How many times have you started a New Year with one of these resolutions?
“I will lose weight.”
“I will go to the gym 3 times a week.”
“I will stop eating sweets.”
“I will spend less money.”
At this time of year, there are countless articles and news stories about setting New Year’s resolutions and why most don’t work. According Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy, when setting resolutions, most people “tend to focus on things they want to change about themselves and things they dislike about themselves.” In doing this, we focus on negative feelings rather than positive ones.
Replacing the New Year’s Resolution with an Intention
Instead of making resolutions that focus on a negative, why not focus on something positive for 2016?
Take a moment and think about the good things in your life right now. What are you most grateful for? What would you like to have more of in the New Year? Visualize that one thing. How does that one thing make you feel? Try to choose one word or one symbol to represent the positive thing or feeling you would like to experience more of in 2016.
Set an intention to bring more of that ‘one thing’ in to your life in 2016. Spend some creative time with it. Draw a picture that you can keep referring to throughout the year. Take a walk by yourself and breathe your ‘one thing’ in. See yourself surrounded by it, embraced by it.
Share your ‘one thing’ with us. We would love to hear from you as we cheer each other on for a 2016 filled with Health and Happiness!
-Marie, Health and Happiness Team Leader
