Dear Friends,
As we step into the New Year, let us look back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. Let us reflect on the changes we want (or need) to make and resolve to follow through on those changes. Listed below, are some NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS for 2012
1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends: Make plans to meet up with friends for an evening of camaraderie at a favorite restaurant or take the family to a weekend trip! Talk to your family, spend quality time at home. Read books, watch movies together. Make them feel loved, protected and wanted.
2. Fit in Fitness: Regular exercise has been associated with more health benefits than anything else known to man. Studies show that it reduces the risk of some cancers, increases longevity, helps achieve and maintain weight loss, enhances mood, lowers blood pressure, and even improves arthritis. In short, exercise keeps you healthy and makes you look and feel better. Jog, take a morning or evening walk, or hit the gym.
3. Tame the Bulge: Indians rank high on obesity index. A recent study by a pharma company on the International Day of Evaluation of Abdominal Obesity (IDEA) in around 60 countries concludes that almost 75 per cent Indian women and 58 per cent Indian men suffer from abdominal obesity.
Approximately six out of 10 such cases are likely to develop into serious health conditions such as diabetes. Go for regular medical checkups. Resolve to stay healthy this year. Remember, Health is WEALTH!
4. Quit Smoking: This can be difficult in the beginning. But if you decide to quit the habit of puffing smoke into your lungs, ask your family, friends and doctor to support your decision to quit. Ask them to be completely supportive and non-judgmental. Start enjoying the rest of your smoke-free life! Locally, there are a variety of free support services, hotlines and smoking cessation classes to help you kick the smoking habit.
5. Quit Drinking: While many people use the New Year as an incentive to finally stop drinking, most are not equipped to make such a drastic lifestyle change all at once. If you have decided that you want to stop drinking, there is a world of help and support available. There are also a number of treatment-based programs, as well as support groups for families of alcoholics.
6. Get Out of Debt: An ancient quote says, ‘the happiest man is one who has a healthy liver and is free from debts’! Plan your finances properly. Invest wisely.
According to Warren Buffet,
‘Never invest in a business you cannot understand’.
‘Always invest for the long term.
‘Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.’7. Learn Something New: Join a Library, music or dance class, learn a new language or a dish!
8. Help Others: Volunteerism can take many forms. Whether you choose to spend time helping out at your local library, mentoring a child, there are many nonprofit volunteer organizations that could really use your help. Collect old clothes from your locality and donate them to an orphanage.
9. Get Organized: Each one of us feels the need to be more organized so that we can have better productivity at home and office. Here are a few tips to help your get started:
a) Set your priorities. Note down your ‘to- do’ activity for the day, week, month, and life.
b) Do one thing at a time.
c) Delegate. Learn to trust people with critical tasks in all areas of your life
d) Find a good place for everything, and keep everything at the right place.
e) Put papers in folders!
f) Organize your space. Whether it's your home, bedroom, kitchen, office, computer, closet, desk, or locker, you need to see what's in there, throw away anything you don't often use (or put it efficiently in storage) and give everything else a convenient and clearly designated space.
g) Clean one room or area a day. This is less daunting than cleaning the whole house, and gives you a clear goal
h) Feng shui your space. Get rid of clutter and allow fresh air into your rooms.
10. Be More Eco-Conscious: Make 2012 the year you give back to planet Earth. Here are a few tips we can employ in our everyday life, and save energy and water:
a) Use a Pressure Cooker to cook meals. Put lid on the container while cooking. This allows faster cooking and prevents nutrients from evaporating.
b) Use optimum amount of water for cooking. Do not throw water used for boiling vegetables. Use it as stock for soups, or knead into flour to make nutritious chapattis.
c) Soak rice and dal before cooking and save fuel.
d) Reduce flame; use the small burner for light cooking use. Clean the stove burner regularly.
e) Use water from your fish tank to water your plants. Water your plants either early morning or late evenings.
f) Do not keep television and computer on standby mode. Switch them off completely when not in use.
g) Put off switches of lights and fans when not in use. Replace bulbs with CFL lights.
h) Shorten your shower time. Do not let the water run when you are brushing your teeth or shaving. Turn it off.
