New Year, New You? Of course it was...how many New Years resolutions have you made with the worthiest of intentions at the beginning of the year?
Well, January has come and gone with a few snow days and a few broken promises. So how are you doing with that resolution? The over-packed gym is starting to empty and get back to normal and all of your well intentioned work out friends are back at home eating their curds and whey.
We laugh, but we've all done it and I am no exception. Having the benefit of a few gray hairs, or at least a few gray roots, I've made many a resolution over the years, most of which (maybe all if I'm honest) have ended up in the pile of broken promises and guilty thoughts.
Why is this not helpful? Well, we all know the reasons. The endless cycle of "I'll do better tomorrow", the Monday morning diet or the "I will never go out with that type again" leads only to severe self chastisement, false thoughts about who you really are as a person and the never ending cycle of guilt that sends you deeper into yourself.
So, what's the answer? When I say "It's all or nothin' baby", I am not kidding. I am not saying throw your whole-self into the next dozen resolutions at all, I'm saying, lets take a step back and look at the whole you. Not the part of you that put on 10 pounds, or the part of you that didn't go to the gym, and definitely not the part of you that signed up for that gluten free, fat free, delicious meal cooking classes and then didn't show up (that was covered by your wellness benefit - right)? I'm talking about the whole really awesome and really amazing you!
Look how fantstic you are! You beautiful, intellignet, passionate, caring and compassionate person you. What are your best attributes? Let's start there.
If I were to ask 10 people closest to you to describe you to me, what would they say? Start that as an experiment, ask a few people in your inner circle to describe you to you. Write down what they say and make a list of all of the great things that you also love about yourself (you can do this). Are they true to who you are? Acknowledge that you are a pretty great human being and be thankful for who you are as a person.
Start there, every morning and every night take 2 minutes in front of the mirror and start to acknowledge your amazingness! This is not an exercise in becoming full of yourself or overly puffed up about your strengths. It is an exercise in helping you to get over your doubts about yourself and becoming confident in your own skin. This stuff works, I promise you!
When you start to feel thankful and grateful for yourself, then and ony then can you start to commit to going from good to great. After all, the reason you didn't stick to all of those old resolutions, may just be because you didn't think you were worth it....hmmm...is that even possible?
If we do nothing else this year, we are going to work on our "wholeness, our whole selves so that we can have a really solid starting pace for moving forward to where you want to go. Onward and upward friends!
Are you in? All of you? The whole you? Let's do this!!