As we approach the New Year, have you been thinking about your resolutions for 2019?  Resolutions can be helpful; however, the pressure around keeping and maintaining them may feel so intense that you may shy away from making them at all.  Here are a few keys for keeping your resolve in your New Year’s resolutions so that you gain the benefits without the beat up when something slides. 

 Frame it as an add-on rather than a “give up”. 

Our bodies and brains do not like to give up anything.  Giving up creates a feeling of lack and scarcity which then brings on desperation and fear.  It becomes an internal fight requiring a lot of energy and sabotaging your success.  Framing your New Year’s resolution around the benefits will prevent that from happening.          Rather than resolving to lose weight, resolve to gain health.  Instead of resolving to yell less at your children, resolve to become more compassionate and understanding.   

 Notice small changes. 

You may not experience a huge change in a short period of time; however, The Law of Little Things, explained by author Rick Hanson in Just One Thing, is brilliant.  “Each moment of practice is usually small in itself, but those moments really add up.  It’s the law of little things: because of slowly accumulating changes in neural structures due to mental activity, lots of little things can wear down your well-being – and lots of little things can get you to a better place.  It’s like exercise: any single time you run, do Pilates, or lift weights won’t make much difference – but over time, you’ll build up your muscles.  In the same way, small efforts made routinely will gradually” make a big difference. 

 Notice and feel the success of each small change.  Enjoy it!  

 Recognize your humanness.

View setbacks from the perspective of being in a big, comfy chair.  Rather than viewing the dessert that you ate or the time that you might have yelled at your daughter as a failure, view it from the comfy chair with great self-acceptance.  Recognize that as humans we get off track. Explore what got in the way, and then find a way to begin again.

 Wishing you all success with your 2019 resolutions!