i) Ask for e-statements for bills wherever possible. Not only does it minimize wastage of paper, but it also minimizes wastage of fuel required to deliver those bills.
j) Share magazine subscriptions with a friend, that way less paper is wasted.
k) Use both sides of the pages whilst printing, and print only the important documents.
l) Take your own reusable grocery bag while shopping and say no to plastic bags
11. Read More Books, Watch Less TV: When was the last time you held a book in your hand? I hope it wasn’t your school or college days! One must be reading around 50 books in a year. Be a part of the new trend and pick up a book instead of watching TV in 2012. Instead of coming home at the end of the day and putting on the TV, resolve this year to read more books.. You can go back to classics- Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, G.B Shaw, George Eliot, Lewis Carol, Roald Dahl, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov or lay hands on Modern authors like J.K Rowling, Tagore, Premchand, Ruskin Bond, Chetan Bhagat. You will also find plenty of good literature in your local language! If you find reading book difficult, you can start with magazines. Subscribe a magazine of your favourite subject- health and lifestyle, literary, science, fiction, current affairs. Your children will pick up reading easily, if they find you reading more often!
12. Go to Sleep Earlier: An early sleep is rejuvenating, nourishing and restorative. Instead of staying up late, make your resolution in 2012 to sleep earlier. Here are a few tips, to help you get a good night sleep:
a) Eat a light dinner. As a famous quote says,’ Eat Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince, and Dinner like a Beggar’!
b) Avoid caffeine after 3pm.
c) Listen to relaxing music- soft instrumental, ambient, healing or jazz music.
d) Take a warm bath.
e) Read a light book.
f) Write a Journal.
g) Meditate.
h) Have clean sheets on your bed. Make sure your bed and bedroom are quiet and comfortable.
i) Wear loose and comfortable clothes during bedtime.
j) Get up and go to bed the same time every day.
k) Have a cup of chamomile or green tea, or chocolate drink before bedtime.
l) Do not watch TV till late hours.
m) If you can't fall asleep within 20 minutes, get up and do something boring until you feel sleepy.
13. Be conscientious: Work hard, do not procrastinate, do not employ unscrupulous means.
And here are some Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions This Year:
1. Start small and pick only one resolution: Instead of making a list of all the things you hope to change about yourself in 2012, start small and make one straightforward, simple resolution.
2. Make a specific resolution: It is a lot more difficult to stick to a vague resolution than it is to be consistent with a very specific resolution. If you want to lose weight, for example, set a specific goal about how much weight you hope to lose and by when. If you hope to lose 10 kgs in 2012, set a goal of 1 kg each month.
3. Outline a clear plan for how to get to your goal and you will be able to accomplish it.
4. Don't wait to start on New Year's Eve: Plan before New Year's! If you hope to start exercising more, get into the rhythm now. If you hope to sleep more, start now. By starting just before New Year's, it will be a slower transition when the day comes around.
5. Positive reinforcement: Remember that change takes time! The only way you will achieve your resolution is through positive reinforcement. If you can stick to your resolution for at least thirty days, you should be able to reset your habits for 2012.
6. Make a realistic promise: When we promise, we promise big, without really considering the possibilities of achieving it at the end. This is one of the major causes of higher failure rate with New Year’s resolutions. Hence, make yourself a realistic promise.
7. Make an optimistic promise: Try and look at the positive side of the promise. Leave the negative ideas aside. Hence, instead of saying that ‘I’ll not be late at my appointments’ say ‘henceforth, I’ll reach everywhere in time’. The positive tone will help you improve your chances of success.
You can come up with your own resolution depending upon your priority. The mantra is, to have a healthier, happier and more holistic life in the coming year, so that you spread love, light, laughter in all the areas of your life!
Have a Happy New Year 2012
“Another fresh new year is here,
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!”
-William Arthur Ward
With Regards,
Richa Tripathi
MSc. Applied Psychology (Specialization in Mental Health, counseling & stress management)
Richa is a Soft Skills Trainer, besides being a Singer, Composer, Voice over and recording artist.
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