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Relaxing into my New Year’s Resolutions!

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Tomorrow is the last day of 2008 and most people will spend a little time day dreaming about what they would like to see happen in 2009.

The Press will remind us, it is a standard story (!), that most of us will not keep our resolutions.

Do you keep yours? I keep mine.  This is how I do it.

I set targets for the end of the year and write them down in a place that I am likely to stumble over in the second half.

For example,

By the end of 2009, I will take pleasure in exercise.

ONE

This gives me time to achieve the goal and allows for the stops, starts and false turns that are inevitable.

TWO

I am focusing on what I enjoy.

If I go out to play tennis, or take the stairs instead of the lift, then I tend to think about the part that was fun.  After a while, I associate the activities with fun and look forward to doing them.

THREE

And I write down the goal in a place, I don’t look every day but that i will find by accident months from now.

I usually write my resolution on the front inside cover of my diary.  At some time, I will probably use the calendar to plan something, or I will open the diary when I am hunting for my driver’s license number, or something like that.

The double surprise of finding my resolution and discovering that I have done something about it,  is enjoyable.   I begin to think of myself as someone who gets things done (eventually), and as someone who truly likes exericse (in this case).  It’s a good feeling.

And if you don’t have the energy to be willful, pop back here tomorrow and I’ll summarize a positive psychology approach to your new year review that is altogether more fun than this!

Published in POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, WELLBEING & POETRY

7 Comments

  1. That’s such a good idea, Jo.

    So many people make New Years resolutions and just forget about them about 3 months into the year. There are so many articles around this time of the year about making new years resolutions but not many of them are about how to keep them.

    You don’t preach, you merely share what works for you.

    Love your work!

  2. Jo Jo

    Ah, thanks Trudy! Funny, I thought I did preach and I’ve been trying to be less academic! Made my day!

  3. […] Relaxing Into My New Years Resolutions @ Flowing Motion This is a personal point of view on setting NY Resolutions, written by Jo. It will give you a simple tip on how to keep your resolutions. Jo’s blog always provides a bit of perspective and she has not failed to do so in this post. […]

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