanity of trying to change an aspect of your life that won’t change without an inward resolution.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if each day of your life was like a vacation?
Wouldn’t it be great if you could lose the weight and keep it off?
Change the inward, and you can start to change your life.
I challenge you to make an Inward Resolution.
Here are some to start you off:
I will focus on…
- Being calmer.
- Breathing.
- Living in the present moment.
Just pick one. You don’t have to do all three. Just start with one.
I WILL BE CALMER.
Find time to sit and think.
I don’t want to hear that you don’t have time for that because you do.
You have ten minutes in your day to be calm. Once you make time to be calm, you will find that you have more than ten minutes. Remember that 20-minute rant you went on about how you don’t have any time for yourself? Lord have mercy, I know I remember that rant you went on. Guess what you could have been doing with those 20 minutes instead of going on a rant?
Calm down. You’ll find it so much easier to make better life choices when you are calm, and often those better life choices include exercise and healthy eating, which means you are winning on that New Year’s Resolution you dumped!.
I WILL BREATHE.
Find time to focus on your breathing. We all spend far too much time holding our breath or shallow breathing, which are signals to our nervous system that we are stressed-out!
Don’t tell me you don’t have time to focus on your breathing. I don’t want to hear it. We all know we have time to breathe. We have no choice.
Take a few moments while you are at your desk, close your eyes, and take some deep breaths.
What does that mean?
Try this:
- breathe in for four counts
- hold your breath for four counts
- breathe out for six counts
- hold your breath for two counts.
Do this for several cycles.
While you are at a stoplight, focus on your breathing.
While you are sitting on the train, focus on your breathing.
When you focus on your breathing, your body will begin to calm down.
Bring that sweet magic of vacation back home and breathe!
I WILL LIVE IN THE PRESENT
Focus on the here and now.
What is in the past is in the past.
Leave it there!
You are not the same person you were back then and neither is anyone else. You are going to cause a terrible crick in your neck by constantly looking at what went on behind you.
Move on.
You can’t control what will happen in the future.
We all wish we could, but let’s face it, we can’t control the future.
All you can do is do the best you can NOW.
Stressing about the what-ifs will throw you off balance.
Life is happening right now!
Pay attention to what is going on around you right now.
You’ll find yourself less likely to make bad choices when you live life in the present.
Remember back to when you were on that vacation. You weren’t thinking about the past or present. You were living life largely in the here and now, and you loved living that way!
Now, think farther back at your happiest childhood memory.
Maybe you were 4, or 8 year’s old?
We were all probably doing something different, yet we all had a few things in common: we were non-stressed or calm, breathing freely, and living in the present.
Maybe you were like me, eight year’s old and riding your bike on a sunny day. I wasn’t worried about tomorrow. My breathing was deep and steady. While living in the moment, I felt joy.
Get back to that childhood feeling of joy!
Get back to that vacation-induced joy!
Dump those New Year’s Resolutions you made a few weeks ago, and set your Inward Resolutions.
