The New Year and How to Leave Behind the Old One!!

The New Year and How to Leave Behind the Old One!!

“The object of the new year is not that we should have a new year, but that a man should have a new soul.” G. K. Chesterton

I like this quote because I feel it captures the essence of a new year.  Man has forever been setting new year’s resolutions because he feels the need to purge his soul of all he feels is bad or rotten.

New Years Resolutions always seem to be the same: loose weight, handle my money better, exercise more, bla, bla, bla.  Most people don’t keep New Years Resolutions.   Perhaps they are guilt or shame based.

Lets consider a new way of looking at it.  I always loved New Years because its  a fresh start.  Its a turning of a calendar page.  Its a look back and a look forward.  Lets take inventory.  What were the greatest events and the saddest events of the last year.

What do you want to reflect on?  What do you want to put behind you?  What has life taught you that you shouldn’t repeat? What opportunities do you want to create for yourself?  What made last year good?  What would make this year better?  What do you need more of in your life?  What do you need less of?

Change is hard, but good.  How will you make it happen?  Write it down.  Sign a contract with yourself.  Hang up a visual of what you want on your frig.  A picture of yourself when you were thinner, whatever it takes.

I think perhaps our New Years resolutions fail because we are stuck in ruts in our lives and we have limited thinking.  We think we can’t do it.  We set our sights too low.  Our goals are too small.  They have no power.

Make a list of ten reasons why you want to make this change.  What will happen for you if you get what you want?  How bad do you want it?  Also consider the impact this behavior is having on your life for the negative.  What if you don’t change?  What will the impact be?  These thoughts can be a great motivator when it gets tough to carry out your resolutions.