 If you're thinking about New Year resolutions, but you've not been very successful in sticking to them in the past, here are a few things to ponder:
1. Avoid "Should" All to often our New Year resolutions consist of things we think we "should" do, rather than things that we really WANT to do and that can be a recipe for failure. "Should" often doesn't have a huge degree of committment attached to it, so there's not a lot of energy there to push you through the hard times. It reflects more of a wish than a decision. 2. Make a Decision And when it comes to sticking to your New Year resolutions, it's the decision that counts. You have to decide that your goal WILL be achieved, regardless of the level of difficulty and sacrifice. And if you can convince yourself that not sticking to your resolution will have a painful or very undesirable consequence then that's always a good motivator. Moving away from something you don't want can be more motivating than moving towards something you do want - and if you can get both towards and away from motivations into the mix, you'll likely be even more successful. 3. Keep it in Perspective All to often we choose one or two resolutions to improve our lives, forgetting about all the other aspects. It's not much good dedicating all your time to being fit and healthy if those around you are feeling neglected and ignored. Look at your life as a whole and ensure there's a good balance. 4. Be Realistic Changing habits is better viewed as a long term prospect, because if you don't stick at it, the effort has been wasted. Keep your goals realistic and settle for a lower target that you can achieve and sustain - a small change for the better that lasts a lifetime is better than a big change that lasts a couple of months. 5. Learn From the Past Look at the year just ending: do a quick review of what you want to bring into the new year and what you want to leave behind. Learn from past mistakes and let them go - after all, to paraphrase Einstein: the definition of madness is to keep doing something in the same way, but to expect the result to be different. 6. Be SMART in your Goal Setting Smart goals are now part of the business lexicon, so most people are aware that goals are more likely to succeed if they are Specific, Measurable, Achieveable, Realistic and Timebound. 7. Remember WHY Ask yourself why you want your goal because 'the why' of it really locks you into the passion and gives you the energy to push through when the going gets tough. If you're not clear why you're doing something, you'll really struggle to give it time and attention. And if you want a more structured, planned approach to choosing your New Year resolutions as well as more times on how to stay on track you can download my FREE Supercharge Your Results in 2018 Workbook. Written by Doris Wylie of Lothian Reflexology: therapy for mind, body and beauty. Lothian Reflexology offers holistic bodywork therapies such as Reflexology and Indian Head Massage, mind and emotional support through Stress Management and Neuro-Linguistic Programming and beauty treatments such as Pedicure and Rejuvenating Facial Massage, (because looking good helps you feel good).
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 I must admit to being pretty left brain and a bit of a straight line thinker and I have to say creativity is not my strong suit, so when I'm going through my annual planning process it can be a bit uninspiring ... boring even.
And you know what, I don't always achieve my goals. Most years I begin with a HUGE, and I mean REALLY HUGE, "to do" list and often times it's more about what I think I should do, rather than what I really want to achieve. No wonder then, that I get bogged down in the detail of the to do list and forget what it was all about in the first place. But this year has been different, very different. I've discovered a system that has helped me look at my planning process in a much more creative way and I must say, I've had a really fun few days working through it. It's more than a bit "girly" and I really love the fact that each page is in full colour with lovely drawings. It's fun and whacky, but it also asks some great, and thought provoking, questions that really get me thinking. The author, Leonie Dawson is a bit of a cookie, hippy character from Australia and I really love her authenticity and her great good sense in making the whole process fun but also very insightful. She does both a business planner and a personal/life planner and the can be purchased both as digital or print version and I think they're absolutely great. If you want to find out more, check it out http://tinyurl.com/j8gvk7x.  We often think of our health in purely physical terms, but as a Reflexologist, I have a strong view that health also has a mental or psychological dimension. Having a strong belief in our ability to manifest our desires and the means to manage our thoughts can have a dynamic and very significant effect on our mental and physical health.
I have a saying on my wall which reads: "There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it.” I’m not sure where it came from or who said it, but I do think that our beliefs have a vital impact on our results. Does your belief support you desires and aspirations? Do you really believe that it will all happen for you some day or do you think it will never happen for you? Go inside yourself for a moment and ask yourself just how strongly you believe that you will be able to achieve your dreams and goals Give yourself a score of 1 – 10 where, 1 = not very strongly at all and 10 = 100% certainty. If your score is less than 10 then you need to work on your belief. To create a strong belief you need three things: 1. To know that it is POSSIBLE to achieve your objective 2. To know that you are ABLE to achieve your objective 3. To know that you DESERVE to achieve your objective Know it’s possible Everything is POSSIBLE, but you must feel that it is possible for you, at this moment. You cannot prove a negative, therefore you can never prove that you are incapable of anything, you can only say that you have not achieved it YET. Do not be too quick to decide what is impossible. Know you are able Avoid putting limitations on what you think is possible. Do you have an age beyond which you think something will be impossible? Do you think you are less likely than friends your age to be able to achieve your golas? These beliefs are arbitrary judgements you have made about yourself and they are just as likely to be WRONG as they are to be right. Banish them, completely, NOW. Keep an open mind. Be positive in your thinking. And open yourself up to the abundant possibilities on offer. Know you deserve it Do you deserve to realise all your dreams and aspirations? If you don’t feel you deserve it, why not? Do you have a belief system that says: things need to be difficult to have value; or you never get what you really want; or everyone is better and more deserving than you; or bad things happen to good people? If your health would benefit from a boost why not try a Reflexology session, because if you don't give it a try, you'll never know what benefits you may get from the treatment. If you'd like to know more about Reflexology click here.  Hello, I’d just like to check in with you today and ask ... what big fat lies are you telling about the future?
