I gave up making New Year’s resolutions about 10 years ago. I mean, really. What are the statistics on the success of these well-intended promises we make to ourselves? Not high. And not only that, but we tend to overindulge before the big event, making them even detrimental.
One year I vowed to give up sweets on the first day of the year. So on December 31st, I consumed a bag of cookies and several pieces of Key Lime pie someone brought to the New Year’s Eve party. This is more than I would have normally eaten in a week, but the goodies were there and my mind was thinking in terms of restriction and loss. I figured I’d better enjoy as much as I could since I wouldn’t be eating them again.
Of course, the inevitable happened. Two weeks later someone brought a chocolate cake to work, because they, too, had sworn off sweets. I was low on funds and had brought a very skimpy brown bag lunch to work. Now I had to deal with the temptation of not only deliciousness, but free food as well. With brilliant justification (and some sheepishness) I indulged, just for that day, on a piece of the chocolate cake. I had another little slice in the afternoon. It was all over after that.
The resolution was defeated and my confidence in my own resolve and ability to do right by myself took another hit. And I know I wasn’t alone.
For me, resolutions were a bad idea as year after year I failed to improve my diet, work out every day, or quit smoking. I now have done all those things. But I didn’t do it with promises; I did it by making a plan.
Resolutions are difficult to keep because we tend to focus on the thing we want to quit. And what the mind focuses on, the body will follow. When we put focus on what we want to change, the desire for the errant behavior is actually heightened.
My New Year’s tradition goes more like this: On the first day of the year, I take down my Christmas tree, clean up my house, and make my New Year’s plan. As I enjoy my black eyed peas and greens, I daydream and conjure up visions of how I’d like to see my life. I then write all these things on paper and begin to schedule and organize how I’ll go about making them happen.
Involved in this planning are back-up programs to help me. I’ve developed this system into a calendar that I’ll be using again this year. It’s called the Deluxe Life Planner and we sell them through Lulu.com, but you can do this without the planner as well. And that’s another story. I’ll be posting a video on Monday to explain how it works so check back if you’d like more details on the New Year’s plan, or as we now call it, The Deluxe Life Plan!
Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher 200
Another great help for facilitating change is a practice called Yoga Nidra. The actual translation is “yoga sleep” but the practice is designed to take you into an extremely relaxed state were you can plant the seeds of the changes or desires you seek. You make use of something called a “Sankalpa“, an affirmation constructed with a slant toward positive. The idea with Yoga Nidra is to place the focus on the positive side of the thing you desire instead of the negative behavior you don’t want. In other words instead of stating, “I will stop smoking”, you might shift to “I am smoke free and I breathe easily.” Instead of “I won’t eat sweets,” think, “I eat healthy foods and feel light and alive.”
Suzanne Graham offers a regular yoga nidra class I highly recommend for anyone wanting to change a habit or behavior. And if you simply must have your New Year’s resolutions, the practice of yoga nidra will at least give you a fighting chance!
So Happy New Year to you and yours. I hope it’s the best one you’ve had yet!
Peace and love,
Jean