Why New Year’s Resolution are Bad for You

I’m tired of failing at New Year’s Resolution and I think you should be, too.

I’m not a fan of New Year’s Eve or of the whole Resolution thing.

There I said it. Clearly I’m in the minority here, and I might get asked to leave the planet for stating what’s true me.

The New Year is a wonderful opportunity for reflection about all that happened or didn’t in the previous year. What worked? What didn’t? What was painful? What memories were created? How did you fare overall in the whole scheme of things? I love reflection, but I believe it’s necessary to do it more than once a year.

 

It’s a good idea to reflect at least once a week; take time out for you, connection to your heart, reflection and awareness.

New Year’s Resolutions are a marvelous way to set yourself up for failure. Most of us never actually accomplish much of anything that ends up on our list, and you want to know why? Because if you really think about it, these so-called resolutions are really just a long list of gripes about how we perceive ourselves or the self-loathing we feel, and we somehow think, that magically, the list is going to change everything we don’t like about ourselves.

It won’t and it can’t.

But what it does do, is set us up for failure.

How about this year, you begin with the whole notion that You ARE Awesome and because you are a divine being…you have the ability to decide how you want your life to be.

Maybe this year, you DECIDE. You decide what matters most to you and then set about making it happen. You DECIDE, vs. creating a laundry list of resolutions.

What if you make a decision (only one really) about something you really want to follow through on? I’m going to confess that I made a decision to stop shopping for things I don’t need.

And this is huge for me, but I decided for more than just improving finances.

I decided because I want to challenge myself to do something truly beneficial when I get bored. I decided because I want to challenge myself to really break out of the shopping pattern that I’ve been in for years. So I surrendered to stop shopping for things that I don’t need.

But really if I’m being completely honest, it’s about surrender in all areas of my life.  This is my year of surrender. I’m surrendering a lot and shopping is just part of it. I’m surrendering control and instead, I’m walking in faith. I know there will be enormous amounts of fear associated with this decision. There will also be times of huge insecurity, which is another emotion I’m not comfortable with – ever.

The word Surrender has always conjured up images of giving up or quitting, but I’m choosing to see it through a different lens this year. Surrender all the things that have blindly and falsely served me, has nothing to do with quitting, but has everything to do with strengthening my faith and spiritual path.

This feels so much better than a resolution.

So I invite you to join me in creating a better 2016 by making one decision…one absolute decision that will reap huge rewards for you even if you aren’t sure what the outcome will be. Deciding sets you up for success.

Try this…Choose one word that symbolizes what you are currently working on or something you’re reaching for now. You know mine…it’s surrender.

Next…pick one person you trust to share your thoughts, feelings and progress with. Then pick up the phone and call this person and ask her to be your accountability partner. You need someone to listen to you…someone to hold you up…someone who doesn’t judge…you just need someone.

You need a reminder. When you get off course, and you will, you need to remind yourself just how miraculous you are and how you have everything you need inside of you to make changes and progress and move forward and ultimately succeed. But you need a trigger.

Here’s mine. When I get off course and I do, all the time, and when I start going into control mode, I stop and I consciously surrender again, but I also study my thumb. Huh?

Your thumb is your unique marker and no one else in the world shares your thumbprint. If that isn’t proof positive that you are a miracle and you are deserving of miracles, I don’t what is? So I just stop and look at my thumb and once again, I surrender.

It feels both freeing and vulnerable to write this, but truth be told…it doesn’t really matter. If this is the year of surrender and faith, I better get comfortable vulnerable.

What decision will you make this year? How will it impact your life?