New Year's Eve Resolutions

Photo courtesy of Microsoft Bing

 

On December 31 of every year, a lot of us make a New Year’s Eve resolution (or several). Lose weight. Stop smoking. Try something new or travel to another country. Find new love or reconcile differences with a current romantic partner. The list goes on. Many people achieve these goals; many do not. Does it matter whether these goals are actually achieved? That depends who you ask and what the resolution was.

People typically set their New Year’s Eve resolutions late at night, typically while drinking or after having imbibed alcohol. They may or may not have eaten solid, nutritious food during the evening. These factors, combined with excitement about the holiday plus the body naturally starting to get tired at that late hour, create a state of hyper-suggestibility. When we are so caught up in party revelry it is easy to over- or under-estimate what we can reasonable expect to accomplish the next day, let alone over the course of twelve months.

I do not mean to sound like I am disparaging New Year’s Resolutions, because I absolutely am not. New Year’s Eve resolutions are intended to motivate and inspire us to step out of our usual habits and improve ourselves in some way. However, more often than not they become a source of great anxiety and consternation. My greatest concern is the amount of distress, frustration and pressure they put on people during the course of the year can actually cause the individual to not only revert to but even exaggerate previous, unhealthy behaviors they wanted to change.

As we begin 2015, spend a few minutes taking stock of the goals and resolutions you have set for this year. Remember, many of the unwanted (“bad”) habits we want to change did not start overnight. If you have been smoking two packs of cigarettes each day for the past 25 years, your plan to quit smoking will likely be more effective if you gradually wean yourself off the tobacco. I offer a smoking-cessation program that enables people to gain more control over their smoking habit and overcome the addiction to tobacco over the course of six weeks, at which time they become a permanent non-smoker. If you want to take off some extra pounds, consider how long you have been at your current weight compared to your ideal weight. How long did it take to get where you are today? The safest and healthiest way to lose weight is gradually. It takes time to permanently change unhealthy eating habits, incorporate exercise into a regular routine and increase self-confidence about how you look and improve your body image at each stage of your weight-loss journey. The same is true about getting rid of just about any other negative behavior or habit/attitude that you want to change.

Patience, perseverance and an abiding belief in your ability to fulfill that New Year’s Eve resolution can bring you the success you desire. You just need to relax and remember that you can control and are in control of why (motivation), when (timing) and method of achieving it. For more information about how hypnotherapy and therapeutic-guided imagery can further facilitate this success, please visit my web-site at www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com or call (661) 433-9430.

Happy New Year!

 

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.