Revolving Resolutions

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?

I made a resolution last year: NOT to make resolutions on New Year's Day!

I have kept that resolution.

I saw an ad on the Internet yesterday which said that

Resolutions were made to be broken.

So true, and yet so sad, because we all have the best intentions. So this year I have made intentions, rather than resolutions. Resolutions are the things we should do. And we always resist things we know we should do. Intentions are so much more positive and they are things we really want to do. I know I'm more motivated to activate my intentions than to keep my resolutions.

How about you? Did you set your intentions for the new year? And considering that it is January 4, have you kept them or gotten distracted yet?

I find hypnosis helps keep me motivated to act on my intentions. So I made daily self-hypnosis one of my intentions. So far, so good!

My Wishes for 2011

Beloved Friend,

I wish you a Brilliant New Year

brimming with all things

wonderous and beautiful!

Thank you for reading.

The Real Guidelines

I wrote the previous article because I was planning a speech for the ToastMaster's group. Although the previous article contains much good, practical advice, the 10 points are too lenghthy to present in a 5-7 minute speech and frankly, just too boring. I bored myself the first time I ran thru it verbally.

So I decided I should take a risk and be more truthful. And funny.

Here are the real guidelines for 2010:

1. Go Green. It seems that almost every week I find myself in the grocery store, on line for the cashier, putting on my things on the conveyor belt, and as soon as I load the last item, it hits me, I left the reuseable shopping bags in the car! I keep them there for convenience, of course. At this point is is too late to run to the car and get them, so I wind up with 5 or more plastic bags to add to my collection of 7000 bags in the cabinet in the Florida Room. (What I hate the most is when the helpful bagger puts only one or two items in each bag and I get 30 more bags!!)

2. Take a 10 min walk every morning in order to eliminate 10 pounds of excess baggage which has decided to make a permanent home around my waistline. I read recently that the 10 minute walk in the morning is a good way to kick-sttart the calorie burning process, so you burn more all day long!

3. Make Healthier food choices-- for me this means more vegetables. I love vegetables, but I have just gotten out of the habit of preparing a salad or cooking some fresh veggies for dinner. This needs to change. It will help with number 2. Guideline number 2!

4. Indulge in a Creative Outlet Daily--for me this means to write every day. I like to think of myself as a writer and I usually write most days, but I need to write every day and get some more articles published. Also update my blogs more often.

5. Increase Laughs Per Day (LPD). The average adult laughs 15 times per day. The average small child laughs in excess of 400 times per day. Martha Beck recommends at least 30 LPD in her book, The Joy Diet. And I bet you didn't know that if you laugh long and hard enough, it is a cardiovascular exercise!

6. Self-hypnosis-- I recommend this for 2 ten minute periods each day. It is portable,costs nothing, doesn't require any special equipment, and you return refreshed, as if you have taken a mini vacation! Self hypnosis done on a daily basis triggers the "relaxation response," reduces stress, and boosts the immune system.

7. Don't eat snow! There is a 40% chance of snow in my area of Florida tomorrow. So I want to caution you that putting snow in your mouth, letting it melt and then drinking the melted water, causes your body temperature to drop, increasing your risk of hypothermia and death. So please don't eat the snow!

These are my guidelines to reduce stress and improve my health in 2010.

Feel free to use these guidelines if you like them and want to have more laughter, creativity, and vegetables in your new year!

Gloria's Guidelines for 2010

Instead of Resolutions, which nobody keeps, I have come up with some guidelines for the new year that contribute to wellbeing in mind, body, and spirit.

1. Eat Breakfast! You have heard this saying or somthing similar, Eat Breakfast like a Queen, Lunch like a Princess, and dinner like a pauper.
It's true. They find that people who eat breakfast every day live longer than those who do not.
2. Choose fresh fruits and vegetable every day, use olive or canola oil for salads and cooking, consume the mediterranean diet, which includes little red meat and dairy products but lots of fruit, vegetables and olive oil. Red wine too, see #6.
3. Sleep 8 hours per night, this is ideal for most adults, but if you take advantage of the relaxation response, by doing yoga, meditation, tai chi, or self-hypnosis on a daily basis for at least 20 minutes, you can be healthy with just 7 hours of sleep per night. Just 2 10-minute sessions of self-hypnosis per day leaves you more rested and refreshed than an extra hour of sleep!
4. Physical activity--take the stairs if you are going to 4th floor or lower. Take a walk instead or a cart when golfing. Do whatever you like to do. If you resolve to swim every day, but you hate swimming, it's not going to work!
5. Don't smoke.
6. Don't drink, unless it is one glass of red wine per day. Red wine contains resveratrol, which is an anti-oxidant. Grape juice also contains resveratrol, but red wine is more fun!
7. Reduce intake of foods made with refined sugar, like candy, cookies, cake, pie, donuts, etc.
8. Friendship--social connectedness is good for you. Eliminate some of your negative relatives and replace them with positive supportive friends!
9. Do something creative--write, draw, sing, knit, sew, make something!
10. Laugh every day. This can even be counted as exercise if you do it long enough or often enough!
11. Feed you mind. Learn something; challenge yourself.
12. Feed your spirit. Whatever makes you feel connected to something larger than yourself. Express your spirituality in your own way; meditation, prayer, or just walking in nature (see #4).

These are my recommendations for taking care of your body, mind, and spirit.

New Year's Eve 2009

It is the end of a decade.

Let's party like it's 1999!!

I made a resolution many years ago NOT to make resolutions on New Year's Eve. That was an easy resolutaion to keep. But now that the years seem to fly by so fast, it seems like a good time to review the past year and set some goals for the future. Time flies. May as well get something accomplished.

Some of my major accomplishments for 2009:

joined Toastmasters International,
gave 5 speeches,
served as Toast Master twice,
eliminated about 90% of ums from my speeches.

Tomorrow I will publish my Resolutions for 2010

Resolutions for 2008

Peace on Earth and Happy New Year to all!

For self-hypnosis tips on how to keep your New Year's Resolutions, please come to the Tarpon Springs Library on January 4 at 4 pm.

Think of it this way, if you accomplish those resolutions once and for all, you can resolve never to make New Year's Resolutions again!