Because telling big fat lies about the future is fine, it’s really quite OK, in fact it’s desirable – IF THEY’RE THE RIGHT BIG FAT LIES. Am I mad I can hear you thinking! Why am I talking about big fat lies and the future? Well, because, when you think about it, THE FUTURE DOESN’T EXIST. It’s not happened yet. It hasn’t arrived. And the past has gone, never to return. The past consists of memories (not all of which, by the way, are always as accurate as you store them – so your past may be full of lies also, but that’s for another day). So, if the past and future don’t exist, then the future is a blank slate, it’s an empty space a void a place we are travelling to but have not yet arrived at. And our natural tendancy is to fill that empty space, that void, with conjecture of what it might be – in other words, lies. Anything and everything you say about the future is A BIG FAT LIE. So when you look at your future what do you see - what big fat lies are you telling yourself about the future? Are your big fat lies, positive or negative? Are they scary or exciting? Sad or happy? Optimistic or pessimistic? And how real do they seem to you? Do you really believe your big fat lies? Because the more you believe your big fat lies, the more likely they are to come into being – you’re programming your brain to seek and find these big fat lies and bring them into your life. So, I’d like to ask: if everything you say about the future is a lie, a big fat lie, is your big fat lie positive, hopeful and helpful, taking you where you would love to be, or is your big fat lie, negative, pessimistic and useless, taking you away from where you would love to be? If everything you say about the future is a lie, a big fat lie, won’t a big fat positive lie, make you feel more positive and hopeful now? And that might be a good thing, because NOW is the only moment you really have. And a big fat positive lie about the future might actually help programme your brain to create that future for you. So, please feel free to tell big fat POSITIVE lies about the future. Dream of what you want, rather than what you don’t want: it will help you feel better now and it might even help you create that future you dream of.  I proudly announced the launch of my new online business, Baby Making Mindset, last week and I'm delighted with the progress I've made, but it's had it's downside.
I'm now officially a desk potato! I wouldn't call myself a couch potato because I've been so busy that TV is a distant memory (I've still to see some of the programmes I saved over Xmas and New Year). No, I'm a desk potato, stuck to my typist chair at my PC producing blogs and newsletters, facebook posts and twitter feeds and the odd article - not to mention content for my new Club. And I get so absorbed with it all that I only remember to move when my legs start going numb - so much for self-awareness! So I've decided I need to get some more exercise, but I'm not really fitness freak material: I'm a member of a gym - but it seems to take up so much time; I like to go out walking - but the weather isn't always great; I do still need to spend a lot of time at my PC - but I also know that I need to take more breaks. Notice all the "buts" - those are objections, resistance, excuses and I seem to have a lot of them. I need a new strategy: I want to make it easy for myself to reduce the resistance, so I thought "a little and often", that will help me create some breaks from my PC which would also be a good thing. What how do I do that? Well, I thought I'd ask Google what to do and I got a real surprise ... some excellent information from the NHS. It provides exercise for all ages and distinct programmes for men and women and it's got lots of other great information that's easy to read and apply - I'm surprised and impressed. Here's a link to a series of 10 Minute workouts. I'm going to be incorporating them into my day to give me a break from my PC. Have a look at the link and see if they might suit you too ... http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/Tenminuteworkouts.aspx Happy workout! 
I first wrote this article around this time last year, and I make no apologies for re-posting it again today... Because I heard recently that most people manage about 9 days of their New Year resolutions before they give up. So if you've had great intentions regarding the changes you'd like to make this year, but find sticking to them much more difficult than you'd thought, here are a few tips to strengthen your resolve:
1. If you've got a goal - WRITE IT DOWN and look at your written goal every day. 2. Be clear about WHY you want your goal - and how much better off you will be once you have it - and write that down too. Write down lots of benefits that achieving your goal will bring you and think about them every day. 3. Imagination is stronger than willpower, so imagine yourself AS YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE. 4. GET EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED. Generate strong feelings of how it would feel when you achieve your goal, get yourself really, really motivated to achieve your goal. 5. Think only in the positive - the brain doesn't process negatives (try NOT thinking about an orange elephant), so FOCUS ON WHAT YOU WANT, rather than what you don't want. 6. Check you can MEASURE PROGRESS towards your goal and break your goal down into smaller manageable chunks. Monitor your success and if you're not meeting your targets, use that as a reason to get even more motivated. Good luck! Lothian Reflexology provides Reflexology for Stress, General Health & Wellbeing, Fertility and Pregnancy. Gift Vouchers Available JANUARY OFFER: Detox Reflexology - 3 treatments for the price of 2 only in January and February. |
