Did you make a New Year’s resolution? 

Just curious about who has made a resolution this year? It’s the last week of January and I’m wondering if you have stuck to it this far. Have you had support? Was it a BIG goal or a little change that you have made? I decided to make a list of goals for the year with one for each month. I have been able to keep my goals for the month but am struggling with patience and can see why people don’t typically make it to the end of the month for resolutions and give up before things get going. I’m not seeing or experiencing change as quickly as I wanted or expected. I’m anxious and frustrated but I know that if I stick with things, from experience, that I will eventually see results. Consistency and perseverance are key!

As author Ray B. Williams states in Psychology Today: “Making resolutions work involves changing behaviors—and in order to change a behavior, you have to change your thinking (or "rewire" your brain). Brain scientists... have discovered, through the use of MRIs, that habitual behavior is created by thinking patterns that create neural pathways and memories, which become the default basis for your behavior when you're faced with a choice or decision.” In other words, to change your behaviors, your everyday patterns and habits, you need to change the way you think. Instead of looking at these changes as problems, we need to look at them as fun and exciting.

If you know me at all, you know that I can be a creature of habit as much as the next. What I find fascinating is that when I talk to people about their eating habits and physical activity is that they all have a “story” they tell me (and themselves) about why things are the way they are. It’s as if they must convince me that this is their truth and while they are convincing me they are re-convincing themselves. Do you know your stories? Do you recognize the patterns in your life that you tell yourself cannot be changed? 

This week, before you give up on your goals and resolutions for 2018. Before you tell yourselves that it’s not possible to change because…… (fill in the blank here with your “story”). Think about what your life would look like if you could have your dream and your goal come into your life? What would you be telling yourself then? What would you be telling other people about how you achieved the life you dreamed? I encourage you to start telling yourself that story NOW! When that voice in your head repeats the same old story, tell it something different. Consciously make a choice to change your thoughts and see if that gets you through one more week. See how it gets you a week closer to your goal. 

Keep me posted! I want to hear about the resolutions you have made for your year and how they are going? Are you telling yourself positive stories of triumph or are you speaking defeat in your head? Leave a comment and let me know! Let’s change one thought at a time!