Resolutions to keep

Christmas is knocking at our door and as soon as Christmas comes to an end we all earnestly await the “New Year” word and celebration.

We start planning a party, celebration, gatherings and more. We think and discuss all the interesting occurrences that happened in the past year, good times, happy memories, bad times, the frustrating times and the fun times. We analyse the valuable lessons we learned from our experiences, which God showed us, and how those learning can be useful to us in the future.

We are almost at the end of the year and are mostly done with our reflections on this year, so it’s time to move ahead and look forward to the year that is about to start. The first step in this new chapter can be taken by setting a New Year’s resolution.

New Year resolution at core:
As we are setting our resolution for the coming New Year, we need to understand resolutions at their core. Resolutions can range from losing weight, travelling more, quitting addictions, going for regular health checkups, dressing up often,  listening to more music, to being healthier etc. However, resolutions are more about self commitment and being humane, like feeling pure love and empathy, helping the needy, spreading love and kindness in world, being thankful to mother earth for  providing us the necessities to survive.

We make our resolutions towards the end of the year. We begin to look forward to these with great enthusiasm, wondering what God has planned for us in the coming year, what are the new experiences we will go through and what new lessons we will learn? We believe everything will be fresh and new, which is really exciting.

Creating positive feelings and attitude:
We need to make our resolutions more positive than limiting like, “I will eat  extra veggies and fruits daily” over “I will never eat chocolates or junk food again”. With  positive thinking which supports our behavior and by surrounding ourselves with supportive friends and relatives, there are high chances that we can achieve our goals.

The way we start our mornings is the way we will experience our days and life. So start each day with healthy habits and positive outlook and you will see a noticeable change in your level of happiness, for example, starting the day with positive affirmations, fueling our body with healthy food and trying an inspiring practice like, five-minute meditation or few minutes of deep breathing. Positive affirmations are part of the foundation of sustainable happiness.

Relationships are second most important part for having a happy life. Show gratitude towards all  relationships that  you were blessed with in the past year and pray for it to be with you in the coming year. Relationships are not competitions to search who is more happy — nobody wins unless everybody wins. Cherish your relationships and don’t score them. Forgive all and let free your minds from any grudges.

It happens with many of us that year after year resolutions don’t work. The reason behind this is that we do not know ourselves. The only thing in this world which is missing is knowledge about who we are. There are times when we deeply feel that our life does not have any purpose. We are the captain of our life. While thinking about this question doesn’t lose yourself in the jungle of thoughts, instead try to focus on the activities which boost your enthusiasm.

Finding purpose, making meaningful choices and then writing your resolution can lead you towards success and can also bring more tranquility, understanding for life and love for self.

It also helps us to provide a fresh new outlook of the coming year and enables us to leave the past where it belongs, it does not mean we forget the past. Instead, learn from it and move ahead into the future with an open heart and mind.

Take a quick review of whole year and move ahead in the world of new experiences and wishes.

The writer is an alternative medicine practitioner